Liberals have cancelled Mr. Potato Head. 😡

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

This is what these actual racists are up in arms about

like yeah, cancel the fuck out of this shit. Little Kids shouldn't be getting this shit normalized, and shouldn't see it until they can understand the context around it

 

 

Sir you're insulting my heritage. How dare you. 

[ort]

[Jason]

Just now, ort said:

 

wat

[ort]

Dude has a problematic history. Do some google searches.

 

It sounds like he did change his tune later in life and was probably just a product of his (completely fucked up) times... but still. Yeah, ugh...

 

His WWII propaganda cartoons are a hot mess too...

 

 

Pretty rich seeing as he comes from a family of German immigrants...

[Jason]

1 minute ago, ort said:

Dude has a problematic history. Do some google searches.

 

It sounds like he did change his tune later in life and was probably just a product of his (completely fucked up) times... but still. Yeah, ugh...

 

I knew about the outdated caricatures but I didn't realize it was THAT bad. 

[ort]

Yeah, apparently a N****** in the woodpile is an old term meaning something is fishy about a deal.

 

Like, you're buying a pile of wood, but no one told you it had a N****** in it.

 

A lie of omission so to speak.

 

Yes, it's that bad.

[ort]

[Guest]

The chance of art from the 30s and 40s having at the tamest insensitive racial/ethic stereotypes is 100% if it includes non-white anything.

[SuperSpreader]

1 hour ago, Komusha said:

It would be one thing if the blowback was because people were criticizing Hasbro’s performance wokeness, but instead the blowback is because “trans people are ruining this country and are responsible for canceling Mr Potato head.” So the blowback actually stirs up hatred for a vulnerable group that is already much more likely to be violently attacked. Saying this blowback is deserved... is not something someone would say who is at the receiving end of this ire. I don’t like that Hasbro did this, but I’m much more angry about the right wings propagandists who are spinning this and continuing to make the world a dangerous place for people like me.

 

Oh, I'm not saying that Fox & Co aren't terrible horrible people, but what else would you expect? Liberals are getting the blame for cancelling Mr Potato Head but it was Capitalism that cancelled him. If liberals were smarter they'd argue that Mr Potato Head should be who he is, and if that's a Mr that's okay with them and push back against Hasbro too for roping them in.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Look at ANYTHING from WW2 and you'll find some crazy propaganda.  It's almost like the US government, and actively supported by much of the media, were trying to make the Japanese out to be the enemy or something.

[ort]

I mean, yeah.

 

I grew up saying "fag" and "homo" and calling everyone "gay". Using the term "retard".

 

Things change. Times change.

 

I recognize thought patterns and deeply held unconscious bias against people of certain races. We're all conditioned. We're all products of our times.

 

All we can do is strive to understand the perspectives of others... Listen to others and take it all in... Listen and understand. Never stop learning and trying to improve.

 

Have empathy and understanding.

[Joe]

Just now, ort said:

I mean, yeah.

 

I grew up saying "fag" and "homo" and calling everyone "gay". Using the term "retard".

 

Things change. Times change.

 

I recognize thought patterns and deeply held unconscious bias against people of certain races. We're all conditioned. We're all products of our times.

 

All we can do is strive to understand the perspectives of others... Listen to others and take it all in... Listen and understand. Never stop learning and trying to improve.

 

One of the few things America does better than Europe!

[ort]

Hell, we made a movie in high school and we decided (and I'm pretty sure it was my idea) to cast our friend of Egyptian heritage as a 7-11 clerk turned cop and have him speak like Apu from the Simpsons.

 

This was around 1992. It didn't even register to us as wrong. We weren't even aware of what we were doing, and we were a bunch of liberal progressive kids. It just is what it is. Super cringy now, but yeah, things change...

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

So what I keep reading is we need to cancel Ort. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Personally, I'd disinter the corpse of Theodor Geisel and crucify it upside down.

[ort]

The most disturbing part of all of this is that I learned that his name is supposed to rhyme with the word "voice".

