Johnny Caustic writes, regarding the racist cartoon here:
I am curious to hear why you say “It’s hard to believe that at one time, this sort of thing was acceptable. It’s a good thing it is not ok to make cartoons like this anymore.”
This cartoon takes some of the differences between blacks and whites and exaggerates them. Its treatment of these traits strikes me as being both mocking and affectionate. Sure, most of the black traits being exaggerated are not flattering, but most of them are rooted in real black-white differences. There is truth here, albeit amplified.
I have never really understood why white western society declared “this sort of thing” off-limits. Other societies have not done so, and won’t be doing so; every race except western whites is quite comfortable with putting itself first. (This won’t change; a high degree of outbreeding and consequent low clannishness make western whites genetically unique.) I’m not convinced that cartoons like this do any real harm. But they sure deliver a great feeling of moral superiority to the folks who ban them.
I’m convinced that we’re living through a moral panic that will eventually fade out and be forgotten. 150 years from now, cartoons like this will be acceptable again, and the time when they weren’t will be a historical footnote.
They deliver a lot of harm to the Blacks who watch them. And they reinforce a lot bad racist stereotypes that should not be replayed. A White population that regularly watches and enjoys cartoons like this is going to be a lot more racist than one that is not.
I think if cartoons like this are very upsetting to Black people, that alone is a good reason to not make them. Also reinforcing racist stereotypes is not good for US Whites. We are too racist towards Blacks as it is, it’s not right, and that sort of thing should not be programmed into people’s brains.
It doesn’t matter if there is some truth to racist stereotypes like this. They promote racism among Whites and are very hurtful to Blacks and that overrides any truth value they may have.
Note that I do not think that we should ban anything that upsets Blacks or any other group. These groups tend to scream way too much about everything under the sun and they are altogether way too sensitive. But in a lot of cases, they are right, and this is one of them. Cartoons like this is simply toxic.