Gollywogs

[c_mb2006]

First a BBC show’s reporter gets the sack for likening a French tennis player to one of these harmless, lovable soft toys and now the Buckingham Palace estate have issued an apology on behalf of the Queen for selling gollywogs for the last year to the willing public without any complaint!

Has everyone gone mad? It seems a very petty, moronic form of political correctness in this country is taken to such juvenile extremes virtually anything can now be hyped by the media into a so-called ‘race row.’

One would have thought coloured soft toys would be considered politically correct if anything in this day and age!

Is the objection with their colour or just the name ‘gollywog’? It confounds me it really does just how ridiculously petty and cautious modern British society has become.

[NinjaJunkie]

You either have no idea of what you are talking about or you are a BNP activist on here to stir things up - which is it?

[shiver]

its a racial term you half-wit

[c_mb2006]

So because the term has been misused these harmless toys are now demonic?
I don’t get it.

[NinjaJunkie]

I think you’ve answered my question. . .

[c_mb2006]

I don’t see what’s offensive with the toy itself though.
The whole thing to me seems ridiculously petty.
I fail to see anything offensive about gollywogs in themselves, if anything they seem pretty apt for our modern times.

[buttonmonkey]

Hardly adorable.

The Golliwog, originally Golliwogg and also known as Gollywog, first appeared in 1895 as the protagonist of several children’s books by Bertha Upton and illustrated by her daughter Florence. In the books he was accompanied by his friends, the Dutch Dolls. The golliwog dolls that followed were first made in 1908, aided by the fact that the figure was never copyrighted. These days the doll is much better known than the books.

The illustrations accompanying the books show Golliwog to be a somewhat grotesque negro doll with a pitch-black face, a bright red, smiling mouth that stood out and frizzy hair. It’s directly connected to the peculiar brand of American theatre known as the minstrels and there were black minstrel dolls which apparently provided a model for both the character and the dolls that followed.

The negro figure that stars in the books strikes me more as a typically ignorant rather than malicious stereotype. In fact, Golliwog himself is a likeable, slightly mischievous, adventurous and helpful character. Much like Noddy, just cooler. The story of Golliwog and the Dutch Dolls with the very English names ignores a social taboo of associating black males with white females. A lot of damage to the image of the golliwog was done by Enid Blyton who portrayed the golliwog as a scoundrel in several books written in the mid to late 1940s and added a strong racist element which took it deeply into the realm of political incorrectness by today’s standards. The books themselves, I may say, were not her best work. The fact that the doll’s name also found its way into the vernacular in the form of wog did not help.

The golliwog stories, although American in origin, were popular especially with English children to whom a black protagonist was more acceptable. This may be because English society did not have as much race-related baggage as the US and the character was regarded as exotic rather than as a caricature. Of course it may be argued that the same society at the same time might have been thoroughly disapproving of an Irish hero who would have been quite acceptable in the US.

Golliwog dolls are typically average sized rag dolls and tend to be cheerful and dressed in brightly coloured early 20th century outfits. Their heyday was in the 1950s. Between 1960 and 1990, when race relations and political correctness became major issues on both sides of the Atlantic, they fell out of favour and were branded as representatives of a racist mentality. The late 1990s saw a resurgence in their popularity and golliwog dolls are currently a popular collectors’ item, reigniting the debate over whether the golliwog is an adorable culture icon or just disrespectful racist trash.

[c_mb2006]

But that’s just an interpretation, in themselves they’re just dolls surely?
Why all this petty fuss is beyond me.
I can’t see them as being any more offensive than action man personally (but then he’s white isn’t he!).
It just seems to mark how juvenile this society has become that such abstract things are taken to such ridiculous heights of taboo by the media.
Is this crap really headline news?

[bbsmonk]

i am ignorant of this expression, and think the lady producer is dumb and insensitive, but there are more big heads in bbc should be sacked more than her.

[eezyrida]

This toy is based on a racial stereotype from the old colonial days and its name has been used countless times as a form of racial abuse. It has become a symbol of racism itself and to me, and countless others, it is deeply offensive. It, and comments like Thatcher’s, have no place in today’s society. And in defending her with total b*llocks about the BBC getting revenge on her for who her mother is, the Conservatives are demonstrating themselves to be the racists they are. Gits. I sincerely hope they never, ever get back into power.

