Splicetoday

Politics & Media
Jun 20, 2008, 05:27AM

When It Comes To Racism, Ignorance Can No Longer Be Bliss

The Obama sock puppet peddlers from Utah get called out by a this writer for the complete idiocy of their professed "ignorance" of racist imagery. With ubiquitous information in our media saturated age, ignorance can no longer be an excuse when founding a well-financed and designed online business.

To be honest, the product doesn't offend or surprise. The creators of the knit monkey were making use of a tired, typically off-the-mark racist symbol, plus they operated out of West Jordan, home of state Sen. Chris-I'm-not-a-bigot-I-just-act-that-way-Buttars. The Sock Obama people were even one step behind the national racist souvenir agenda.

The biggest issue here is the response of the creators of The Sock Obama's to the controversy. In a letter to New York Magazine, the company credited the doll's creation to making "a casual and affectionate observation one night," while excusing the toy's offensive undertone as "an element of naivete on our part."

Although the claim of the makers' friendly epiphany (Oh look, that black man looks just like a crocheted ape with giant red lips, how sweet!) is ridiculous, the idea that these people were willing to defend their actions by asserting their own ignorance is even more so.

No matter their intentions, the makers of the toy created a product with racially offensive implications. People should no longer feel ignorance is somehow more acceptable than deliberate bigotry, and those observing such behaviors should treat both with equal distaste. The ignorant and maleficent often find themselves creating the same monsters-the only difference lies in each side's planning skills.

Discussion
  • I think this puppet is incredibly racist, almost laughably so, and the fact that the creators deny any awareness of that is ridiculous. But I also sort of wish they had a little more courage and decided to keep selling the thing. Why bow to the pressure? Offensive images are all over the place in our consumer culture, and we don't start protests to get each and every one erased from the face of the earth. A variety of Disney movies from the last 60 years (Aladdin, Jungle Book, and Dumbo come to mind) have insane stereotypes, and yet they're still sold in stores.

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  • I agree with Doing Deities that the Obama sock puppet creators are disingenuous with their protests that they didn't realize the product would offend people. They wanted to make money, pure and simple. And that's fine, but spare us the mea culpas. I believe that anything that's legal can be sold, whether it's this exploitation of Obama's notoriety or toilet paper rolls with Bush's face on them. I disagree, however, about DD's comment about the Disney films. Yes, they have stereotypes, but they're part of history and, I think, valuable viewing for people today to see what the prevailing commerce provided in the 20th century.

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  • I don't think Obama gives a rat's ass about this kind of stuff. He's come too far to be bothered by crass peddlers in commerce.

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