Hot n' spicy discourse on representation, race and gender is firing up on Twitter (again) because of...emojis. Not sure what stage of civilization we're in now, but it's getting pretty absurd. If there's one thing Twitter has shown us time and time again, it's that even the most mundane and innocuous cultural phenomena can be twisted into highly contentious issues. @Emojipedia announced an array of new emojis that might hit devices this year, including a Hamsa Hand that looks just like Cthulu when turned upside-down, a face that either can't look away or can't bear to look (depending on your interpretation), Lin-Manuel Miranda lips, an orc, trans and gender-neutral pregnant people, new hand gestures in a variety of skin tones, and a handful of other very specific options.
Not everyone chose to be offended by the pregnant man emoji. Many were more concerned with the suggestive lip-biting emoji, whose resemblance to Lin-Manuel Miranda was quite triggering. The beans were a pretty big hit, though more than a few were indignant over the lack of a solid pink heart and called for a revision. You just can't please everyone. Perhaps in a decade or so, we'll have achieved emoji representation so perfect, we won't even be able to distinguish the emoji reality from our own.
