Racist Or Just Nostalgic?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10435381/Councillor-denies-golliwog-dolls-are-racist-as-she-believes-they-have-smiling-little-faces.html

[emmie]

bit of both, i remember the Robinsons golly on the jam, and had a golly when i was a child. Rather an over reaction i would have thought...

[2sp_]

I had a golly when I was wee. In my mind it was just a rag doll made with black material - I also had a rag doll made with white material.

[Bazile]

//I ask because in Cuba I once bought a doll similar to that person, a black female doll of handsome proportions, with white turban and pinny, this was sold to me by a black Cuban, no problem at all. //

Yes , that was under direct instruictions from Castro

[jno]

Bazile, Wikipedia says the Jamaicans derived their word from picaninny but expanded it to mean children of any colour.

[FredPuli43]

I agree with the Councillor. Calling somebody a 'wog' or 'golliwog' is usually a racist insult. Having a doll which reminds us of a time when black minstrels performed in that outfit, and when white performers blacked up to copy them, is not.

I have before me the book which gave us the word 'golliwog'. It is a children's book "The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls". The character frightens the others by his appearance ("the blackest gnome") but immediately; "With kindly smile,he nearer draws; begs them to feel no fear. 'What is your name?' cries Sarah-Jane. 'The golliwog, my dear' "; they are firm friends and walk off arm in arm. And he comes out well in the story.

That is not racist either. It is unfortunate that the invented word has been adapted, and shortened, like '***', for racist abuse.

[FredPuli43]

All right, censor. Pakistani but shortened to four letters.

[Old_Geezer]

One must realise that their viewpoint is on a 'sticky wicket' if they feel they need to compare cute black fictional characters with dolls representing those confined in Auschwitz. Did you not feel embarrassed to post that ?

[Zeuhl]

/Did you not feel embarrassed to post that ?/

.... No
It was a perfectly valid comparison

/cute black fictional characters/

They are not 'fictional' - they are grotesque depictions of Black people with associations to a time when they were profoundly repressed, enslaved, abused and murdered

/dolls representing those confined in Auschwitz/

would be grotesque depictions of Holocaust victims with associations to a time when they were profoundly repressed, enslaved, abused and murdered

OG

perhaps you can explain any differences you imagine there might be?

[Old_Geezer]

Not wishing to turn this into a yes it is, not it’s not, yes it is, not it’s not argument, I can only state what is so and allow you to decide to disbelieve it.

Golliwogs are fictional, they are not grotesque depictions of black people, and it is sad some folk insist on seeing them as such.

Auschwitz dolls by their very name/description have to be grotesque depictions of Holocaust victims with associations to a time when they were profoundly repressed, enslaved, abused and murdered.

The differences are not imagined they are blatant.

So the conclusion has to be that whether it is done on a conscious or unconscious level, any railing against golliwogs is surely just trouble raising.

Besides Godwin's Rule has effectively decided this now :-)

[Baldric]

Look hard enough and you're bound to find someone who will be offended by just about anything, it's a way of life to some!

[Mamyalynne]

It is surely only Racist, if you admire the 'Golly' for all its negative connotations - It is nostalgia if you recall the innocent pleasure the tin badge or cuddly toy that made you smile as a child.

[Zeuhl]

/Golliwogs are fictional, they are not grotesque depictions of black people/

OG

I think you mean 'fantasy' not 'fictional'

either way you are mistaken

//The Golliwog was visualised by Florence Upton; born in 1873 in Flushing, New York, the daughter of English parents who had emigrated to the United States three years previously. She illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg.

A product of the blackface minstrel tradition, the Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright, red lips; and wild, woolly hair. He wore red trousers, a shirt with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails — all traditional minstrel attire.//

Clearly the character IS referenced from the Minstrel tradition which themselves were racist caricatures of Black people

[ludwig]

Zeuhl. // And was it easy to inflate? //
Lol.

Golliwogs are indeed a racist caricature. However, that doesn't make people who own them or who think they're cute racists.
I don't think they should be sold nowadays though. They're a thing of the past.

[Kromovaracun]

//Auschwitz dolls by their very name/description have to be grotesque depictions of Holocaust victims with associations to a time when they were profoundly repressed, enslaved, abused and murdered.//

Golliwogs -and Minstrel entertainment, for that matter - date from a time when the same thing was true for blacks.