Outrage over NEBCO's Gandhi-Bot

fair enough, but i think they support the movement.

 

I'm guessing that's largely beside the point for people complaining, and that it has more to do with the appropriation of the image of such a revered figure.

 

If descendants of Gandhi approved, why is this an issue?

 

India is in fact on another continent.

 

seems the Buddhists are on a rampage as well

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/b...es-image-triggers-controversy-myanmar-n278386

 

Gonna have to become "Funky Bruddah" now down in Florida. Although that might piss off the Hawaiians!

 

Good thing they didn't catch wind here. But I will say I was pretty shocked and amused when I woke up this am then it just kept going. Glad they were able to put a stop to the comment attacks and they played it out well.

 

You would think that something like this would surprise me, but you know, once people started complaining about highway signs saying "Merry Christmas" I sortof became numb to it.

 

i'm sensitive to cultural appropriation, and i still say the people against it are in the wrong.

like it or not, we're not talking about hip hop garb, or native american headdresses, or extremely specific figures in movements like stokely carmichael or something. we're talking about a world figure who was extremely prominent both in the struggle against apartheid in south africa, and then the indian independence movement. more importantly (more importantly? yes) a seminal figure in the modern philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

gandhi is a figure like plato, zizek, bertrand russell, heidegger, etc. he belongs to the world and his influence is multifaceted. the point of that list is that the discursive import of these figures for the rest of the world goes beyond their personal involvements, and therefore it is not controversial to make use of their image or insights outside of contexts that are explicitly (or at all!) related to their incidental personal/ideological allegiances.

i obviously understand why he might be revered by indians, but we need to be realistic. gandhi is not your gandhi, whoever you are. he is a complicated figure of global, historical significance.

and gandhi bot is a playful, respectful, silly brand name for a world class beer... in a series of beers named after (generally leftist) figures prominent in resistance movements who espoused socialist principles. it's not only not a big deal, it's intelligent and totally devoid of mockery. yes, he's depicted as a robot. it's a silly beer name. it does not belittle gandhi or anything he stood for, even in the slightest.

edit: i mean, i personally believe in many of the principles gandhi stood for, and i also generally avoid alcohol these days. however, if you were to depict ME as a robot... neither i nor my family and friends would be too broken up about it. or even upset or offended at all.

 

The best thing about the Internet is it gives everyone a platform. The worst thing about the Internet is it gives everyone a platform.

As with everything - religion, politics, BEER - you'll always have extremists who speak the loudest, get the most attention yet represent the smallest minority.

Unfortunately for NEBCO they've entered into a lose-lose situation by engaging this vocal minority. The best thing that could've have happened was NEBCO and their supporters ignored this minority group and let them bluster till they ran out of air. At this point now it's going to be harder to do and I wouldn't be surprised if you CT residents see something about this on your local news this week. Sounds like the kind of click bait and commercial teasers that the news media would eat up.

 

eh, i think their response was really respectful and well thought out. they didn't insult the vocal minority, they expressed sympathy with the position of the people criticizing them, and they explained why they don't feel inclined to change the label. i think they handled it properly myself.

 

They're just pissed because they can't get the beer... kinda like me.

I have Indian in-laws and can't imagine this making any of them upset in any way. Further, having visited Ghandi's burial place and reading a fair amount of material there in addition to education here, I can't imagine Ghandi himself being upset. Anyone who tries to change things by nonviolent resistance better have a well developed sense of humor.

 

I think this will actually boost sales for them. Americans will side with NEBCO and buy it even more now I think... If thats possible.

 

And silly me thought the outrage was that it's been nearly impossible to wander into a store, see GB sitting on the shelf or in a cooler and buy it for like years now.

 

It's already impossible to find in cans.

 

this

 

I have no dog in this fight or horse in this race or metaphor in this instance, and I generally agree with what you say, yet I can understand (without necessarily agreeing) how some might be bothered by this. It's true that world-historic figures belong to the world, but they only have meaning in the context of their thoughts and deeds. It makes sense to me that some might see this use of Gandhi's image for commercial purposes (and more specifically, for alcohol) as very bad form.

Just to be clear, is your world-historic significance more on the level of Gandhi (i.e., very significant) or Zizek (i.e., oh c'mon dude be serious)?

 

What could a few internet trolls do to a small brewery that the majority of America doesn't know or give a fuck about. This is beyond comical

 

neither. personally, in time i doubt zizek will be any more significant than heidegger, who himself is only spoken about because some of the people who gave a shit about what he wrote ended up being significant. and russell is a shadow compared to frege and wittgenstein.

the point of the list was that these people make very clear, strong claims about partisan conflicts (interesting the one heidegger was on the side of). however, they are world figures. if i were to recapitulate zizek's claims on psychoanalysis, i would no more be appropriating him from marxists than he can be said to be appropriating that idiot lacan from the 10 housewives that actually attended his lectures. russell isn't just russell the atheist anarchist, he's also the russell of the russell paradox. and whether or not you understand the principia mathematica, you can talk about "on leisure"--either in support or ridicule.

and of course the point of the robot depiction comment is that being depicted as a stately robot isn't offensive (maybe depicting the unabomber as a robot would be offensive to him or any luddite followers he potentially has/had). and it's all well and good to be offended at associating gandhi with alcohol, but that was obviously not his central message and these guys make beer--anyone they discuss is associated with alcohol. obviously they don't see that as a bad thing, what with dedicating their lives to this craft and all.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/karimasanela/gandhi-what

Oh c'mon dude.