We may be familiar with the smartphone apps of "Fat Booth" or "Face Swap". These apps give us the ability to make ourselves look physically funny; however, I encountered an article written this month that there was an app created for smartphone users to make themselves look Asian. This app was called "Make Me Asian".
This "Make Me Asian" app caused huge uproar with many Asian Americans and criticized this app to be "ridiculously racist", as quoted in the article. I recognize the fact that the main goal these "Make Me Asian" creators wanted to achieve was purely for amusement, but I do agree this could be possibly crossing the line towards racism. The article also stated that this app included features, such as "conical hat or a Fu Manchu mustache". Really? Are conical hats and Fu Manchu mustaches truly what make up the entire Asian culture? Due to the harsh criticism received , Google removed the "Make Me Asian" app to prevent more future complaints from emerging. The problem is that people continue to judge other cultures only based on stereotypes. This issue needs to be fixed because this kind of receptivity of the Asian culture can cause a valued culture to feel degraded.
Check it out!
