I am Working on the Topic of Racism

            I work as a university researcher while studying as a PhD student.  The last couple months my research has focused on Racism in K-12 education.  The idea being to see how various factors of racism are discussed in the field of education and how it might be applied to Public Policy or Administration.

            Shockingly, researching this topic for numerous weeks left my brain feeling like it had been beaten with a cudgel.

            It was a strange arc to the whole process too.  The first half dozen sources I worked thru I could immediately see a larger narrative (one that held steady thru the remaining research) and enjoyed the act of learning for its own sake.

            Then as I read the next half dozen I started to think, “Oh good, a lot of these literature reviews see policies in action, and it seems like they know how to fix many of the underlying problems.”  During this time is where a normal undergraduate would be able to write a paper spelling out numerous issues and numerous solutions.  Then I kept going…

            The refrain of racism became an earworm.  20-25 sources reviewed and all I could see is the long pattern stretching back thru American and world history and it leading to the current state of things.  The attempts to fix it, the constant push back, and the half-hearted attempts to dig out the infection of systemic racism and cultural bias, it was the arc of history and while things are better, they still suck, and it is too easy for them to get worse.

            Conversations with people at the dog park were a treat for them I am sure.  As puppies played and older dogs sat on benches and got head pats from the various lounging dog owners, I turned conversations with those who would listen to me into town halls.  There a bunch of people listened to me explain how subtle racism permeates every aspect of the primary education system.  And then went on to explain how that racism is part of the legacy of segregation and white supremacy that is as baked into the apple pie of America alongside patriarchy and heteronormativity.

            I was being a bit of a downer.

            By the time I had finished summarizing and organizing more than 30 of these papers (each in turn a literature review or meta-analysis of numerous other studies) I had been thinking about racism constantly for a month… and I stupidly didn’t stop there.

            I am an avid user of audiobooks and I had been listening to some of the free titles offered via my audible subscription on history.  What were two titles I had picked?  “A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution” and “Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow” as my stupid ass had decided without really thinking it out, “Hey, I have been wanting to learn a little more about these topics” and ended up reading about a whole other dimension to racism.  (Both of those titles are quite informative; I am not slighting them in the least, do pick them up if you are a fan of history.)

            Racism was the hobgoblin of my thoughts.  You might be saying, “what about your classes?  Didn’t studying for those take your mind off of it?”  Well, one of them deals with philosophy and certainly did, the other… It deals with Welfare Programs in the US and HOLY SHIT is it just racism all the way down.  I kind of lost my mind at some point when we were having class discussion where people were trying to give the benefit of the doubt to… let’s politely call it, “the other side” by spelling out their fiscal conservatism and romanticizing of the Protestant Work Ethic.

            Yeah, I decided not to give the same benefit of the doubt.  Ending up on a mini rant about how we all need to stop giving them credit or listening to them lie.  Spelling out how persistent racism has been the guiding star of so many “reforms” and so many abuses within the American welfare system (and America in general) that we have to stop treating the other side as acting in good faith.  At a certain point you have to come to the realization that you and the public you serve are in danger, that the other side is not acting in good faith, that the other side does not tell the truth, and that if you don’t start acknowledging all that you are going to allow great harm to come to the most vulnerable.

            Regardless of all these attempts to kill my own soul by burning away what little remained of my own ignorance (keep in mind, I am not learning too many new things about racism, it is the wallowing in the subject matter that is getting to me) I did come out the other end and will continue to work on the material.

            I talked to my supervising Professor about how draining it has been to bathe in this topic (it is interesting at least to see which authors look at things with a cold detachment, those that feel a sense of sad pity, and those that have some real fire to their writing) and the professor suggested to distance myself from the material a bit, focus on putting out a useful policy message and maybe making a positive change.

            The professor also made the suggestion to go back over the reading list he had given his students earlier in the semester which included the titles, “White Rage”, “White Trash”, and “White Fragility” and not read those titles for a little while.  The university and our department in particular had been trying to position themselves as “Anti-Racist” (something I support) and that had led to many such reading lists to help the student body understand the context of the university’s work on the subject.  I previously discussed the book “Blindspot” for this very reason.  The Professor saw that I was already knee deep and needed a bit of a mental break.

