It floors me that anyone could find that not offensive, let alone whine whenever they are inconvenienced or annoyed by others being hurt by their lack of respect. Putting aside the question of whether that sort of thing is poking fun at a hurtful stereotype, the whole notion that a culture or ethnicity can be considered appropriate subjects for decorative kitsch only shows how lowly people think of that culture or ethnicity. Not only does it reveal that they see them as caricature-like and ridiculous, with no self-awareness to how equally arbitrary and ridiculous their own customs are to an external and objective observer, but that they don’t see someone who might actually look like their so-respectful portrayal as an individual. Imagine if someone displayed a Jew figurine on their front lawn as an ornament. I’m sure people would immediately understand if others took offense. Oh well, at least we know that all it takes to make people feel uncomfortable with this sort of stereotyping and caricaturing is mass murder and global tragedy and horror.

On the other hand, why can’t people just *get over it* when their culture is condescended, insulted, or dismissed? It’s not like this has been happening between cultures, causing strife, misunderstanding and bad blood for centuries; it’s only been hundreds of years! Whatever. These sorts of things are not issues of “sensitivity.” They’re issues of comfortable supermajorities granting themselves the luxury of belonging to a post-racial, post-sexist, post-whatever world simply by deciding that it is so in order to make all guilt vanish in a puff of rationalization.

So I guess my answer is No.