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From Tip Top Comics #151 Feb 1949 (Original Post) Cartoonist Jan 2019 OP
"Jap" brides? MineralMan Jan 2019 #1
That's why I included the date Cartoonist Jan 2019 #2
Yes, I understand. It is still shockingly offensive, I think. MineralMan Feb 2019 #3
There's worse Cartoonist Feb 2019 #5
You're right, of course. MineralMan Feb 2019 #6
How do you feel about Huck Finn? Cartoonist Feb 2019 #7
It's the context, really. MineralMan Feb 2019 #8
You miss the perspective Cartoonist Feb 2019 #9
No, I don't miss the perspective at all. MineralMan Feb 2019 #10
But the probable comet the Chinese saw edhopper Feb 2019 #4

Cartoonist

(7,530 posts)
5. There's worse
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:02 AM
Feb 2019

I love old comics, but there's a downside. You won't find a black character that isn't drawn as an ugly stereotype. The depictions of Japanese characters during the war are just as bad.

MineralMan

(147,574 posts)
6. You're right, of course.
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:11 AM
Feb 2019

Bigotry shows its face in lots of old material in many genres. My attitude toward that stuff is that it should be consigned to the dustbin of history, really. It can still be examined and its impact considered, but I wouldn't post any of it here on DU, unless the topic was specifically about historical bigotry.

That's just me, of course. When such things are part of a different topic, they tend to distract from whatever point is being made. In your page of comics, that reference struck me immediately and completely overrode the reason you posted that page in the first place.

Such references were strikingly offensive then, and they remain offensive. It's up to you, of course.

Cartoonist

(7,530 posts)
7. How do you feel about Huck Finn?
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:39 AM
Feb 2019

Context and historical perspective are often needed when dealing with the past. I wouldn't toss out the baby with the bathwater. There are two comic art masterpieces that unfortunately feature such stereotypes. I would keep them out of the dustbin.

MineralMan

(147,574 posts)
8. It's the context, really.
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:42 AM
Feb 2019

The context of your comic page is simply that there are unusual things out there. "Strange but True." The context of Huckleberry Finn is 19th Century Missouri. One is a work of literature. The other is a collection of oddities.

There is a major difference between the two examples.

Cartoonist

(7,530 posts)
9. You miss the perspective
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:53 AM
Feb 2019

The artist who drew that page was merely using the language of the time and place. Knowing nothing else, it would be wrong to accuse the artist of racism.

It also works both ways. The word gay used to mean something else. There is a thread in GD now in which someone infers that the hand signal for OK 👌 can now only be used by white supremacists.

MineralMan

(147,574 posts)
10. No, I don't miss the perspective at all.
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 10:55 AM
Feb 2019

I know the perspective. I simply choose not to present objectionable content on this website, regardless of that perspective.

I'm old enough to have seen that perspective in daily life. I'm glad that it is no longer acceptable to people.

edhopper

(34,790 posts)
4. But the probable comet the Chinese saw
Fri Feb 1, 2019, 09:56 AM
Feb 2019

was 5 BCE which changes the whole nativity narrative.

Which is itself historically problematic.

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