Rewriting, Washing, Scrubbing American Culture

YOU used racist Ho Lee Fuk 10 times and that's part of the point. Make sure your closet is clean before you shit in mine.

 

I know that I will never be politically correct
And I don't give a damn about my lack of etiquette
As far as I'm concerned the world could still be flat
And if the thrill is gone then it's time to take it back
If the thrill is gone then it's time to take it back

 

See also, streaming; pandemic.

 

I must be even more charming than I imagined, because the only time I ever see conversations like this is when it involves strangers on the Internet.

Even living in the political capital of the world and a certified woke-libtard hellscape, I encounter frighteningly little conflict or offense.

 

That's fair. I meant to distinguish the difference from specifically using an offensive phrase to specially denigrate a specific group of people as opposed to using an offensive phrase ironically as a term of shock.

But what you say isn't wrong.

I suppose I should say my lack of calling out that specific case doesn't excuse the use of an offensive phrase toward a national soccer team because they share the country targeted by the offensive phrase.

 

Also consider your circle. I end up in these conversations more because I'm in a school where students are being dumb or stepping in it is much easier.

 

Conversations is more credit than it deserves. There are a couple of thumbs up gathering dust in the corner and otherwise people steer around like it was horse droppings on a parade route.

I can get preachy on Facebook too, but I usually try to not go to that well too often, write an actual narrative and just call out truly egregious shit. I haven’t really gotten wrapped around the axle on things like land acknowledgments and offering pronouns like it’s the wine list.

 

I coach grade-schoolers (K-6) all year long and the worst thing I’ve seen is a kid accuse me of “profiling” him because I cut him from a relay heat after he cursed at the meet director.

I know coaching is different than teaching, and grade school and middle school are different universes, but I mostly find myself encouraged by how together most of these kids are.

 

If the worst you’ve been accused of is profiling—one time—, you’re doing great.

Middle school is different and my pool of students is different. They keep me in my toes. Usually I’m telling them to pull their heads out of their assess. Occasionally I have to check myself.

 

My buddy teaches 8th graders in the Bronx and he's beloved but he gets quite the crew and he gives as good as he gets. Last year a kid jumped on my friend's desk and said, "Suck my dick," to which my friend replied, "Your dick is so tiny I wouldn't even be able to find it." The class erupted in laughter and cheers and the kid jumped down, humbled.

So at least American culture still allows a good roast.

 

That guy is my hero. I could never get away with that.

The closest I came was telling a kid I was way out of his league.

 

Agree with all of this, but it's worth remembering how ardently we protect that original Mona Lisa, no matter how many pop / camp repurposings we put her through.

And when I say I'll defend Huck Finn as Twain wrote it, what I mean is that we shouldn't ban the original. Or banish it. Efforts at both of which - from both sides of the aisle - have been going on my entire life. I'm 65.

As you say, there are plenty of bowdlerized versions in circulation already.

Questions about editing art retroactively have been part of art and culture since we came down out of the trees. Who do you think put all those fig leaves on all those statues?

So whether or not the Dahl estate thinks it can sell more Wonkas being kinder to Augustus Gloop is up to them. Rights holders have rights.

Same same if a living writer or publisher feels the need to adapt a work. Mazel tov.

And without touching the third rail here, there are things Spike Lee can say - in his art and out of it - that I can't.