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History Of Racist Spokescharacters

April 23rd, 2007 12 Comments

Interesting slide show from Slate.

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12 Responses to “History Of Racist Spokescharacters”

  1. Nimrod Gently says:
    April 23, 2007 at 5:50 pm

    We also have Uncle Ben’s over here, only he’s not actually referred to as anything other than the name of the company. He’s still the logo though.

    Reminds me of the film CSA.

  2. Ian says:
    April 23, 2007 at 6:07 pm

    Yes and if we’re going to go back in time .. let’s not forget Senator Robert “White N****r” Byrd.

    Seriously, leave it up to a race baiter like Oliver to post crap like this.

  3. Nimrod Gently says:
    April 23, 2007 at 6:17 pm

    Actually it was posted by someone at Slate.

  4. Oliver says:
    April 23, 2007 at 6:34 pm

    Clearly I invaded the minds of the Slate writers and compared spokescharacters to a Senator. God, you’re an idiot.

  5. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    April 23, 2007 at 6:52 pm

    This is the kind of crap I think of when conservatives lament about the good old days and traditional values.

    It that’s tradition, I’m glad we’ve grown since then.

  6. Nimrod Gently says:
    April 23, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    I actually had a golliwog. Never once considered the racial implications. Cos I was a toddler. And also it didn’t look anything like a real person.

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    April 24, 2007 at 1:04 am

    That’s an interesting insight there, Ian. I never considered that a study of racial stereotypes portrayed in commercial advertising was actually an attempt to stir up racial animosity.

    I’m glad we have smart young fellows like you to bring these things to our attention.

    Now get lost, please.

  8. LMMatthews says:
    April 24, 2007 at 10:29 am

    Nimrod – what in Hell is a golliwog?

  9. LMMatthews says:
    April 24, 2007 at 10:37 am

    Never mind – just looked it up online. I have never seen or heard of one before, and now that I see it I’m glad.

  10. SpiderJ says:
    April 24, 2007 at 10:41 am

    There’s a number of things from my childhood that I wish I’d realized were ugly before I’d enjoyed or participated. It makes me nauseous to think that we played a game called “smear the queer” at recess, in part because I don’t know how many of us actually knew what the phrase was in reference to.

  11. LMMatthews says:
    April 24, 2007 at 11:17 am

    I’ve heard of that one but never played that either. I just can’t imagine giving that doll or those books to a child, or even finding it amusing. Not that there aren’t enough sick things out there today, but DAMN it doesn’t take a genius in any era to figure out that those are completely wrong. I hope my kids never ever see this stuff.

    I did see the CSA movie and it made me sick. I couldn’t even stomach the whole thing – I had to watch it in well-spaced parts over a week with lots of cigarettes inbetween.

    I guess I’m fortunate to either be young enough or have parents who were sensible enough to not allow any of that kind of stuff, but when you think about it there are plenty of toys out there that still convey a bad message to kids. And shows. And clothes. I feel like the world’s meanest Mom sometimes because I’m so strict about what is and isn’t acceptable, but I can’t stand having a “Bling Bling Brat” doll in my house … or a bee bee gun …

    Hehe. And I remember my Mom complaining about our Garbage Pail Kids cards …

  12. Duros62 says:
    April 24, 2007 at 4:38 pm

    Reminds me of the film CSA.

    Just saw that couple of weeks ago. Funny and scary at the same time. And very well done.