Culture Wars? More Like A Slap Fight

Hello again my dear friends. Have a seat and pour yourself a cup of whatever you fancy. These are interesting times we are currently living in, and when I say interesting, I mean utterly ridiculous. There are serious issues in the world gracious readers. However with the dominance of social media the main issues seem to be the “cancellation” of a cartoon character who hasn’t had a new cartoon made in decades, and a few books that were removed from circulation because, and here’s a shock, our society has come to a point where we realize people might not appreciate being depicted as racist caricatures. Oh the horror. 

Apparently we are embroiled in what the media has termed “Cancel Culture”. Where one misstep means that all your dirty laundry is aired and you are banned from all society. Which doesn’t really seem like such a new thing, but I suppose people need something to be angry at the younger generation for. There seems to be a backlash among the older and the “I’m not like other girls set”. I have termed this Nostalgia Culture, and when the media steals this term, please credit me or be assured there will be a lawsuit. 

We have a tendency to look back at the past with rose colored glasses. Of course we miss the innocence of our childhoods, but we are forgetting that as children, for the most part we were blissfully unaware of the larger narrative going on around us. We didn’t understand nuance, so somethings went largely unnoticed, but did make an imprint on our subconscious. This is why racist stereotypes in childrens books are problematic, or a skunk with no understanding of boundaries or consent have been deemed inappropriate. These things make an impact, just like the elevation of the pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving, has a negative impact on Native American children, racist black stereotypes propagate from a young age the idea that they are somehow inferior. Just like the idea which I remember well from my childhood, of the lazy Mexican, asleep in a sombrero. 

We want to remember our childhoods fondly. I admit that Pepe Le Pew has a special place in my heart, alongside Marvin the Martian. Looking at him now however, he’s creepy as hell, and most likely would have used date rape drugs had they been available. His removal from the cast of cartoon characters has no bearing on my life however, and makes no impact on my childhood memories. I can happily remember him, while being glad that my daughter is not seeing that it is appropriate for someone to ignore the word “no”, and think that stalking is somehow adorable.

Oh the innocence of the 80’s. We were a mere 20 years out of the civil rights movement, and my dad had a note in his work file stating that he could not be transferred to Mississippi because he was in an interracial marriage. It was still legal for a man to rape his wife. We were in the midst of a cold war with Russia, and lived with the constant fear of nuclear annihilation. Nelson Mandela was in prison and apartheid in South Africa frequently spoken of in the news cycle. Throw in the Iran Contra scandal, and I’m sure you see where I’m going with this.

These things which are being phased out are not a reminder of a more innocent time. A more ignorant, less accepting time certainly,  especially if you go further back into the origin of the books by Dr. Seuss that so many people are crying over. They are relics. Leftovers from a time when racism was even more rampant than we want to admit it is now. Women were nothing but props or punchlines and sexist attitudes were not just pervasive, they were the norm. 

Recognizing things from our past as wholly inappropriate is not “cancelling”, it’s called advancing. Nostalgia is no excuse to allow harmful images to continue as part of the popular culture. Just as you would never perform a minstrel show now, why allow negative images to persist as though they are acceptable? Now I am not one for ignoring history and leaving things left unspoken of. For instance I know there has been a charge to remove the Little House On the Prairie books from bookstores and libraries. This I am wholly against, as they act to put things into historical context from a first-person perspective and give a jumping off place for lessons on westward expansion and colonialism. There is a stark contrast between this and a cartoon skunk. 

One last point before I leave you to nod your heads sagely, or to fume and write an angry response. I have seen quite few memes contrasting  the harmlessness of potentially rapist mephitidae, to the chaos that is the game Grand Theft Auto. This makes me quirk my brow for several reasons. First because this  was never marketed as a game for children, and secondly because they’re only playing it because you bought it, so perhaps chew on that. 

With that I wish all of you a good afternoon. May your Earl Grey be hot, and I will share my thoughts with you all again soon.