Author’s Note: Please do not go after, attack, or threaten people’s safety in any way. We do not condone attempts to threaten a person's safety and health in any way, shape, or form.
Everyone knows what racism is and the definition of racism; it’s the harmful and unfair treatment, judgement, and/or assumption of a person or a community based on their race and ethnicity.
People are aware of this horrid problem and are taking action, and that’s great! But sometimes, the actions people take can be incredibly damaging. How people choose to fight racism is just as important as defeating it, and some social media users take it upon themselves to dictate what is racist without any in-depth research and input from the race or ethnic group the users are “helping”. Here is one example:
On November 11, 2020, a Twitter user started a thread claiming that the popular Twitch emote, pog, the word pog, and other variations of the word, such as pogchamp and poggers, was racist towards Asian Americans. For those who have never heard of the word pog and its variations, the meaning according to the Urban Dictionary is, “A word used to indicate excitement or an epic moment. Comes from Pogchamp.” The emote was the face of the Asian American content creator, Gootecks. It was used in Twitch livestreams when something of significance happened to the Twitch streamer, though the word itself has spread to other online platforms.
According to the Twitter user, the reason the word pog and the emote was racist toward Asian Americans was because, “Digital [yface] is an issue that is frequently ignored in the online world. This staple in streaming culture is extremely harmful to every single Asian-American who is subject to witnessing its use. Their ethnicity being used as a tool for non-POC speech is nothing new and people are sick and tired.” The solution suggested by the user was “... if you need to use an emote at all, choose one that matches your own race …”
With no valid argument, substantial evidence, or specific reason as to why the word “pog” is racist, the user received significant backlash and criticism online. YouTube videos, comments in the same Twitter thread, and even a thread on Reddit were all made criticizing it. In the YouTube comment section of a video criticizing the Twitter thread, a user joked in reference to the word pog: “As an Asian-American, I also give whoever reads this a p word pass. Don't spend it all in one place, kiddo.” Another comment wrote on another YouTube video said: “Its funny how this random person says poggers is racist and doesnt explain how or why, twitter in a nutshell smh.”
The thread has since been deleted and no longer exists.
Personally, as an Asian American, the word pog is not offensive towards me. In fact, I even use the word! I believe that anyone is allowed to say the word and use the emote. The part that is actually offensive to me is the person trying to make “pog” problematic. I have yet to see people use the word pog in a discriminatory way. People shouldn’t dictate what is offensive for any ethnicity or race unless there is a wave of agreement from the said group, which in this case, there is none.
This is not just a one time fluke. There are many more instances where people online tried to dictate what is racist and what isn’t without a clear majority agreement from the group they are talking about. Some people use the issue of racism for more distasteful reasons; however, many more fall into the category of thinking they are doing a favor for the community they are trying to protect, only to unknowingly harm the same people by incorrectly dictating what is racist.
From what I observed, this may happen due to:
A lack of research or proper research on the subject of matter.
Following trends or the words of people they follow because what they said seemed true.
The lack of testimony and input from the group the said person is trying to spread awareness about.
Making a mountain out of a molehill on an issue.
Oversimplifying the issue at hand and only seeing the issue through a simplistic mindset.
Attacking people instead of educating them.
Not allowing people to grow and instead make them feel like they can’t make mistakes.
Not looking at different sides of the story.
So what should we do? Some possible solutions may be:
Ask people of that ethnicity or race what is and isn’t offensive or at least try to get past testimony.
Do proper research and find clear evidence and examples to support your claims.
Listen to different sides of the story to understand (does not equate to agreeing), even if you wholeheartedly disagree or dislike the side.
Don’t attack, send threats, or try to hurt people in general
This article isn’t meant to shame people who are actively taking a stand and fighting against racism. This is about how people fight against it, and how sometimes people can do it in a problematic way. The example shown above is just one out of many examples. The reason I’m writing this article is not only because of how problematic the content in itself can be, but also because these cases also take attention away from real problems that cannot afford to be pushed to the side. They paint a bad picture of the group mentioned in these posts, and hurt the very people they are “helping” by not letting them have a platform on the topic itself.
I can’t and do not expect that people will be perfect in fighting racism, that’s just unrealistic. But I hope that people will try their best to fight racism in a critical and non problematic manner.
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