Liberals persona non grata in BC
Click here to see a picture of a blackface minstrel doll that was found too offensive for babble.
Really?
Why?? What does a minstrel doll have to do with the Liberals or BC?
I gather it's supposed to represent an Albertan, or at least an Albertan who supports the tarsands. Next to the picture appears the phrase...
Alberta tar babies will be impounded.
Still, of rather dubious suitability for a progressive board.
Unbelievable.
You know what? Next time I call Alberta a shithole and a Westerner has a connipship,I'll direct them to this thread.
You know what? Next time I call Alberta a shithole and a Westerner has a connipship,I'll direct them to this thread.
I'm not sure what your point is. The Alberta-apologist will be put in his place by seeing that some obscure blogger in BC doesn't like the province either?
I read up on it. In this connotation it is considered racist.
Is tar baby a racist term? Like most elements of language, that depends on context. Calling the Big Dig a tar baby is a lot different than calling a person one. But sensitivity is not unwarranted. Among etymologists, a slur's validity hangs heavily on history. The concept of tar baby goes way back, according to Words@Random from Random House: "The tar baby is a form of a character widespread in African folklore. In various folktales, gum, wax or other sticky material is used to trap a person." The term itself was popularized by the 19th-century Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the character Br'er Fox makes a doll out of tar to ensnare his nemesis Br'er Rabbit. The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby much like Romney used it, "a difficult problem, that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it." But the term also has had racial implications. In his book Coup, John Updike says of a white woman who prefers the company of black men, "some questing chromosome within holds her sexually fast to the tar baby." The Oxford English Dictionary (but not the print version of its American counterpart) says that tar baby is a derogatory term used for "a black or a Maori."
http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/liberals-persona-non-grata-bc#new
I think the visual makes it even worse and it shouldn't appear here.
I'm pretty sure that's just a blackface minstrel doll, unless "tar babies" regularly wore tailcoats.
I'm pretty sure that's just a blackface minstrel doll, unless "tar babies" regularly wore tailcoats.
Doesn't make it better. Please just delete that. OK?
Doesn't make it better. Please just delete that. OK?
Done. I changed the picture to a link to the article that features the picture, so now everyone will have to click one time if they want to see it, and unlike the original link, I at least said what it is. We good?
You know what? Next time I call Alberta a shithole and a Westerner has a connipship,I'll direct them to this thread.
I'm not sure what your point is. The Alberta-apologist will be put in his place by seeing that some obscure blogger in BC doesn't like the province either?
This pissed me off.
"We are travelling back in time to the era of PETrudeau when the Liberal party had a very hard time electing an MP West of the Manitoba /Ontario border. So much for our national unity. The ogres of Upper Canada prevail."
But you're right. I attacked the wrong province --- this time.
I also have a problem with the article celebrating Chris Hedges' book Death Of The Liberal Class.
Chris Hedges is an American journalist. When he starts talking about liberals, he's referring to everyone here left of centre, leftists,social democrats and socialists.
In America,that makes you a liberal. There is nothing to be gleefully wringing your hands about on any American book or column that talks about the death of liberals. That's a Conservative fantasy.It shouldn't be fantasized by anyone here who identifies themselves with the Left.
Okay, gotcha.
It's odd that Billyard would cite the Trudeau-era dearth of western Liberal MPs as a precedent for what he hopes is gonna happen now, since that Liberal losing streak culminated in Mulroney's walking away with about 76% of the western seats in 1984. So Billyard might wanna be careful about what he wishes for here.
As for the anti-Upper Canada rhetoric, well, there does seem to be some movement afoot to reframe left-wing issues within the language of "western alienation". Personally, I think it's a little misguided, like those leftists trying to argue that BREXIT was really about alienated British workers rising up against capitalist elites(with all the racist and fascist Leavers just useful-idiots of the left-wing workers, I guess). But, that does seem to be what some people want to believe.
Yeah. Thanks.Doesn't make it better. Please just delete that. OK?Done. I changed the picture to a link to the article that features the picture, so now everyone will have to click one time if they want to see it, and unlike the original link, I at least said what it is. We good?
I get that "tar baby" is also a reference to a literal ball of tar-something that occurs in large quantity after oil spills or pipeline breaks-but the guy's use of the doll was totally unneeded, and it raises questions about whether or not he's trying to pander to some sort of right-wing "populist" sensibilities in the name of "peeling off" reactionary people to support a supposedly radical alternative.
I get that "tar baby" is also a reference to a literal ball of tar-something that occurs in large quantity after oil spills or pipeline breaks
I think that's a 'tar ball', FWIW.
and it raises questions about whether or not he's trying to pander to some sort of right-wing "populist" sensibilities in the name of "peeling off" reactionary people to support a supposedly radical alternative.
For me it really just raises the question of why babble wants to keep hosting links to that blog.
If someone wants to (let's say) criticize Rachel Notley, could they do that using words, rather than with a picture of a woman in a scold's bridle? Surely it's possible to criticize a government without going there?
I'd be fine with getting rid of the link, for that matter.I get that "tar baby" is also a reference to a literal ball of tar-something that occurs in large quantity after oil spills or pipeline breaksI think that's a 'tar ball', FWIW.
and it raises questions about whether or not he's trying to pander to some sort of right-wing "populist" sensibilities in the name of "peeling off" reactionary people to support a supposedly radical alternative.For me it really just raises the question of why babble wants to keep hosting links to that blog.
If someone wants to (let's say) criticize Rachel Notley, could they do that using words, rather than with a picture of a woman in a scold's bridle? Surely it's possible to criticize a government without going there?
Most other folks here would probably say the same.
it raises questions about whether or not he's trying to pander to some sort of right-wing "populist" sensibilities in the name of "peeling off" reactionary people to support a supposedly radical alternative.
If that were the case, I think there would be "better" racist tropes for him to use, since the anti-black thing isn't really a major theme of populist racism in Canada. And it's not clear how it would connect to Albertans(in the way that, say, "blue-eyed arabs" would).
My guess is he either doesn't realize that minstrel dolls are offensive(or even that they're supposed to represent black people), or he just put it in hoping the offensiveness would draw attention for the blog, with "tar" as the ostensible connection to Alberta. At most, maybe an "Oooh, look how cool I am kids, so politically incorrect" sort of thing.
In any case, not someone I'd look to for a lot of insight about how to lead progressive campaigns.
Personally, I think it's a little misguided, like those leftists trying to argue that BREXIT was really about alienated British workers rising up against capitalist elites(with all the racist and fascist Leavers just useful-idiots of the left-wing workers, I guess). But, that does seem to be what some people want to believe.
What makes you think racist and fascist leaves aren't alienated British workers rising up against capitalist elites?
Abused workers don't blame the elites because the elites redirect their anger. Middle class against poor. Workers against immigrants, male workers against female workers. Workers against big government. Even workers against corporations. As long as we aren't against them they are good. That's how they maintain power.
Abused workers don't blame the elites because the elites redirect their anger.
I'm not convinced of that theory anymore. When I listen to some ranting Brexiteer on YouTube, and 100% of his speech is about how much he hates immigrants, and he says ZERO about economic elites, or even about economics generally, I have to think that his real hatred is just immigrants.
And what accounted for the age disparity in the Brexit vote, with more young people on the Remain side and more old people on the Leave side? Are young people just doing so much better economically than old people?