i once went on a date (in the southern united states) where i went to a party at this girl's house, was drinking beer, thought things were fine, when i walked into her bathroom and there was racist iconography of the sort you're describing on 3 or 4 shelves. i almost threw up. date was over.
Maybe people react against it because we actually do live in Spike Lee's Bamboozled universe, where everyone genuinely finds racist caricature charming and funny but they're just kind of shy about admitting it.
yep. you hit the nail on the head there. i found that movie depressing to watch. depressing, much like real life. i imagine that was the whole point.
I watched it in class. When it was over, everyone just say there with out mouths hanging open, totally speechless. Unfortunately the prof mistook our silence for actually not having anything to say about it, so we never got to discuss it, and I still regret that. A lot of people in the class had, shall we say, less than a nuanced perspective on race, and it would've been interesting to hear what they had to say.
It's among the most depressing movies I've ever watched, for sure. It's terrifying to consider how plausible/real that world is.
As an aside, I work next to an an urban mall that is a sad example of decay. The decor hasn't been updated since the mid 70s', there is a bus station attached, homeless people around, etc.
There is a hallmark shop in that mall. They had a table of dicounted nick knacks outside the store. Mainly beanie baby type things but there was also a statue kind of like . It was absolutely outlandish and out of place. I'd never seen anything like it in a regular store, and the fact that I found it in an urban mall like Midtown made me really uncomfortable.
I poked around that Jim Crow museum you linked to a bit yesterday and... wow. It's an amazing resource and I'm happy to know that stuff like this exists. The commentary is really good and I'm already learning a ton, even just three pages in. But so disheartening, too.
(Note: No, you don't know me. You are on the friendslist of one of my friends. I was moved to comment.)
The reason people react against political correctness is not because it deprives them of the linguistic liberty to throw around "fag" and "retarded" like they used to in the good ol' days, or because it takes away their right to laugh guiltlessly at unfunny jokes. People react against political correctness because it destroys the idea that the -isms are about other people, bad and hateful people, doing bad and hateful things. It makes us realize that they're systemic issues that we all benefit from and maintain in various ways. Having to keep tabs on language and individual action reminds us that we're all personally culpable, in a culture where we're obsessed with feeling like Good People.If I may, I'd like to respectfully disagree with you to a bit. I do agree that it's important that we all at least be made aware of the unconscious nature of some of the racism and prejudice in society; I was in college during the highwater of
( ... )
Holy... thank you for such a thoughtful response! I fear that as the result of having not slept properly in about four days I'm not at my best to give you an equally thoughtful reply, but we'll see what I can muster, huh
( ... )
Oh, forgot to add -- have you ever heard of a movie called C.S.A.? It's a brilliant "mockumentary" I saw a few months ago. It imagines that the Confederate states won the Civil War, and pretends to be a British-produced present-day documentary about the "history of the Confederate States of America." But it also goes a step further and presents it as if it's being aired on a CSA network, so it's got all these "commercial breaks" for things like "Darkie" brand toothpaste and the like.
Then, at the very end, over the closing credits, the film points out exactly how much reality the film was based on -- right down to the commercials. Because there really WAS a "Darkie" brand toothpaste, for example, in some parts of Asia. (I recognized it before they got to the credits; the friend of a friend went to Indonesia for a visit, and got a couple tubes to bring back and show people because he just could not believe it.)
I have heard a bit about C.S.A., actually, but I think it was quite a while ago. I just watched the trailer now and... whoa. I'd love to see it, but I don't think it's come to Canada (yet?). I'm glad to hear that it sounds worthwhile though. If ever it's playing in my neck of the woods, I'll be sure to see it.
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yep. you hit the nail on the head there. i found that movie depressing to watch. depressing, much like real life. i imagine that was the whole point.
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It's among the most depressing movies I've ever watched, for sure. It's terrifying to consider how plausible/real that world is.
Reply
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/menu.htm
As an aside, I work next to an an urban mall that is a sad example of decay. The decor hasn't been updated since the mid 70s', there is a bus station attached, homeless people around, etc.
There is a hallmark shop in that mall. They had a table of dicounted nick knacks outside the store. Mainly beanie baby type things but there was also a statue kind of like . It was absolutely outlandish and out of place. I'd never seen anything like it in a regular store, and the fact that I found it in an urban mall like Midtown made me really uncomfortable.
Reply
I poked around that Jim Crow museum you linked to a bit yesterday and... wow. It's an amazing resource and I'm happy to know that stuff like this exists. The commentary is really good and I'm already learning a ton, even just three pages in. But so disheartening, too.
Reply
The reason people react against political correctness is not because it deprives them of the linguistic liberty to throw around "fag" and "retarded" like they used to in the good ol' days, or because it takes away their right to laugh guiltlessly at unfunny jokes. People react against political correctness because it destroys the idea that the -isms are about other people, bad and hateful people, doing bad and hateful things. It makes us realize that they're systemic issues that we all benefit from and maintain in various ways. Having to keep tabs on language and individual action reminds us that we're all personally culpable, in a culture where we're obsessed with feeling like Good People.If I may, I'd like to respectfully disagree with you to a bit. I do agree that it's important that we all at least be made aware of the unconscious nature of some of the racism and prejudice in society; I was in college during the highwater of ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Then, at the very end, over the closing credits, the film points out exactly how much reality the film was based on -- right down to the commercials. Because there really WAS a "Darkie" brand toothpaste, for example, in some parts of Asia. (I recognized it before they got to the credits; the friend of a friend went to Indonesia for a visit, and got a couple tubes to bring back and show people because he just could not believe it.)
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