Adidas JS Roundhouse Mids vol. Not sure if serious

[stay lurkin]

Originally Posted by dmbrhs

People aren't focusing on the real problem here: they're ugly as hell.

 so true

 

[ohyeah10]

i want those

 

[monstar1]

Method Man wrote

What's next, a hoodie inspired by GI Joe's "Storm Shadow" that includes a full-zip white hood? 

 

[young handsome]

Originally Posted by Method Man

smfh

 sensitive $@* people. I swear bruh... people need to get over racism. +%%%%* lames

Congratulations, that's one of the most ignorant things I've ever had the misfortune of reading on this site.  Go to sleep.

If you're trolling, get a new gimmick.  If you're not, get an education. 




wrong choice of words tho... not get over racism, but stop REACHING for anything that could be deemed as a slight towards the black community... the shoes were inspired by the monster... THATS IT!!!! Nothing to do with black folk or slavery....Sensitive people...

Just like with planking... people coming out saying things like "THATS RACIST... PLANKING IS IMITATING SLAVES ON PACKED BOATS"

just an example of how a simple thing gets people riled up...

I bet the same people who got a problem with the shoe enjoy Tyler Perry movies and enjoy watching VH1 exploit black people on their shows and enforcing the stereotypes of black people... VH1 is doing more damage than a stupid shoe ...

Stopping the release of a shoe isnt gonna save black folks...

 

[dmbrhs]

Stop yelling. It'll fall on deaf ears.

 

[noblekane]

lol wow terrible idea

 

[joe billionaire]

i dont buy kicks anymore for reasons why do they all need to be "inspired" by something, its like people arent creative anymore

movies are the same ol $!@%
video games the same ol $!@%
shoes are retroed to death then inspired by some clown/movie/tv show/person/snack cake that no one cared about 5-20 years ago in the first place but now they do

 

[dipsetgeneral]

I don't see anything wrong wit' these kicks and these are fly. Puttin' the shackles on too! Swaggy!

 

[gameover2]

ugly design and I don't even like Adidas, but I don't find anything wrong nor offensive with them.

 

[young handsome]

[h1]The Actual Inspiration for Jeremy Scott’s Not-’Racist’ Adidas Sneakers: My Pet Monster[/h1]
The Internet managed to accuse a sneaker of being racist. It is wrong. This is why.

By Foster Kamer 6/18 5:13pm

The worlds of fashion, sneaker culture, and political correctness have collided head-on today when—for Monday “kicks,

 

[Methodical Management]

What a special privilege to be able to do or say anything you like without bothering to consider the possible impact on others.  
You don't have to intend to stand on somebody's foot for that action to carry consequences.  If it causes someone pain, it causes someone pain.  How selfish does someone have to be to respond to that by saying "uh, I didn't mean to step on your foot so it's very rude of you to complain.  Stop being sensitive and shut up." 

Would it be WRONG for anyone to take offense to the klan hoodie I posted earlier?  Who knows what the manufacturer's "intent" was?   

You didn't MEAN to be racist?  Great.  Now that you know it's offensive to many people, however, you can no longer claim ignorance.  Do you continue to stand on somebody's foot, knowing you're causing them undue pain, or do you move?  Adidas moved.  You'll forgive me if I don't nominate them for a Nobel Prize. 

The question of whether somebody is "a racist" or not has assumed this false, diversionary place of centrality within these types of discussions.  Does anybody really think this guy, or this company, sat around thinking about ways to mock slavery?  No, but apparently slavery and the issue of mass incarceration are SO far removed from these people's lives that, in their incredible comfort, they can look at a pair of handcuffs and the FIRST thought that flashes to mind is a plush toy from the 80's.  Amazing.  

If that doesn't speak to privilege, what does? 

I bet the same people who got a problem with the shoe enjoy Tyler Perry movies and enjoy watching VH1 exploit black people on their shows and enforcing the stereotypes of black people... VH1 is doing more damage than a stupid shoe ... 

