Whose Song Of The South?

https://www.news10.com/news/the-jim-crow-film-that-just-wont-die-song-of-the-south/

An extremely mixed situation. On one hand the Uncle Tom element of the story is undeniable and repulsive. On the other hand, Brer Rabbit is clearly a descendent of Anansi and the other tricksters African folklore has handed down. I find the movie to be both a celebration and honoring of some powerful elements of African/slave culture AND an ugly affirmation of racism. I do not find it surprising that one can find elements of both. Today we tend to insist that everything must be polarized into rigid absolutes. In reality, the situation is often much more complicated.

The film would make an excellent teaching vehicle. I wouldn’t recommend it below fifth grade at the lowest, middle school is probably a more effective venue. The point being that it serves two significant educational functions.

First, a discussion of Jim Crow and thus of slavery. It is a horror of America’s past which is far too often ignored in our schools. I always made a point of dealing with it honestly at an appropriate level for the children I was teaching, but I was a rarity. We did have teachers who dealt with the issue quite openly, including teachers I worked with. But most teachers are uncomfortable with the subject and simply veer away from it.

Second, it opens up the whole of folklore, including trickster tales from many cultures. How these immigrants, whether willing or unwilling, contributed to American culture is a fascinating topic and one which promotes understanding of other cultures and even of our own, which is an amalgam of these many disparate elements.

It would not be an easy topic to teach, and would require preliminary work with the community and administration, but it is one which I think would be of great importance in helping our youngsters to understand our own history and the culture in which they are embedded.

Bicycles And The Junior Anti-sex League

From a Facebook post. Short, but important enough to re-post here.

https://quillette.com/2019/09/10/in-praise-of-renoirs-male-gaze/

Me: It has come to this? A female scholar must defend Renoir against the anti-sex, anti-male attacks of radical feminism. How sad.

B: Quillette is a magazine I've come to really appreciate right now. They've become the center of cultural controversy: they are routinely castigated as a fascist mag. It's bizarre. The CEO is Claire Lehmann; she's a smart thinker who seems to love jumping into the vitriolic fray of social commentary.

Me: They do tend to have too much of a conservative slant for me to enthusiastically support them, but they often make excellent points. I do notice that if you disagree with them on even minor matters it’s common for you to be instantly labeled a Marxist. Not all the contributors practice this unusual ritual, but too many of them do.

For any of you out there asking, the Junior Anti-sex League??? I include The following link and quote.

> The Junior Anti-Sex League in 1984 is a group that advocates "complete celibacy for both sexes." They are pushing the agenda of the Party, the group that rules the country. According to the Junior Anti-Sex League, children should not be conceived through sexual intercourse. <

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-junior-anti-sex-league-1089836

Or, put another way, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Oh sorry, that’s not an accurate quote. Let me correct that, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a mate.”

Sauce For The Goose...

In response to an article in which liberals defended their mildly violent protest in which they prevented a Trump supporter from speaking at their university lead me to respond:
The problem with freedom of speech is that it means freedom of speech for the people whose speech you despise. I support freedom of speech, not its suppression.

My friend M toughtfully responded:
Me too Jim. But this is indeed a tough call... and I believe it's the second time he's cancelled a speech because of protestors; if not him it was someone like him. So who's in the right? He had the right of free speech, but so did the protestors...
So trump threatens to pull federal funding from the school?! It certainly was not the school's fault! trump is all powerful, or so he thinks...

I agreed with her point, but added:
Let me go to extreme focus, meaning let's look at it much more extreme but somewhat similar case so as to throw light on this one. It is reported that at one point after a meeting with "Bomber" Harris, who planned the terror bombings of German cities in retaliation for similar attacks by the Nazis, Churchill asked him, "Are we beasts?"

My answer is, yes, you were beasts. It was wrong for the Nazis to do it and it was wrong for us to do it.

There was actually a plan pushed by some in Washington that after World War II Germans be limited to a smaller number of calories than required for human health. The point being that half starved Germans can't start another world war. Decency ruled the day, so the Germans are among our best allies today. The horrific war crime committed by the French and British after World War I in which they deliberately continued to starve Germans after the Armistice is little known now, but was one of the most important bases for the rise of Hitler and the start of World War II.

We are in not in a fake culture war but a real war for fact, science, reality, and common decency. I don't want us to use that as an excuse to abandon the moral high ground.

Book Burning! Why it's better than burning witches!

From the Huff Post, a charity group intends to burn copies of Fifty Shades of Grey.  Great!  I had zero interest in this seres.  It seemed to me to be just another mess of  romance fluff. (Think hair ball-- without the hair.)  However, if some group thinks it's bad enough to burn, I feel a moral obligation to at least read it.  Then I can make a judgement.  Note: even literature I despise, such as Mein Kamph or Waiting for Godot or Ulysses, shouldn't be burned.  If you don't like like it, don't read it.

I suppose I can get a cheap used set through Amazon, skim it, then pass it onto someone who LIKES romances...Hmmmmm... I must know someone who likes romances...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/fifty-shades-of-grey-burning_n_1833457.html