From the pre-Born to Harangue (‘before I was Born’) files, something I wrote in 2012 somewhere else online which was probably my attempt at a Jonathan Swift
A Modest Proposal type of post. Even though I had only been thinking about political issues for a month and a half at that point, I did a decent enough job with it that I have no problem posting it again here under this name
So what were YOU people thinking about back in 2012?
As we can see, I was talking about ‘cancel culture’ before that phrase existed. Some of you are still stuck here where I was in 2012
. This post would go down a riot in the Politics thread if I posted it there like I had just written it today. Whereas when it comes to this type of rhetoric now I think more along the lines of “yeah it was funny at one time, but I’ve heard it all before, what else is new?”.
When will we begin removing unacceptable books/movies from the past?
15-10-2012 6:50pm
Here's what we need to get rid of:
Movies
Any movies made during the 20th century where actors perform in black-face, or any other stereotypical costuming/make-up designed to make light of the plight of minorities.
See: Al Jolson - any movie made starring this man must be wiped off of the face of the planet so future generations can't be influenced by his reprehensible black-face roles. Since, you know, kids today love watching movies from the 1920s and 1930s - Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, that's all I ever hear the kids around here talking about. Jolson's 1927 movie
The Jazz Singer (the first ever sound movie) will be the first to go. Some may argue that these movies are important historical artifacts, and to edit or destroy them would be a Stalin-esque revision of history, but what I say to you is this: what's history if it hurts modern people's
feelings?
Other blackface roles which must be destroyed: Fred Astaire in
Swing Time, Garland & Rooney in
Babes on Broadway (speaking of Mickey Rooney, he also appeared in yellowface make-up as Mr. Yunioshi in
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Rooney is still alive, in his 90s now, but I still believe a public apology should be sought. Have a noble gentleman like Piers Morgan interview him on his show and let Rooney explain his actions. Really press him for answers. It wasn't deemed offensive in those days you say, it was a different time back then? Well that's too bad, people are offended
now!), Joan Crawford in
Torch Song, Bing Crosby in
Holiday Inn, Dorothy Dandridge in
Carmen Jones, the majority of Shirley Temple movies have to go. Peter Lorre's movies where he stars as the Asian 'Mr. Moto' should also be tossed in the woodchipper (Lorre's bulging eyes creep me out, it wouldn't be any harm to get rid of his movies even if he hadn't played the offensive Mr. Moto role).
See also: John Wayne. A notorious bigot in person, which should be good enough reason to remove his movies from television and DVD circulation, don't you think? Jimmy Savile's TOTP episodes aren't being shown on television any more due to the accusations that he molested teenage girls, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle movies were rarely screened during his lifetime after he was accused of rape and murder, the same fate should befall Mr. Wayne for his inexcusable bigotry. Of course there have been other bigots who've made movies over the years, I don't have time to list them all, but these people should be singled out and their movies banned,
banned,
BANNED!
Literature
Where does one begin? Literature should be easier to regulate than movies, as in most cases only certain words or sections may need to be re-written to make them acceptable for modern readers. This is our duty, since, you know, kids today love reading literature from the 19th and early 20th centuries - Mark Twain and William Faulkner, that's all I ever hear the kids around here talking about.
It's rather idealistic of me to claim that in most cases only certain words or sections of dangerous books may need to be re-written (what can I say, I'm an eternal optimist), because of course some books
will need to be removed entirely from circulation and destroyed. Children's books for instance have a lot to answer for. Sweden has the right idea by shelving the Tin-Tin books (people decades ago thought that existential works by the likes of Nietzsche or Sartre were the menace to society? They were dead wrong, Tin-Tin was the real corrupter of youth), but this isn't enough. We'll start with children's books and work our way up -
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
The Three Golliwogs,
Doctor Doolittle, these books need to join Tin-Tin on the scrap heap. Once we begin editing and erasing bigoted works of children's literature, we can then focus our attention on literature for teens and above (H.P. Lovecraft,
Huckleberry Finn, etc). Given the time and effort, all books of this type can be rounded up and either edited or burned, people inhabiting the Earth fifty years from now will have no idea that these types of works ever existed. That's the goal. Hopefully these books can be forgotten about in less than fifty years, it may seem far-fetched, but I'm an optimist (eternally).
Music
Would you believe that discriminatory, derogatory early 20th century songs mocking minorities as sung by white vocalists are still widely available to be listened to on the internet? Therefore any able-bodied child with an internet connection has decades worth of songs by Ada Jones, Sophie Tucker, Henry Burr and others at his/her fingertips. Only last week a young scamp ran past me on the street whilst whistling the tune to one of Billy Murray's bigoted numbers. These sorts of songs should
not still be available for people to listen to in our polite society of 2012. I'll not allow any leniency like I did with film and literature, these songs should outright not exist. After these songs are banned, we'll focus our attention on country music, because, you know: southern caucasian males singing songs aimed at southern caucasian people? Something suspicious about that.
The only way we can progress as a people is to remove any and all threats from the past.
So, who's with me? Once we remove the threats as outlined above, we can begin sorting out our History books. People inhabitating the Earth half a century from now will have no idea that racial division ever existed. That's the goal. I'd like to see it erased from memory in less than fifty years, it may seem far-fetched, but I'm an optimist (infernally).
The past should have no presence in our present. To advocate in favour of the works listed above is to advocate continued hatred and prejudice. New literature can be written, new movies can be made, that is - movies and literature which don't offend
anybody. While we still allow offensive works from the past to seep into our present - we'll remain stagnant and rooted to the spot. Growth will be impossible. The past should have no relevance today, so censorship is key.
Education is key.
Move with us or get left behind.
’ because they think I’m not talking about them, yes I’m talking about you too! Especially you!
”.
:
www.nme.com
