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From the special moderation queue

We have this comment on the post about a racist ad in the New York Times:

How exactly is this ‘racist’? It’s you goode PC lefty folks who are making the negro-monkey connection, not the ad.

Also, regarding racism and ‘empowerment’ of ‘minorities’ in general: be careful what you wish for. You might just get South Africa — or worse.

Ah yes. We’re the racist ones, not the lovely commenter who linked to an article about how South African black people are out of control, and how treating them like full citizens and human beings has created a national disaster. Trigger warning for the article: It has descriptions of ugly sexual assaults, and it’s chock-full of racist content. It says, no joke:

Verwoerd [“South Africa’s greatest post-war leader”] argued for apartheid – or ‘separate development’ – with great moral fervour. Whilst his priority was his own Afrikaner people, whom he saw as the standard-bearers of his country’s European identity, at the root of his outlook was the perception that South Africa’s multifarious peoples could only live in harmony if they lived apart. In view of what is happening now, who can say that he was wrong?

The article concludes with a hope that a national dialog about apartheid will be re-opened in South Africa.

But I’m the racist because I saw an ad where greedy poor people were portrayed as apes, and I made the connection to the long, long traditions of using monkeys and apes to represent people of color, and of stereotyping people of color as lazy, greedy and animalistic. There’s a lot more I could say about the South Africa article, but I’ll just let you all read it if you’re feeling like your blood pressure is too low.


11 thoughts on From the special moderation queue

  1. Apes were also the stand in for the Irish in th 19th Century. It is a fairly traditional representation of the poor (the out of control, universally dangerous poor) but of people of color in particular.

  2. It’s true that we are the ones making the “Negro-monkey” connection. He does get that right.

    That doesn’t mean we’re wrong. Just that we are capable of seeing the obvious, and willing to call out offensive stereotypes instead of pretending that they don’t exist or that using them doesn’t matter.

    Is this clown trying to claim that advertising DOESN’T shorthand cultural messages? Some of them (many of them) simply shouldn’t be allowed to continue.

  3. I didn’t think it was a racist ad when I saw it.

    But now that I think about it… how does monkey = poor/lazy? Because monkeys throw their poop at people in the zoo? I don’t think it makes any sense *unless* you consider the symbolism in a racist context.

  4. I notice that the Spearhead article is very long in racist invective but short on statistics. And in any case, I’d be interested to see how often white men under apartheid were prosecuted for sexually abusing black women. My guess is, not very often.

  5. While something about the tone of the article gave me pause, actually, conditions in South Africa are that bad. I should know -I lived there. My family & I didn’t immigrate because we had a problem with a black government; we left because of the crime & the fact that there are few jobs & little solid education. Next time you see a whole bunch of people leaving their country shortly after the election of a new government, pay attention!

  6. Also, there is a point to be made for John Morse’s assertion that the current government does not understand western liberal values -then again, the previous government didn’t quite understand them either! I always wonder: could things have been different if my ancestors had the good sense to go beyond the European prejudices of their ancestry (the same prejudices that discriminated against them as members of a mere colony)? Maybe -but the point is moot now. One thing I find fascinating about these lovely values is how, judging by the language that the first writers used, people of all races & genders assume that they are included -then find out that they are not included at first.

    I don’t think Eritis Sicut Agni gets liberal values either (at least in their current evolved form).

  7. Huh? It’s making fun of Tarzan? Heh. Even Amanda Marcotte says it’s King Kong you maroon. http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2007/08/20/book-cover/#comment-443581

    What’s hilarious about that thread is how idjits like Berube bend over backwards to first claim it’s all about sex and not racism and then bend over backwards the other way when the truth finally hit home.

    The real truth is that Feminists are no better and no worse than the Menz when it comes to prejudice and privilege. They are worse in that Feminists are often the last to concede that their shit stinks too.

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