AMAZON SHOULD stick by its guns and keep the
'offending' Golly costume on sale. Amazon has had many complaints, as well as many
demands that the company should remove the offending costume from sale. I hope
Amazon continues its resistance, but I am not very confident, for sooner or
later they will be made to kow-tow to liberal hegemony.
Today's
Daily Mail has quoted Michelle Coke who wrote, 'This should not be an item for sale and should be removed
immediately. This is offensive and show lack of sensitivity on the part of
Amazon.' While another wrote, 'This is repulsive and offensive. Amazon
take this down! Did you go back in a time machine to the 1940s?'
As
far as the Gollywog (who cannot answer back) is concerned; he was a treasured
companion to many children of my generation. He is indeed old fashioned and
none PC - but racist? Well, to many of those demanding his removal, I would
fancy that many of them are white, liberal, and read the Guardian .
I
can remember collecting images of the little man from jars of Robertson's jams
and Golden Shred marmalade. When we had collected enough we sent for the much
prized badge. The badges came in a series with the Gollywog dressed in
disguises as various types of musicians. Children wore them on their school
uniforms and did so innocently, simply because there was nothing, either then,
or today, to feel ashamed about.
But
it is not of course only the image, but the name (especially the second
syllable) that evokes the current liberal outrage. Wog was an expression used
commonly by those who served abroad during the British Empire. But it did not
refer to those with black or brown skin. WOG was an acronym for Wily Oriental
Gentlemen; and was targeted at Arabs in the Middle East who were rightly or
wrongly distrusted by the British who believed them easily open to corruption
and less than honest in their business dealings.
While
the Gollywog may be black 'wog' is a different kettle of fish. All a Gollywog
was, was a black doll and nothing more as far as the children who played and
drew comfort from them were concerned. Indeed, if anything, the Gollywog was an
educational tool to the British children at the time when, in the 1950s men and
women from the West Indies came among us.
THE
LIBERALARTI has to get a grip. If I were black I would be proud of the
Gollywog; and even more so to see its popularity among white British children,
and I would readily buy one for my own children; as today I would as readily
buy a black doll. Imagine a teddy bear and the comfort it brought to generations
of children…it is the same with the Gollywog. It did not turn young white
fragile minds into fascists, or racists. The poor old Gollywog is being
stigmatized today by the Gollyphobia of the liberalarti.
The
only way in which this doll could ferment such opposition in a rational world
would be if children started to stick pins in it as part of a satanic ritual.
To use such language as one complainant did describing it as '… repulsive and offensive' says more
about this individuals rational perspective than it does about Amazon's
decision to sell the Golly uniform.
The
Gollywog was much loved by generations of British, American and Australian
children Before Political Correctness (BPC) intruded itself on our culture. But
ever since, Western culture has introduced an intellectual embargo on what can
and cannot be said regarding other cultures.
If
there is a market for this product, then Amazon has every right to sell[1]
it and should do so. It is perfectly legal, and it is no more moral or immoral
if a black child owned a white doll. If it fails to sell, then this should be
the only criteria that determines whether Amazon should continue to sell its
Golly uniform to the public. Amazon should not be intimidated by, in the main,
white liberals into withdrawing this product.
Let
those who get a touch of the vapours by the Gollywog s appearance on Amazon turn
to another web site; just as many television watchers have to do on a daily
basis.
LET
US OF A CERTAIN generation be allowed to finally raise a glass or two to the
Gollywog; before it becomes as infamous as the Nazi swastika among the UK's
liberalarti. For this is what it will come to if the likes of Michelle
Coke, quoted above, get their way. She is not an out of the ordinary voice as
far as this country's liberalista are concerned: for Ms Coke represents the
liberal position thoroughly.
God
bless the Gollywog as a comfort, like the teddy bear, to childhood. Long may it
be embraced in reassurance to a young child seeking sleep in the nursery. The
Gollywog has added to the innocence of childhood; as does the teddy bear.
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