The evil eye

As a kid, I was on the receiving end of this gesture countless times. And invariably, the kid performing the gesture had to recite the "Chinese, Japanese..." rhyme, perhaps making it a "cute" playground act.

I'm sure every Asian kid who grew up outside of Asia has had it done to him at some point in his life.

But adults -- pro athletes to whom people look up as role models -- making the grade-school gesture? Immature. Intolerant. Unnecessary. Disappointing.

I've tried to keep an open mind, see their side: Perhaps the culture in which they were raised might not expose them to offensive gestures. Or, am I overreacting, too sensitive? Becoming another annoying case of political correctness run amok?

No, I don't think so. It is an offensive gesture.

It's a gesture performed by millions of youngsters the world over for the purpose of teasing another. No, young kids don't know right from wrong yet. But they don't tease others like a teen boy who would tease a girl because he secretly likes her and is trying to keep her attention. Youngsters aren't that complicated yet. They tease because they either simply get a laugh or kick from mocking another, or they're angry, jealous or trying to assert dominance. For the most part, they eventually grow out of teasing altogether and don't find it amusing any more.

So back to the Spanish team.

"One of our sponsors asked us to pose with a 'wink' to our participation in Beijing, [so] we made an Oriental expression with our eyes," Spaniard Jose Calderon, who plays for the NBA's Toronto Raptors, said on his Web site. "We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving."

If the gesture were all in good fun and a gesture of respect, would they have willingly posed with spears for an Olympic Games held in Africa? Who knows. But I doubt the advertiser for whom the Spanish team posed ever would have approved of that. Why is it seemingly acceptible to tease Asians but not other minorities?

Not all on the Spanish team was comfortable with the pose. Pau Gasol, another NBA player, said, "Some of us didn’t feel comfortable doing it just because to me it was a little clownish for our part to be doing that. ... I think it is just a bad idea I guess to do that, but it was never intended to be offensive or racist against anybody. ... I didn’t find it very funny. I didn’t find it offensive, either. I guess some guys didn’t mind. To me I don’t want to be that way, I guess, to be doing that stuff."

So if at least one person in the group felt sheepish about the gesture, that should have been a red flag. I don't mean to be the P.C. Police. But if the team and advertiser wanted to pay respect to the Chinese, there were so many other ways to do it than a schoolyard taunt.

UPDATE: Good question posed by buddy Plan9B: How do Asians living in Spain feel about the ad?