Asus is a large Taiwanese computer manufacturer and the latest target of the hyper-offendable sexist brigade. You see, at a recent tradeshow an employee made this rather risqué tweet.
Of course this made the internets crazy. “OMG, Asus is sexist!” “I will never buy another motherboard from this company again!” First of all, good luck- Asus has a variety of parts in other company’s products so chances are you wouldn’t even know if you were supporting them. Secondly, while the CEO or anyone high up surely isn’t the gatekeeper of their social media message, I will concede that the remark is fairly inappropriate for an official company tweet. However, I’m more concerned with the indignant reaction. Is the comment really that bad?
This is how duplicitous the United States is about sex today. On one hand we have a culture that markets and praises attractiveness but on the other we are not allowed to speak on the subject. Don’t tell the pretty girl that she’s pretty because that’s sexist, and definitely don’t point out that she put on makeup so people would think she was pretty. The comment didn’t even use any crude language or sexual innuendo- the last time the public was in an outrage over the word ‘rear’ has got to be the 1950s.
Listen, I understand how this would be a rude comment if this was Hilary Clinton or someone at an event under a different context. I understand that debasing women in serious circumstances by making sexual references is ignorant at best. But is that what’s going on here?
This woman is a model. She’s not an electronics manufacturer working for Asus. The only reason she is here is because she is attractive and has nice body features. No doubt she is happy that guys like to look at her- it’s her livelihood. It’s not easy to make money yet she is doing it with a simple smile, but here it is taboo to mention this explicitly? If it’s not offensive to pay a pretty girl to attract male attention to your booth then what is offensive about the natural result?
I will forever be in awe at the depths that PC speech has infested society. Asus quickly and predictably removed the tweet and apologized. That’s too bad, because I’m waiting for the day that someone tells it like it is.