[Chelsea_Fan]

eezyrida (05/02/2009)

This toy is based on a racial stereotype from the old colonial days and its name has been used countless times as a form of racial abuse. It has become a symbol of racism itself and to me, and countless others, it is deeply offensive. It, and comments like Thatcher’s, have no place in today’s society.

Well said

[c_mb2006]

Personally I don’t find anything offensive about them, at the end of the day they’re simply toys which happen to be black. Big deal…So Barbie’s white and has blonde hair, should we ban her too?
What’s remarkable really is the depths to which political correctness have sunk the human brain, to consider something as frivolous as that as newsworthy to my mind is just daft.
It makes me wonder just what sort of pathetic country we live in some times when you have this sort of crap being banded about as headline news, in reality its simply the media creating yet another ‘race row’ storm for itself.
That’s where the real scandal is…

[Seb_43]

c_mb2006 (05/02/2009)

Personally I don’t find anything offensive about them, at the end of the day they’re simply toys which happen to be black. Big deal…So Barbie’s white and has blonde hair, should we ban her too?
What’s remarkable really is the depths to which political correctness have sunk the human brain, to consider something as frivolous as that as newsworthy to my mind is just daft.
It makes me wonder just what sort of pathetic country we live in some times when you have this sort of crap being banded about as headline news, in reality its simply the media creating yet another ‘race row’ storm for itself.
That’s where the real scandal is…

i’m having to bite my tongue a lot here…which is what I imagine most people on this forum are doing in replying so politely.

It’s clear you aren’t interested in/open to any other opinion other than your own, and we’ve heard it repeated a few times now. So you can stop now!

[Jetstream]

Well said Bionic.

[c_mb2006]

I’m just amazed at the stupidity of another mediated so-called ‘race row’ to be honest, to my mind it just epitomises how daft this country has become.
The frequency with which the media whip these things up is I believe the greater scandal…

[kenny]

Bionic. (05/02/2009)

c_mb2006 (05/02/2009)

Personally I don’t find anything offensive about them, at the end of the day they’re simply toys which happen to be black. Big deal…So Barbie’s white and has blonde hair, should we ban her too?
What’s remarkable really is the depths to which political correctness have sunk the human brain, to consider something as frivolous as that as newsworthy to my mind is just daft.
It makes me wonder just what sort of pathetic country we live in some times when you have this sort of crap being banded about as headline news, in reality its simply the media creating yet another ‘race row’ storm for itself.
That’s where the real scandal is…

i’m having to bite my tongue a lot here…which is what I imagine most people on this forum are doing in replying so politely.

**It’s clear you aren’t interested in/open to any other opinion other than your own, ** and we’ve heard it repeated a few times now. So you can stop now!

yup, me for one! I don’t care one way or another about carol thatcher, or Robinsons erstwhile trademark, I don’t care if she is hung drawn and quartered for her remarks, I DO care about free speech and your hypocracy in accusing someone with a different view of the same attitude that you are demonstrating! its nice to jump on the bandwagon and use the same rhetoric so popular in McCarthy era USA to scare off someone with a contrary view to yours, it must be easy as the second post in this thread has already set the tone, only a RACIST or a RETARD could possibly find the reaction disproportionate to the crime! BS! grow up and debate your side without the baggage or soon enough we won’t be able to debate anything… political correctness?

[oldguy]

Even as an outspoken old git I’m wondering whether I should tread in this puddle when feelings are running so high. But…

Isn’t this the classic English language thing of context, intonation, intent and all the other subtalties that make it such a rich but dangerous language?

If I took offence at every time I was called “bastard” or worse, I’d have either damaged knuckles, court cases or both going on right now. The fact is that mostly, due to those subtalties, it’s almost allways been a term of familiar endearment.

Missed the incident on TV, so can’t comment on that in this case.

Can you all now just give me a couple of minutes to hide behind the sofa before you vent your spleens at me?