I'm so sick of this ridiculous "Tyler Perry" defense.  Just because Tyler Perry is Black, that doesn't mean that anything ANYONE does is suddenly acceptable by comparison.  In fact, it's pretty damned racist to act as though what Tyler Perry does represents the collective consent of every single Black person on Earth.  

That our economy rewards minstrelsy, and that some people of color take part in this because it's profitable, doesn't excuse racism.  It is, rather, symptomatic of racism.   

Are there bigger problems in the world than a pair of shoes with tacky plastic handcuffs?  Of course.  Millions of people are meeting cruel, violent deaths around the world right now.  If somebody slaps you in the face tomorrow, should you just shut up and stop whining, or do you have the right to stand up for yourself? 

I don't see any massive protests regarding this shoe.  I don't see people taking off of work.  I see people taking a few minutes to express their opinion about a product.  That's not unfamiliar territory for NikeTalk members - and complaining about offensive imagery is, so long as we're talking priorities, probably a bit more impactful than rehashing the "Nike Air" vs. Jumpman debate or whining about the Yeezy 2. 

 

[xblaze23]

@Young Handsome, "manufactured outrage" was the perfect title for that article.. thanks for that.

Props to Adidas for pulling them. Not worth the hassle with the internet heroes.

edit: the real shackles are on our shoes already, materialism.

 

[buggz05]

They're kind of kinky

 

[HEATHEN]

seriously, Tim Wise needs to publish a book for white people titled "Privilege: Do's and Dont's".

 

[vanexellent]

My I'm just naive or just being an old white/hispanic but when I first saw them I thought of either toy prison shackles (like attached to a ball & chain) or like when people attach a briefcase to their wrist with a handcuff.  I can now see where some see other things in it and while I respect that, I think pulling the shoe when clearly the artist/designer's intention was to pay tribute to a toy is giving power to something that isnt really there. If you view it with the best of intentions (and benefit of the doubt) then it should be clear.  Nike's famous slogan, "Just Do It" when viewed by some becomes something sexual with the emphasis on "it" (maybe intentional) while some will see it as a motivational theory in its true intention. But again, I cant speak for all and maybe my view of the world isnt influenced by past wrong doings perpetrated on a society.
However, on the topic of interpretation and reading into things...I see this certain Nike t-shirt and even as a big Kobe fan/jocker I cant help but read it and automatically think of Eagle, Colorado. 

 

[ruxxx]

Originally Posted by SneakerHeathen

seriously, Tim Wise needs to publish a book for white people titled "Privilege: Do's and Dont's".

 

[airmatt]

So anytime a pair of hand cuffs are depicted or bought by white people or chicks for kinky games = racist????

@@%%* seriously...

People need to stop reaching and looking for controversy where there is none...

 

[mo matik]

I remember long ago an older guy made the argument that baggy pants were a level of "institutionalized" racism, because people walked as if they were in shackles.

 

[Methodical Management]

I think pulling the shoe when clearly the artist/designer's intention was to pay tribute to a toy is giving power to something that isnt really there. 

So... connecting shackles to mass incarceration and slavery is "giving power to something that isn't really there?" 

Really?  

If your world is SO far removed from the very possibility of shackles used for their intended purpose, you're to be envied.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  These differing perspectives are precisely that:  DIFFERENT.  It's not that one person is right and the other is wrong, it's that you're viewing the same object within entirely different contexts.  If knowing more about where the designer is coming from is helpful, so, too, is learning more about where the criticism is coming from. 

Consider that mental associations involving handcuffs vary considerably in quantity and variety from those involving shackles - being chained at the feet.  When you transform an object, you run the risk of transforming its meaning.  When you take handcuffs off of a plush monster and affix them to the ankles of human beings, I think it's fair to say that something changes in the process. 

