One I hear a lot is "racist memorabilia." http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/ I have an artist friend (who is African American) who collects some of that stuff. Aunt Jemima cookie jars and such. However, I never for a second thought of the Woo as having anything to do with the history of American racist iconography. As regards the term and the whole Sambo legacy, it's a problematic thing. Read the Wikipedia article on "Little Black Sambo" if you're interested. It lays it out objectively. For the sake of general respect in public forums, I think it's best not to use such terms. It's understood that no harm was intended but the fact that people get upset or their feelings hurt ... there are very real reasons for that. It's not just "PC" oversensitivity. Again, given the origins of the Woo, I don't get it. Despite the fact that Japan does have a history of the use of old American racist iconography, Woo isn't part of all that.
I would think that comments about race, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc should be considered inappropriate for an international board that discusses the toy scene. In the last week, there have been two other racial comments, by two other members that could be considered inflammatory.
"black memorabilia" - some people actually buy this stuff to remove it from the marketplace according to one website, although there are at least a few books and collectible guides devoted to it.
Oh, come on, you can't go that far with an accusation like that without naming names. (Unless you're trying not to be inflammatory.)
I think it's interesting stuff actually. I mean, there's a lot of tears and sadness behind it all, but people collect Nazi stuff and they're firmly anti-Nazi (Lemmy comes to mind.) It also, to me, "un-racists" it in a sense. It becomes more about the product than the meaning, while still shedding light on the sad truth behind it. I don't think of it as racist so much as educational I guess is what I'm trying to say, and we need to be educated as much as possible on a lot of terrible things in our history.
Well said BD. Yeah, collecting the stuff is as I understand usually NOT out of support for old stereotypes, but rather fascination with history or personal issues with it. Spike Lee has a huge collection of old stereotype stuff for example. One item from his collection, an old cast iron coin-operated action bank with a now-offensive name appears in his movie "Bamboozled." Obviously he doesn't collect these items out of sympathy for the mindset that created them.
Well, I'm glad to see that this turned into a worthwhile discussion instead of baseless accusations of my interpreted racism. I guess some people are just more sensitive than I am about the subject, and understandably so, but in the end no harm was meant whatsoever.
as a Hispanic I find this thread repressive. No one has mentioned Hispanics, and we are a rich part of this countries history. I DEMAND JUSTICE.
Of course you are. total Hispanic. Hispanic is Spanish or 'Spanish plus something else.' Im half Spanish and half Polish=Hispanic. Spanish ( arabic Morena) Mom and Polish Dad. Viva La Keilbasa!
huh,, I thought you had to be from south america/ native america to be hispanic. or have native american bloodlines.
man Im trippin, I thought you had to be from the western hemisphere to be hispanic. learn somthing new everyday.
That may be because the US Census Bureau started using the word "Hispanic" as a subset of "Caucasian" during the Nixon years IIRC to mean pretty much the same thing that people mean when they say "Latino," but both terms are problematic in usage. I think it's best not to get too uptight about these things, but many people especially Mestiza people in the "new world" find "Hispanic" to be offensive on the principle that it refers to the Spanish ancestry at the expense of the indigenous American. Given the conquest history, you can see why people are sensitive about these things to this day. Technically, a Spanish person is "Hispanic" (although if you ask me you might as well just say "Spanish.") Technically, an Italian or even some French people would be as "Latino" as a Latin American. (Where do ya think "Latin" comes from, anyway?) However obviously, the phrase is usually meant to refer to people from Mexico, central, or south America, or their progeny. Woo is Japanese kaiju. New Age and the wrong kind of conspiratorial nuttiness are "woo-woo." If you fancy someone, you may choose to woo them. "Woo Who" is a kaiju band featuring Roger Daltrey. "Woo-hoo" is something you say when you buy new kaiju. Sambo was originally Indian, not African, but we won't go there because that causes thread drift and stuff.
I was referring to common contemporary use as a possible explanation of why Tavaro thought it referred to Westerners. At least I didn't go off about "Andalusian," "Iberian," "Hesperia" or "Catalunyan."
Im Castillian, but my people come from Cataluñia. I am a god-damn traitor by birth. It actually caused me endless grief when I was a kid. All my Catalan relatives hated me. VICTIM OF GEOGRAPHY. uptight fucks. one reason why I left. Want to know a big secret? America is one of the least intolerant and racist places there is.
I haven't yet been to Spain but love Renaissance music from Cataluña. Gots me a huge collection, mostly related to work by Jordi Savall and his wife Montserrat Figueras. Amazing stuff because the cross-influence of Arabic, European, Jewish and African cultures is so harmonious. Then along came Ferdinand and Isabella and kicked everyone out of the pool except the Christians. I'm glad I grew up in the SF Bay Area because it was diverse before anyone was talking about "diversity." My first crush was on a Vietnamese girl before the Vietnam war ended. Maybe if I grew up in another part of the country I'd see things differently, but despite the racism that does exist here, at least it's not considered cool by most folks. On the other hand, I don't think anyone is truly PC. We all have a little Panama Canal of stereotypes somewhere in our reptile brains. The main thing is how you treat others.
