[rec.arts.sf.written] Re: Because I care

[Walter Bushell]

Subject: Re: Because I care
From: jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <M95wA...@kithrup.com>,
Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>In article <k12r3k$520$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>Added context can change the way you read childhood favourites. For example,
>>this short passage from Tunnel in the Sky concerning Dopey Joes, a carnivore
>>native to the world the protagonist and his chums are marooned on:
>>
>>"One carnivore was not considered for the honor. It was no larger than a jack
>>rabbit, had an oversize head, a big jaw, front legs larger than hind, and no
>>tail. It was known as "dopy joe" from the silly golliwog expression it had and
>>its clumsy, slow movements when disturbed."
>>
>>I never particularly noticed his use of the term golliwog there until I
>>encountered the passage after reading Heinlein's letter to FM Busby in
>>the recent Virginia sample (see below, unless I forget, in which see
>>subsequent comment).
>>
>>As someone pointed out on my LJ, it actually gets worse because they have a
>>life cycle in which "innocuous caricatures transmogrify into a horde of
>>unthinking, ravening, slavering beasts [...]."
>>
>>The Virginia Edition sample:
>>
>>http://www.virginiaedition.com/ve/TheVirginiaEdition-sample.pdf
>>
>>And for those of you who are too young (or who didn't happen to
>>get Rupert Bear annuals as kids), the golliwog:
>>
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwogg
>
>There's a blogging Englishwoman who collects golliwogs, in the
>form of dolls, old advertisements, and what not. This is her
>blog's URL:
>
>http://www.wartimehousewife.com/
>
>and somewhere in it she has an article on her collection and
>golliwogs in general. Unfortunately, her blog is now up to 80
>pages and her search engine don't work so good.
>
>"Everybody to his own taste, said the old lady as she kissed her
>cow."

Fair enough. I'd hate to think someone's enjoyment of toys might in
some way be impeded because the toys happen to be blatantly racist
or in some other way offensive.

On an unrelated topic, do people collecting the 9/11 Action Figure
Two Towers expansion packs prefer Bouncers or Bursters?

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