[Seb_43]

kenny (05/02/2009)

Bionic. (05/02/2009)

c_mb2006 (05/02/2009)

Personally I don’t find anything offensive about them, at the end of the day they’re simply toys which happen to be black. Big deal…So Barbie’s white and has blonde hair, should we ban her too?
What’s remarkable really is the depths to which political correctness have sunk the human brain, to consider something as frivolous as that as newsworthy to my mind is just daft.
It makes me wonder just what sort of pathetic country we live in some times when you have this sort of crap being banded about as headline news, in reality its simply the media creating yet another ‘race row’ storm for itself.
That’s where the real scandal is…

i’m having to bite my tongue a lot here…which is what I imagine most people on this forum are doing in replying so politely.

**It’s clear you aren’t interested in/open to any other opinion other than your own, ** and we’ve heard it repeated a few times now. So you can stop now!

yup, me for one! I don’t care one way or another about carol thatcher, or Robinsons erstwhile trademark, I don’t care if she is hung drawn and quartered for her remarks, I DO care about free speech and your hypocracy in accusing someone with a different view of the same attitude that you are demonstrating! its nice to jump on the bandwagon and use the same rhetoric so popular in McCarthy era USA to scare off someone with a contrary view to yours, it must be easy as the second post in this thread has already set the tone, only a RACIST or a RETARD could possibly find the reaction disproportionate to the crime! BS! grow up and debate your side without the baggage or soon enough we won’t be able to debate anything… political correctness?

how does fu&k off sit with you? a little strong perhaps?..the ramblings of a ‘retard’ perhaps?

i’m open for debate by all means, however, this fellow is merely drumming out the same tune in every post and ignoring all other opinions and personal experiences offered up in an attempt to inform this kind fellow that although he is not socially aware enough to realise the term could be hurtful to a large number of people, some folk are indeed reminded of aspects of society they would rather not have to encounter.

So you can pipe down and pi$$ off too

[kenny]

Bionic. (05/02/2009)

kenny (05/02/2009)

Bionic. (05/02/2009)

c_mb2006 (05/02/2009)

Personally I don’t find anything offensive about them, at the end of the day they’re simply toys which happen to be black. Big deal…So Barbie’s white and has blonde hair, should we ban her too?
What’s remarkable really is the depths to which political correctness have sunk the human brain, to consider something as frivolous as that as newsworthy to my mind is just daft.
It makes me wonder just what sort of pathetic country we live in some times when you have this sort of crap being banded about as headline news, in reality its simply the media creating yet another ‘race row’ storm for itself.
That’s where the real scandal is…

i’m having to bite my tongue a lot here…which is what I imagine most people on this forum are doing in replying so politely.

**It’s clear you aren’t interested in/open to any other opinion other than your own, ** and we’ve heard it repeated a few times now. So you can stop now!

yup, me for one! I don’t care one way or another about carol thatcher, or Robinsons erstwhile trademark, I don’t care if she is hung drawn and quartered for her remarks, I DO care about free speech and your hypocracy in accusing someone with a different view of the same attitude that you are demonstrating! its nice to jump on the bandwagon and use the same rhetoric so popular in McCarthy era USA to scare off someone with a contrary view to yours, it must be easy as the second post in this thread has already set the tone, only a RACIST or a RETARD could possibly find the reaction disproportionate to the crime! BS! grow up and debate your side without the baggage or soon enough we won’t be able to debate anything… political correctness?

how does fu&k off sit with you? a little strong perhaps?..the ramblings of a ‘retard’ perhaps?

i’m open for debate by all means, however, this fellow is merely drumming out the same tune in every post and ignoring all other opinions and personal experiences offered up in an attempt to inform this kind fellow that although he is not socially aware enough to realise the term could be hurtful to a large number of people, some folk are indeed reminded of aspects of society they would rather not have to encounter.

So you can pipe down and pi$$ off too

nicely put, I guess that puts me in my place :doze:

[mr.mo]

sorry but i dont get the whole point to this thread? its just a thread that is going to stir up arguments and rows. im not even going to state my views as some topics are best left alone.

i know a lot of threads in gneral are pointless, i’ve posted on a few myself. but just because its a public forum where you can speak your mind dosn’t mean you have to, topics like this are always going to cause unrest, so why not keep it to yourself :rolleyes: