Golliwogs/Gollies

[Moonraker]

Eddie: write out "subject" a thousand times.

Love it, Nigel!

I hope it isn't an abject ordeal, Eddie.

[Eddie Muir]

Hilarious, Nigel!

[Courtenay]

If I do get UK citizenship, will that make me a British abject?

[Moonraker]

Don't worry, you're already a world class abjective!

[Eddie Muir]

Wonderful posts, Courtenay and Nigel. I love the humour on these forums.

[Moonraker]

Remember, Eddie; there's many a true word spoken in jest!

[Julie2owlsdene]

[Lucky Star]

A very interesting article here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... itage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moonraker]

How refreshing.

[Rob Houghton]

Quite! this is exactly why I think they shouldn't be banned. Good for her!

[John Pickup]

Well done, Charlotte. Her gollies look great.

[KEVP]

This gets back to my question. I am beginning to suspect that in fact Black people do not find Golliwogs offensive, it is just White folks who find them offensive.

[Rob Houghton]

I personally feel you're right. Although I can't be sure - maybe a few black people have complained in the past...but I would say the majority of complainants were white!

[Liam]

I remember reading a story of a Hindu immigrant to America. To celebrate some religious holiday she arranged flowers on her lawn (somewhere in New Jersey I think) in the shape of a swastika. She noticed she was getting some weird looks from her neighbors. She had no idea of the baggage such a symbol had acquired in the West. In India - in Hinduism and Buddhism - the swastika and the word ‘aryan” have positive meanings.

In a similar way, it can be argued that this Ghanaian woman has no clue what the golliwog holds for blacks with American and British heritage.

I myself am not taking any stance on the subject. I’m just noting that things can have different meanings to different people and in different contexts. I’ve read a lot in Buddhism, and don’t particularly want the word ‘aryan’ exorcised from Buddhist books, or told I shouldn’t read books with that word because it offends some people. Though as you might expect, modern translations are weeding it out, so soon it will not be found in any English language Buddhist book.

Of course people don’t want to think their golliwog toy compares to Nazi symbols, but the point is that those same Nazi symbols have a totally positive meaning in another context, as does the golliwog. In Buddhism, and ‘aryan’ is basically a saint, a (morally) ‘noble’ person.

So the golliwog debate is not new or isolated.

[Courtenay]

A very interesting article here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... itage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Good on you, Charlotte.