[Leica] Fulton County Fair

[Howard Ritter]

I use the term “politically incorrect” to denote the kind of usage that so many people take umbrage at, the rest of us good-hearted souls can’t venture near it!

The depiction of the Aunt Jemima-like cook on the cover would be frowned on nowadays. Even the Aunt Jemima brand has made the image of its namesake as non-stereotypic as possible while leaving her identifiably Black.

I agree that one would have to work hard to take offense at it, since it’s not an exaggerated or defamatory caricature, and of course the implication that Black mama figures are just naturally good cooks can be regarded as complimentary. Still, many do carry that chip on their shoulders and would regard it as a racial stereotype, and therefore racIST. Similar undercurrents are seen in attributing academic success to Asian-Americans, and prowess in law and business to Jews. Unfortunately, now, even a passing acknowledgement of race in context of something that is actually associated with that race can be regarded as racist. Few people seem to understand that racIAL ≠ racIST and that taking note of racial differences does not a racist make. My favorite recent example of this came at halloween a year ago, when a White actress made herself up as a favorite TV character from “Orange is the New Black”. The character happened to be Black, and the actress was vilified by self-appointed social critics who accused her of committing blackface, which she most certainly did not. FWIW, the actress who plays the character went on record as being non-offended. Going in blackface as a generic Black person would have been indefensible, but there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with a White person dressing up in a non-caricatural way for halloween as a specific public figure or media character who happens to be Black. Those whose chosen role in life is to manufacture and criticize social offenses and bask in their self-imagined importance saw it differently, and unfortunately the poor girl felt the need to apologize instead of inviting her critics to take a flying leap.

Today, especially in Left Coast academia, showing this cover would be classified as a “microaggression” and would come with a “trigger warning”.

Just sayin’. No offense.

—howard


> On Sep 15, 2015, at 8:49 PM, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote:
> 
> Nice images. I don’t understand the title of the last one.
> 
> Herbert Kanner
> kanner at acm.org
> 
> Question Authority and the authorities will question you.
> 
>> On Sep 14, 2015, at 8:36 PM, Howard Ritter <hlritter at bex.net> wrote:
>> 
>> A few images from our annual 45-min trek to one of the better county fairs in Ohio. (Actually, that IS saying something!)
>> 
>> Leica M, 35 mm Summicron ASPH.
>> 
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/Fulton+Co+2015/ <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/Fulton+Co+2015/>
>> 
>> C&C appreciated.
>> 
>> —howard
>> 
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> 
> 
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