Digital Blackface

Let me tell you something about this latest "digital blackface" nonsense making headlines. As if we didn't have enough manufactured outrage to keep the perpetually offended busy, now we're dissecting the racial politics of goddamn emojis. Just what my blood pressure needed.

So here's the latest: apparently using dark skinned emojis or GIFs of Black people expressing emotions is now "digital blackface." Give me a break I've been around for 65 years and watched as we went from fighting for basic civil rights to policing which cartoon thumbs up people can use on their phones. Is this really the promised land MLK envisioned? People writing doctoral theses about whether your reaction meme is problematic?

Remember when the internet was supposed to free us? Now it's just another prison of endless rules about what we can and cannot do, say, or apparently, emoji. The digital town square has become a digital re education camp, with self appointed wardens ready to pounce on any transgression, real or imagined.

The truly laughable part is that the same finger wagging crowd warning about digital blackface never seems concerned about what would logically be "digital whiteface." If a Black teenager uses a GIF of some pale, redheaded kid making a face, I don't see anyone rushing to Twitter to condemn them. No tedious think pieces about the appropriation of ginger culture. No solemn NPR segments examining this troubling trend.

Why? Because this isn't about consistency or principles. It's about keeping the outrage machine well oiled and running. It's about certain people maintaining their status as moral arbiters of our increasingly ridiculous cultural conversation. It's about clicks, engagement, and the dopamine hit that comes from public virtue signaling.

Let's follow this logic, shall we? If using images of people from different races is appropriation, then what's next? Can I only use GIFs of grumpy old white men? Is that all I'm allowed to identify with now? Talk about limiting my emotional expression. By this logic, Netflix should stop allowing anyone but German subscribers to watch "Dark" and Japanese viewers to watch "Terrace House." God forbid we connect with experiences outside our own narrow identity boxes.

And lets talk about the incredible condescension baked into this whole conversation. The underlying assumption seems to be that Black people are so fragile, so utterly delicate, that they need protection from... checks notes... someone using a Shaq reaction GIF. As if Black culture isn't strong enough to withstand being appreciated and participated in. As if shared cultural touchpoints are somehow harmful rather than the very basis of a functioning society.

Meanwhile, while we're wasting time on policing internet memes, real problems continue unaddressed: crumbling infrastructure, unaffordable healthcare, politicians who couldn't care less about regular people, a planet that's cooking itself to death. But sure, let's focus on who's using which reaction GIF. That'll solve everything.

Here's a radical thought: maybe we could all just communicate however we want online. Maybe a thumbs up is just a thumbs up, regardless of its cartoon skin tone. Maybe a reaction GIF is just someone expressing an emotion they relate to, not some sinister form of digital minstrelsy. Maybe and I know this is revolutionary we could stop assuming the worst possible intentions behind every human interaction.

But no, that would be too reasonable. And reasonableness doesn't generate clicks, does it? It doesn't feed the insatiable beast of online engagement. It doesn't give anyone the righteous high of putting someone else in their place.

Look, I get it. History matters. Context matters. Theres a long, ugly history of actual blackface that was deeply dehumanizing. But we've reached the point where we're so desperate to find problems that we're creating them out of thin air. We're so afraid of causing offense that we can't even share a damn Michael Jordan crying meme without someone writing a thinkpiece about it.

And by the way, where's the consistency? If we're playing this game, then why isn't "digital whiteface" equally problematic? Why can everyone freely mock the "Karen" stereotype? Why are "white people dancing" videos fair game? Either we're all fair game for mockery, or none of us are. This selective outrage reeks of hypocrisy.

I'm exhausted, folks. Aren't you? Aren't we all just a little bit tired of the endless policing, the constant shifting of rules, the perpetual state of tension? Doesn't it feel like we're all walking on eggshells, terrified of saying the wrong thing and becoming the next main character on social media's daily two minutes of hate?

Maybe that's just what happens when you've been around as long as I have. You start to see the same cycles repeating themselves, just with new terminology. The moral panics, the pearl clutching, the certainty that THIS time it's different.

It never is.

So go ahead, use whatever emoji you want. Share whatever GIF expresses your feelings. The world's going to keep spinning either way. And while everyone's busy arguing about internet etiquette, I'll be over here, enjoying what's left of real life, outside the digital asylum.

Same time next week, when we'll no doubt have some new outrage to dissect. Until then, stay sane in an increasingly insane world.

-Wren Scorn