Thursday, May 29, 2008
Stuff White People Like–Being Offended
Posted by: lain // Category: Joel Chandler Harris, Tar Baby // 3:09 pm
Stuff White People Like is one of the smartest and funniest blogs on the internet.
While recent posts have been few and far between, the latest post–Being Offended–is very pertinent to the legacy of Joel Chandler Harris–
Naturally, white people do not get offended by statements directed at white people. In fact, they don’t even have a problem making offensive statements about other white people (ask a white person about “flyover states”). As a rule, white people strongly prefer to get offended on behalf of other people.
Tar Baby, anyone?
The fact that Joel Chandler Harris (white guy) recorded the stories of the slaves (enslaved Africans / African Americans / black people / folks he revered …you pick) he grew up with on the plantation–well, that makes him a perfect target for politically correct backlash.
Often, we hear that parents won’t bring their children here because we’re too racist. Other times, folks read the Joel Chandler Harris Wikipedia article and get all scholarly on us when we’re trying to give tours of the home.
Ironically, it’s almost always the white folks who are offended. I’m not saying that all white people get offended–I’m just saying that when we hear about how we’re kinda racist, well, it’s mostly white folks doing the talking.
Previously– Tar Baby is Alive and Well on the Internet
Related– Joel Chandler Harris Biography, New Georgia Encylopedia
License
This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Leave a Reply
