British Army under fire for 'racist' tweet that showed a soldier with black face-paint

British Army under fire for 'racist' tweet that showed a soldier with black face-paint

The British Army has apologised after posting an image of a soldier with a “blacked up” face on social media.

The image, published on the Army’s official Twitter account, showed a soldier wearing black face-paint as part of his camouflage in a jungle.

The tweet, which was swiftly deleted, was described as “stupid” and “racist” by outraged social media users, while anti-racism campaigners said the force should feel "embarrassed".

An Army spokesman later said they could see how the tweet "may have been misinterpreted" and apologised.

The image was captioned with the words: “Being a soldier in the jungle requires a robust sense of humour”.

Furious Twitter users have claimed that the reference to humour is “clearly” related to the soldier’s face paint, with one, Grace Petrie, writing: “The blackface combined with the ‘sense of humour’ line, it all comes off as pretty racist."

“The caption is definitely bad. There’s nothing else the ‘sense of humour’ could obviously refer to."

One user said he detests “the idea of non-white people fighting for a country that sees their skin colour as something to joke about” while another, Tenney Naumer, simply asked: “Are you completely stupid?”

A spokesman for the anti-racism campaign group HOPE not hate told the Telegraph: "With hindsight, it should have been obvious this photo and that caption were bound to cause problems.

"Whoever manages social media at the British Army has egg on their face and should feel rightly embarrassed.

"As an employer seeking to improve its diversity intake, the Army has got to hold itself to the highest standards. How this passed an internal check is hard to imagine."

However, another user added: “I am really disappointed that you deleted that tweet. The army should be made of strong stuff, not caving in like that”.


Pictures and original tweet on link (won't allow me to post it for some reason)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/19/british-army-under-fire-for-racist-tweet-that-showed-a-soldier-w/

Anyone else think this was OTT? Perhaps I'll change my mind but this wasn't racist, was it? Soldiers do this....Right?

the PC brigade again....
the easily offended pansies
the ones who would die of fright if faced with an "enemy"
the sadly increasing number of ball less ones, with nothing better to do than "chelp"
the ones who would feed the croc their kids, in the hope it ate them last

The image was captioned with the words: “Being a soldier in the jungle requires a robust sense of humour”.

I don't know why that's deemed racist alongside a photo of a soldier with his face painted out, obviously in training?
Perhaps I'm not getting it.

I'm so sick of this culture of complaining about everything.

These people cause more harm than good with shouting racist at everything. Get a life instead of spending all day tweating about everything.

Bet none of them are black either. Whites making trouble again.

eddie wrote:Anyone else think this was OTT? Perhaps I'll change my mind but this wasn't racist, was it?  Soldiers do this....Right?

What are you suggesting by "soldiers do this...right"? Are you suggesting if something is 'common practice' it's acceptable? If Muslims make it 'common practice' to prevent girls from getting an education, would you say it's acceptable? If Nigerians make it 'common practice' to mutilate the female genitalia of young girls, would you say it is acceptable? I call this the 'boys-will-be-boys' line of argument, because it assumes that if enough people are doing it, that it's all right.

The thing about applying values to facts, is you've got to choose your value independently of the facts. First you decide right from wrong, then you ask if they are doing it correctly. When you are clear on your values, than looking to who does it is only remedial.

magica wrote:I'm so sick of this culture of complaining about everything.

These people cause more harm than good with shouting racist at everything.  Get a life instead of spending all day tweating about everything.

Bet none of them are black either. Whites making trouble again.

Do you feel the same way about FMG (as in the example above)? It's another example of people shouting about "everything" and "whites making trouble again."

A thing is PC only if we don't agree. If we agree, then it's a proper cause.

What's FMG got to do with this thread? It's about people moaning at a soldier blacking his face, which they do at night when at war, or manoeuvres.

Well, let's consider what the offended side is saying, shall we?

The photo shows a soldier with his face blacked out, and the caption says that soldiers must maintain a sense of humor.

At the very least, do people not have the right to ask what they find humorous about someone having a black face?

Quill doesn't like Soldiers,-----------[they kill babies don't you know?]

I thought the soldiers were in training and so, were camouflaged?

eddie wrote:I thought the soldiers were in training and so, were camouflaged?