 

It's not Dr. Soose.... it's Dr. Soy-sss.

 

He did eventually start pronouncing it that way too, just because he gave up... but it's a German name and it's 100% supposed to rhyme with VOICE. That's how he pronounced it.

 

Early in his career he worked under a pen name because he thought his drawings were juvenile and didn't want them to be attached to him in his future career.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, ort said:

Hell, we made a movie in high school and we decided (and I'm pretty sure it was my idea) to cast our friend of Egyptian heritage as a 7-11 clerk turned cop and have him speak like Apu from the Simpsons.

 

This was around 1992. It didn't even register to us as wrong. We weren't even aware of what we were doing, and we were a bunch of liberal progressive kids. It just is what it is. Super cringy now, but yeah, things change...

 

Hey, it's understandable. I haven't run into this problem much in my own past because my rule has always been: "if a joke punches down, it's not worth saying/doing" and that seems to have worked 99% of the time. Future proofing ourselves is never easy, but it's something I've worried about since I was a kid.

[stepee]

My Dad came over and asked me if I heard Dr Seuss is banned now, I explained to him what the actual situation is and he’s over it now.

 

People just tune in quickly, catch a few buzzwords, see that *something* super bad is happening since foxnews is having a fucking hissy fit, then they move on but carry the false concern with them.

 

I can’t fucking wait until tucker is canceled.

 

 

[ort]

If all you did was casually read any of the Fox News articles or listen to one of their talking head ghouls, you would have no idea what was actually happening. They purposefully obfuscate all of the nuance and just go right for the insane scares and hyperbole.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

 

 

[Kal-El814]

I categorically refuse to believe any of these clowns actually give a fuck about Dr. Seuss, given his most popular books are about developing empathy at Christmas and not punish fucking the planet in order to make consumer goods.

[Jason]

16 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

 

 

 

 

[Jason]

 

[Captain Pickle]

Cancel gay marriage, black people, women rights to choose, political expression in sports but gawddamn it, don’t you dare cancel mr. potato head... oh u didn’t. I don’t care!

[ort]

These people believe in nothing. Their entire moral belief structure is a manufactured lie.

[ort]

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

I'm not sure which is more comical -- the American right which equates this to a book burning, or the American left which is calling Seuss a racist.

 

Whenever a book becomes unavailable to purchase, it's always disappointing.  People should have the opportunity to purchase and read whatever they want -- even if the content is offensive -- its a free country.

That said, any company has the right to discontinue selling whatever the fuck they want -- its a free country.

 

However, IMHO, calling Seuss a racist or this action a book burning just shows how far western society has degraded over the last 20 years.  No one has any context for anything anymore.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I'm not sure which is more comical -- the American right which equates this to a book burning, or the American left which is calling Seuss a racist.

 

Whenever a book becomes unavailable to purchase, it's always disappointing.  People should have the opportunity to purchase and read whatever they want -- even if the content is offensive -- its a free country.

That said, any company has the right to discontinue selling whatever the fuck they want -- its a free country.

 

However, IMHO, calling Seuss a racist or this action a book burning just shows how far western society has degraded over the last 20 years.  No one has any context for anything anymore.

I’m not sure how one could see images of his older work and not come to the conclusion that the guy had racist beliefs. Like...they aren’t hidden. The context is just that white society used to be more overtly racist in the past

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

36 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I'm not sure which is more comical -- the American right which equates this to a book burning, or the American left which is calling Seuss a racist.

 

Whenever a book becomes unavailable to purchase, it's always disappointing.  People should have the opportunity to purchase and read whatever they want -- even if the content is offensive -- its a free country.

That said, any company has the right to discontinue selling whatever the fuck they want -- its a free country.

 

However, IMHO, calling Seuss a racist or this action a book burning just shows how far western society has degraded over the last 20 years.  No one has any context for anything anymore.

There's no context for the racist shit he produced that is explainable so that little kids can understand.