What that image calls to mind is, of course, related to the way you experience the world.  If you're privileged enough to only associate shackles with a cartoon monster, that's certainly a nice position to be in.  That doesn't mean that other people are WRONG to associate shackles with... you know.... shackles - as they've actually been used in the real world.  That doesn't strike me as a tremendous reach, and I'll certainly forgive people for considering it a rather inappropriate source of levity.

Personally, sporting shackles as a fad strikes me as inherently insensitive.  (Less so, obviously, than if it were deliberately marketed as "Kinte-kitsch," but still disrespectful nonetheless.) 

In South Korea, apparently there are (or were a few years ago) entire chains of Nazi and Hitler-themed bars:  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053797,00.html

As the article insists, "It wasn't long ago that Korea shook off its own authoritarian past. But the flirtation with things Nazi doesn't reflect an attraction to such politics. Nor does Korea, with no Jewish community to speak of, have an anti-Semitic streak. For many of the young people at the Fifth Reich, it's simply a fashion statement, with part of the appeal being the taboo nature of the symbols."

If nothing else, doesn't that strike you as a touch ignorant?  

Sitting there and debating whether or not the proprietors and clientele of such bars are rabid anti-Semites is, in a sense, beside the point.  They don't have to be driven by hatred to cause harm.

I think some people just want to have their cake and eat it, too.  They want to wear, say, or do something insensitive, but they refuse to allow anyone else to consider them insensitive for doing so.  (If that isn't the epitome of entitlement...) 
You can say, "it wasn't my intention to upset you", but once it's clear that your actions ARE upsetting someone you're then making a conscious decision to continue upsetting them anyway - and THAT is truly insensitive.

Part of majority privilege is the assumption that the way you see things is the way things objectively ARE - and that any deviation from the norm is somehow errant or delusional.  It's like when you have all these TV shows set in New York with all White casts and they eventually resort to tokenism in response to criticism.  Did it only become a problem when people complained about it - or was it ALWAYS a problem?   

It's incredibly difficult to be within a minority and be unaware of majority perspectives.  The inverse isn't true.  That you don't see something doesn't mean that it isn't there or that it isn't valid.  It just means that YOU don't see it.  And there could be a very good reason for that. 

 

[noblekane]

Originally Posted by buggz05

They're kind of kinky

what the hell 

 

[kicks off]

the only controversy for these shoes is the price tag.

 

[teamjordan79]

Slavery? Incarceration? Kinky? 

The artist is clearly trying to demonstrate in metaphor, how the consumer-sneaker culture has taken control over our bodies and perhaps minds; not to mention the ridiculous amount of money people will shell out for some cheaply assembled synthetic materials. People buying these is a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. 

 

[retro23j]

Originally Posted by Method Man

Now that you know it's offensive to many people, however, you can no longer claim ignorance.  Do you continue to stand on somebody's foot, knowing you're causing them undue pain, or do you move?  Adidas moved.  

This. I highly doubt that the designer didn't foresee this backlash anyway, just chose to push it anyway. It's a shoe with cuffs/shackles. A poor idea to begin with no matter what the inspiration was.

Originally Posted by AIRMATT

So anytime a pair of hand cuffs are depicted or bought by white people or chicks for kinky games = racist????

@@%%* seriously...

People need to stop reaching and looking for controversy where there is none...

........THIS is reaching.

 

[leonidas]

not a fan of the roundhouse model, but i thought the shackles looked kind of cool. I first saw the shoes and NO i did not immediately think "slavery" . Its Jeremy Scott for petes sake. He is known for his crazy weird designs, so I just thought this was one of them. SMH at all the people looking for racist symbols in everyday life. I would have copped because I like the concept, but $300 is RIDICULOUS. Kinda glad they got shelved though so I dont have to worry about missing out on these cause of the price tag.

 

[space doodoo pistols]

a white hoodie that zips all the way up is racist (in this thread).

so I should avoid black ski masks when i hit the slopes, too? heavens to betsy someone be offended!