Hilarious, right?

Ben Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:I thought the soldiers were in training and so, were camouflaged?

Hilarious, right?

Okay I'm really not getting it then. Why is it offensive to be camoulflaged?

eddie wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:I thought the soldiers were in training and so, were camouflaged?

Hilarious, right?

Okay I'm really not getting it then. Why is it offensive to be camoulflaged?

The image was captioned with the words: “Being a soldier in the jungle requires a robust sense of humour”.

Like I said above -- what is humorous about having a black face?

Right, there's me thinking they were camouflaged in black face paint and had made a caption about it and people had assumed they'd been making fun of black people?
That's how I took it.

eddie wrote:Right, there's me thinking they were camouflaged in black face paint and had made a caption about it and people had assumed they'd been making fun of black people?
That's how I took it.

It's hard to assume otherwise, to be fair. What else in that photo was supposed to be funny?

Ben Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:Right, there's me thinking they were camouflaged in black face paint and had made a caption about it and people had assumed they'd been making fun of black people?
That's how I took it.

It's hard to assume otherwise, to be fair. What else in that photo was supposed to be funny?

I don't know the event that led up to it and if it was about black people. TBH I don't know now what I think.

Lord Foul wrote:the PC brigade again....
the easily offended pansies
the ones who would die of fright if faced with an "enemy"
the sadly increasing number of ball less ones, with nothing better to do than "chelp"
the ones who would feed the croc their kids, in the hope it ate them last

Brilliant post, TRUTHFUL

Major wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:the PC brigade again....
the easily offended pansies
the ones who would die of fright if faced with an "enemy"
the sadly increasing number of ball less ones, with nothing better to do than "chelp"
the ones who would feed the croc their kids, in the hope it ate them last

Brilliant post, TRUTHFUL

Typical response -- don't address why people might be offended, just applaud the growling

Soldiers VERY RARELY USE ONE COLOUR ON THEIR FACES FOR COMOUFLAGE.   All black stands out as much as all white.   They break up the colour so that the shape of a face does not stand out.   Obviously, nobody seems to have been around the military a lot.

This is the normal camouflage they use:



And that is why the blacked up face was stupid to use.   And saying they had to have a sense of humour to use it was pretty fucking stupid.   They could have put normal camouflage on and the remark about a sense of humour and nobody could have misinterpreted it.

Thank you sassy. I shoulda coulda googled that myself and now I get it. They don't usually use black. Now I get it.

Welcome.  If people haven't been around the military they are not going to know that normal camouflage isn't one colour.

sassy wrote:Welcome.  If people haven't been around the military they are not going to know that normal camouflage isn't one colour.

But I've watched Rambo! I shoulda known that!

LOL.   You admit to watching Rambo!!!!

sassy wrote:LOL.   You admit to watching Rambo!!!!

What's not to love about Rambo?? He was PERSECUTED!!

sassy wrote:Soldiers VERY RARELY USE ONE COLOUR ON THEIR FACES FOR COMOUFLAGE.   All black stands out as much as all white.   They break up the colour so that the shape of a face does not stand out.   Obviously, nobody seems to have been around the military a lot.

This is the normal camouflage they use:



And that is why the blacked up face was stupid to use.   And saying they had to have a sense of humour to use it was pretty fucking stupid.   They could have put normal camouflage on and the remark about a sense of humour and nobody could have misinterpreted it.

Where did you get that picture from...?


I thought the op was about a British soldier...?


And camouflage varies depending on location, surroundings, objective...

magica wrote:What's FMG got to do with this thread? It's about people moaning at a soldier blacking his face, which they do at night when at war, or manoeuvres.

I told you, you DF: "It's another example of people shouting about "everything" and "whites making trouble again."

nicko wrote:Quill doesn't like Soldiers,-----------[they kill babies don't you know?]

The soldiers are incidental. I was talking about PC, DF.

My problem is the offense at blackface is really a very specific entirely USA offense
All White are not the same we don't all share the same history

Black Americans are no more African than White Americans Are Europeans.
You Are All Americans, and if between you, you want to have an issue with face paint fine.
But To expect other races to not let one group of people use face paint just because of their skin colour is Racist.
It's USA history Not White History.

Veya this is about the uk army.