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Sep. 14th, 2012 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerI'm going to talk about Stepin Fetchit.
Lincoln Perry adopted the persona of Stepin Fetchit, which embodied many of the negative stereotypes surrounding the image of the black man in American culture, and ultimately became a millionaire as a result. He was just one of many actors, both black and white, who popularised this offensive image (Willie Best, who worked with Bob Hope among others, sometimes used the stage name of Sleep'n'Eat) and characterised black men in the public mind as lazy, illiterate, simple-minded, unreliable, or any or all of the above. Happily, that image has now been consigned to the dustbin of history.
The Black Panthers were an African-American revolutionary socialist organisation who attracted controversy for their militant posture. In the late sixties and early seventies a number of police officers and others were shot, killed or injured in confrontations involving members of the group. Over three hundred Panthers were arrested for these crimes, and dealt with by due process.
But nobody, as far as I know, had the unmitigated stupidity or the colossal gall to suggest that the Black Panthers were just ticked off because of the portrayal of black characters in films by such actors as Mr Perry and Mr Best. It was at least recognised, I believe, that this was just one of a huge raft of genuine and warrantable grievances.
So when you read someone on FB defending the makers of the offensive anti-Muslim propaganda film because the attacks on American embassies were horrific and unconscionable (which they were) and saying "being offended doesn't give you a licence to kill," stop and think for a moment about the possibility that maybe the extremists who fired the rockets might just have had more on their minds than a cheap, badly made, nasty little film...AND (and) that, even if that is not so, their monstrous overreaction does not render the original offence excusable. It does not.
It is not censorship to demand that people who have done no harm be treated with respect. It's not appeasement to shut someone up if they persist in yelling obscene accusations at innocent passers-by, even if someone reacts violently to them. It's basic human civility. It's a vital necessity if we are ever to live in peace with our neighbours. And if Mitt Romney gets in in November because too many people decide as a result of this incident that Obama is a secret Muslim and soft on terror, then it really won't matter if my apparently Limbaughesque conspiracy theory (in which I would like very much not to have to believe, please) was right or wrong.
That's it for the moment.
Lincoln Perry adopted the persona of Stepin Fetchit, which embodied many of the negative stereotypes surrounding the image of the black man in American culture, and ultimately became a millionaire as a result. He was just one of many actors, both black and white, who popularised this offensive image (Willie Best, who worked with Bob Hope among others, sometimes used the stage name of Sleep'n'Eat) and characterised black men in the public mind as lazy, illiterate, simple-minded, unreliable, or any or all of the above. Happily, that image has now been consigned to the dustbin of history.
The Black Panthers were an African-American revolutionary socialist organisation who attracted controversy for their militant posture. In the late sixties and early seventies a number of police officers and others were shot, killed or injured in confrontations involving members of the group. Over three hundred Panthers were arrested for these crimes, and dealt with by due process.
But nobody, as far as I know, had the unmitigated stupidity or the colossal gall to suggest that the Black Panthers were just ticked off because of the portrayal of black characters in films by such actors as Mr Perry and Mr Best. It was at least recognised, I believe, that this was just one of a huge raft of genuine and warrantable grievances.
So when you read someone on FB defending the makers of the offensive anti-Muslim propaganda film because the attacks on American embassies were horrific and unconscionable (which they were) and saying "being offended doesn't give you a licence to kill," stop and think for a moment about the possibility that maybe the extremists who fired the rockets might just have had more on their minds than a cheap, badly made, nasty little film...AND (and) that, even if that is not so, their monstrous overreaction does not render the original offence excusable. It does not.
It is not censorship to demand that people who have done no harm be treated with respect. It's not appeasement to shut someone up if they persist in yelling obscene accusations at innocent passers-by, even if someone reacts violently to them. It's basic human civility. It's a vital necessity if we are ever to live in peace with our neighbours. And if Mitt Romney gets in in November because too many people decide as a result of this incident that Obama is a secret Muslim and soft on terror, then it really won't matter if my apparently Limbaughesque conspiracy theory (in which I would like very much not to have to believe, please) was right or wrong.
That's it for the moment.
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Re: Flouncing
Date: 2012-09-15 02:22 pm (UTC)Re: Flouncing
Date: 2012-09-15 02:52 pm (UTC)As for Facebook, I think I'm finally cured.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 07:54 pm (UTC)if Mitt Romney gets in in November because too many people decide as a result of this incident that Obama is a secret Muslim and soft on terror...
I don't think Romney has won any points on this. He has shown he is as ignorant of foreign affairs as Obama, and he doesn't have anyone as astute as the Clintons to draw from.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-18 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-16 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-16 06:44 pm (UTC)Spot-on, I thought.