[Brick]

 

1 hour ago, Captain Pickle said:

Cancel gay marriage, black people, women rights to choose, political expression in sports but gawddamn it, don’t you dare cancel mr. potato head... oh u didn’t. I don’t care!

 

Fox News and their ilk, had there been cable news at the time, would have 100% been on the air complaining about women getting the right to vote. 

 

You can just imagine that little dweeb Tucker Carlson going, "these are our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters, and we love them yes, but should they really be allowed to vote for our leaders? Remember that these women stay at home all day taking care of our children and the house, so what kind of worldly knowledge do they even have? Can we really trust them to make as big a decision as to who would be best to run our cities, our states, or even our whole country? What's next, are they going to want to run for office themselves?! Where does this line of thinking lead to? Where does it end?!" *raises eyebrows in faux shock*

[PaladinSolo]

lol, they don't even know who they're supposed to be mad at.

 

[Ricofoley]

I'm gonna go read The Cat in the Hat! And I dare you shitlibs to try and stop me!

 

 

[Xbob42]

3 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Hey, it's understandable. I haven't run into this problem much in my own past because my rule has always been: "if a joke punches down, it's not worth saying/doing" and that seems to have worked 99% of the time. Future proofing ourselves is never easy, but it's something I've worried about since I was a kid.

The phrase "punching down" really gets me to thinking sometimes. I never consider any joke I make to be a "punch" to anyone, metaphorically or otherwise. To me, a joke is a good bit of fun and should provide everyone involved with a good laugh. The idea of some sacrosanct sect of people needing to be protected from jokes of all things is bizarre to me. That being said, I think it's because we categorize anything we say that might make someone laugh as a joke. If I were to "punch up" at corporations when telling "jokes," to me it wouldn't really be a joke so much as scathing critique and open revilement that just happens to be funny at the same time.

Not really going anywhere with this, as it's not like I've built a career on horribly racist jokes or anything that I need to defend, I just think phrases like "punching down" tend to be really loaded and paint too broad of a picture where you mistake fun jabs at friends or something for hate-fueled tirades or think any joke about cultures or races has to immediately be racist or tinged with racist undertones. I totally think you can make race-based jokes without upsetting people and while still being very funny!

[Greatoneshere]

3 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

The phrase "punching down" really gets me to thinking sometimes. I never consider any joke I make to be a "punch" to anyone, metaphorically or otherwise. To me, a joke is a good bit of fun and should provide everyone involved with a good laugh. The idea of some sacrosanct sect of people needing to be protected from jokes of all things is bizarre to me. That being said, I think it's because we categorize anything we say that might make someone laugh as a joke. If I were to "punch up" at corporations when telling "jokes," to me it wouldn't really be a joke so much as scathing critique and open revilement that just happens to be funny at the same time.

Not really going anywhere with this, as it's not like I've built a career on horribly racist jokes or anything that I need to defend, I just think phrases like "punching down" tend to be really loaded and paint too broad of a picture where you mistake fun jabs at friends or something for hate-fueled tirades or think any joke about cultures or races has to immediately be racist or tinged with racist undertones. I totally think you can make race-based jokes without upsetting people and while still being very funny!

 

I'm with you - punching down to me means making fun of a marginalized person or group of people is essentially what I mean, if that makes sense. There's no need to make fun of LGTBQIA+ people in the ways they are typically made fun of, or brown people with Apu accent/voice, and so on and so forth. That sort of thing.

 

If you pull off a race-based joke without upsetting people, it probably wasn't punching down, if you take my meaning. I absolutely love comedy, and watch a lot of stand-up comedy, and you can usually pretty easily tell who is punching down with their jokes and who is making innocent fun. 

[Guest]

Not overemphasizing the “Punching up/down” thing is something we need to be careful of in regards to not infantilizing members of particular groups as though they couldn’t possibly handle a joke. I think generally mocking people is lazy though, especially on the basis of supposed group characteristics.