TIME already caught itself being mocked by the internet for its breakdown of the word bae, which struck an impressive balance between educational and utterly useless, and they’re at it again. This time, they're looking at East Asian people throwing up the peace sign in pictures and giving you a historical/anthropological/bullshit-tastical account of what might have happened to start the trend.
The title of the piece alone is cringeworthy (“Have You Ever Wondered Why East Asians Spontaneously Make V-Signs in Photos?”) and continues the trend of needing to explain extra-cultural trends to people because… reasons? On top of that, the author does a masterful job of first proposing that a White American woman started the trend, despite having solid evidence to think that it started before her and was then popularized by a Japanese singer. Also of note from the piece:
“However, most young Asians who make the gesture in photos do so without thinking and are baffled when asked why they do it.”
This startling lack of self-awareness runs directly counter to the very thoroughly known and well-recorded reasons for White people doing things, such as “Because it’s cool!” or "It's Obama's fault."
(Which all of this is, btw. Obama's fault.)
Roll Call is a daily collection of interesting news stories, articles, blogs, and thinkpieces, curated by Tonja Stidhum and Natalie Degraffinried. They both have big hair, but they are not the same person.