            Good news is that I might be able to publish some of my work from this and that might do some good in the future.

            Maybe.

            Maybe it will just be the latest in a long line of papers saying, “Here is the problem, we all see it, here is a possible solution, please don’t ignore it” and then it getting filed away to only be referenced by other academics and ignored by policymakers… Cause racism.

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Government Shutdown and Russian Bots

Government Shutdown

You know what is super ridiculous about the government shut down?  It is happening primarily over two programs, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Both of these programs are overwhelmingly popular with both parties.  Passing both in a massive bipartisan collaboration would be the most popular thing done by the federal government since the death of Osama bin Laden.

Remember this guy?  What an asshole right?

"The problem you’ve got is that CHIP is so popular that there is this thought process that well, anybody who has another bill that they’d like to get through, if they can get it attached to CHIP, they have a better chance of getting it through, which causes problems for CHIP," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

So why is it failing?  Because rather than go for the easy win, Republicans decided to random these two programs (both of which are popular with their voters) for EVEN MORE STUFF.  In government terms this is as close to cutting off your nose to spite your face as it gets.

Here is a strategy, pass the two things everyone wants, make a big deal about it, and THEN make stupid and unreasonable demands and cloak them in honeyed words.

It is like these idiots don't even know how to be properly sinister.

Russian Bots

You know, sometimes I think to myself, "There is no way Russia is funding internet trolls to support President Trump."

Um... Till I go to the comment section of any news article talking about Trump and you start to see patterns. Points being brought up in just the right way. Things being hammered on, over and over.  Tangents that segway into crazy town.  And the one that is really easy to look up, accounts that have existed for a couple months (tops) that have 30,000+ posts, dozens of which are just hashtags to a conspiracy theory.

That "@" name looks super on the level.

And all of them are giving each other thumbs up.  The smart ones I've noticed conceal their posting history to make it slightly harder to justify reporting them. But I report a few, the ones that are most obviously just computers reporting the same block of text thousands of times.  And the ones using actual hate speech like,

 

Having looked at many of his comments, which mostly consist of him saying "Winning" or racist statistics.
I am certain this does not shame him.  I mean, his user name includes the word "Racist".

Guys... this shit is real...

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The Value of Sanctuary Cities

A Group Against Sanctuary Cities

            I just today found a political action group that wanted me to send an email to my Senator Bill Nelson asking him to end Sanctuary Cities.  As I think Sanctuary cities are a good thing I carefully edited their email to say this:

-----

I am writing to inform you I support sanctuary cities.

Sanctuary cities allow immigrants to approach the police and report crimes without fear of deportation.  This leads to safer communities for both the residents and the officers.

Sanctuary cities promote public safety because in the end, dangerous criminals will not find sanctuary among communities that have no reason to fear talking to the police.  In fact, there is no evidence that these communities have any crime beyond what would be expected for an area with their population density.

Senator, please do not let racism and stupidity damage America any further.

-----

Their Response to Me and My Reply

            After sending it, they sent me an email thanking me for my support and so I responded to them, pointing out my edits and explaining my feelings toward their group.

-----

Hello,

I consider your group to be racist idiots, so rather than send your form letter I carefully edited it to support Sanctuary Cities.

I hope you stop your campaign of white nationalism and instead learn to focus on making the United States a better place for all the people who live here, even if they didn't fill out piles of paperwork for the privilege, paperwork drawn up by racists like yourself from another era.

You can be better than what you are.  All you have to do is not persecute innocent people.

Grow up, grow a sense of decency, and be better than what you are.

-----

Political Discourse

            Am I wasting my time?  Almost certainly.  Their website (and their form email) pushed the idea that sanctuary cities are hiding grounds for criminals, including rapists and murderers.  This is wrong, both on a moral level or being fear mongering garbage, and statistically wrong, as I explained above.

            I would recommend to you that if you see a group like this one you take the time to speak against them as I have done or in whatever way you feel comfortable.  And beyond that adopt some of their methods, by which I mean contact those senators and congresspeople you disagree with and tell them what you believe.

