BY GOLLY - IS THIS RACIST?

Look at this ad from an old issue of TV Century 21.  Does it offend you?  Maybe I'm an 'innocent', but I don't remember ever thinking that Golliwogs were racist when I was a kid, probably because the concept of racism was then unknown to me.  Perhaps, in my subconscious, I assumed that Golliwogs were a separate strain of creation, like the Smurfs or the Wombles (though they hadn't yet appeared on UK TV), or I considered them as caricatures of black people in the same way that Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were caricatures of stone age 'white' men.  I certainly never found myself having any negative or hostile thoughts about black people because of Gollis.

Gollis were well-loved, being seen as 'cute' and loveable, and I doubt that there was anything about them that inculcated seeds of racism in their child owners.  However, maybe you feel differently.  If so, can you articulate why Gollis are seemingly not acceptable nowadays, or do you think that accusations of racism are levelled by those who are simply determined to take offence at every little thing in order to beat 'whitey' over the head with a stick and coerce us into apologetic mode?  My own view is that anything that isn't intended to demean, criticise, ridicule, or oppress isn't racist, and I find myself continually surprised by what falls under the umbrella of racism these days.

Make your feelings known.

Posted in: Cartoons