This is a fine example of how things have changed. I grew up in a family that abhorred racism. As a white guy in the South, my Grandfather hated racism before hating racism was cool. I was brought up in his shadow (best thing that could have happened to me....I am still grounded by him today).
Some of those old Tom & Jerry episodes had an African American who was basically in "slave dress", had a head wrap, huge red lips, pretty much a caricature of all the bad stereotypes. Back then, I just thought the cartoons were funny. I wasn't taught to have a stroke every time I saw something that wasn't nice. I was taught to treat actual people based on the content of their character. These days, my girls love old Tom & Jerry cartoons.....even the ones with the "slave caricature" that calls Tom "Jasper". My girls are not racist. Three out of four of their teachers are African American and they all but worship those ladies. The youngest girl's best friend is African American. (My wife accuses me of flirting with her mother every time I see her....and my wife is not a jealous woman.
) But I must admit the caricature of that woman never crossed my mind until this conversation.
Here's the thing. MY REACTION is what matters here. My girls will continue to be not racist. I will continue to be not racist. But I'm not going to turn off those old Tom & Jerry cartoons, throw the remote into the pool, and give my girls a good talking to about how horrible that is to depict African Americans that way. Therein lies the "too sensitive" part to me. They see how I act toward people. They have never been exposed to the racism prevalent in older generations "down here" (the South). Racist people are taught to be racist (or sexist, or whatever). Mine are not "learning racism" from those old cartoons. They are learning how to NOT allow racism into their lives from me.
The "too sensitive" part comes to play when groups advocate for the public burning of the file reels that contain that "offensive content that clearly promotes racism and the firing of any CEO that allows those cartoons to be broadcast on their stations".
Like many issues we can't agree on here in the US, it is MY JOB to teach them otherwise. It is not the job of any government, or any nanny group, to filter out the content that I "should see" ass too offensive to braodcast.
Some people are offended by the uniforms cheerleaders wear when NFL games are broadcast. Should we ban those?
Some people are offended by the violence on TV. Should we ban that too?
Some people are offended that moral/social/political views other than their own are allowed to be broadcast. Should we ban those too?
(Yes, I just went down the slippery slope. Sometimes the slippery slope is a valid argument.
)