            I have done this in the past with Senator Rubio about the refugees/travel ban and about net neutrality.  It perhaps accomplished nothing, but it is one more piece of paperwork sitting in a file somewhere that will illustrate my feelings to some future generation and their response will also be recorded as to being on a side, right or wrong.

6 Big Things to Know About Sanctuary Cities

Sanctuary Cities: What Trump Doesn't Tell You

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Diversity in my Life and My Thoughts on Charlottesville

The Speed of News

            News is happening so fast that I can’t even comment on all of it.  Charlottesville seems more of the moment, so I am going to talk about it in a shallow way to get my feelings out before it is all washed out by the next horrible thing.

            I do feel it necessary to point out, last week atomic war was something that might have broken out and it is somehow not the top news story illustrating how awful President Trump is.  It is an issue that promises to hang around for a while.  Keep that in the back of your mind while I reflect on my worldview.

Some Context

            Growing up in the 90’s I was exposed to numerous TV shows and movies that wanted me, and I am assuming children in general, to know that the world was in trouble and everyone had to work together to save it.

            Shows like X-Men are perhaps the most iconic and ongoing properties in that vein, the comic having been around since the 60’s and even now being a massive movie franchise about bigotry and alienation when it isn’t about firing as many lasers as possible at a purple cyborg to… You know, maybe we can all acknowledge that “X-Men Apocalypse” did not understand the franchise’s core appeal and move on.

            My point is, diversity in the casts of those shows was not something that was advertised or commented upon, but was something that was there.  Even as a kid I recall having the thought, “Oh, I see, they want to show how everyone is included”.  Sure, it was often clumsy and rarely subtle (for instance the kid in the wheelchair for the Burger King Kid’s Club, was named “Wheels”.  Yeesh), but I didn’t mind.

            When I watched the shows or movies, or looked at the asinine advertising for subpar burgers, I was there to see an adventure.  If not every member of the cast was a cis-gendered-white-male I just accepted that as how the world was.  Because not everyone is a cis-gendered-white-male.

They even included Kid Vid who was really into 80’s new wave pop music… Or was possibly a time traveler from 2080, they were not really clear on the concept.  Apparently his real name is Ryan Mcfarland according to wikipedia.

            When I watched Dr Bashir save Deep Space Nine with medical knowledge, Kwame lead the Planeteers with a level head, or Roland rewire the proton packs to catch more powerful ghosts I didn’t think to myself how unrealistic it was or how the show had to include them for “diversity”.  I accepted that these characters were doing what they were doing and their race was at best a physical description rather than any defining characteristic.

            I know that I had and have biases and prejudices that I am not even aware of, things so subtle that I would not even understand what was being pointed out if someone explained them to me.  I know that I had a resentment toward my schools for putting a huge focus on certain cultures over others (you can read my review/reflections on “Pocahontas” for more of my feelings on that), but I do know that the area I grew up in was not diverse and if not for some focus being put on other cultures and people I don’t think I would have gotten any exposure.

            The best I can do in my day to day life is try to treat everyone as an individual.  Every person has their own little story to tell and is at their own place in this world because of decisions made not only by them but by countless other people.  We will never meet all of those people who caused the dominos to fall, we just know that we are getting knocked over.

Nazis

            With all of this in mind, I have to ask what shows were these guys watching when they were growing up?

            What made them this?  What made them see “Indiana Jones” and think that the guys getting punched were the ones in the right?  What part of Picard’s Drumhead speech made them think that diminishing someone was alright?  What part of “Heart” made them think that having fewer and whiter people was a winning strategy?

            I really do not get it.  What made them think that the “Red Pill” Morpheus (a black man) gives to Neo (a white man) to explain how everyone is being marginalized by a system (whose avatars are all white men) was a symbol of men waking up to the oppression of… Feminism?  Guys, I think you missed the whole point of that movie.  Like all of it.

            Who lied to these weak racist fools so often about the Civil War that they now think it wasn’t about Slavery?  Who lied to them about World War II to make them think the Holocaust didn’t happen (though they seem to think it should have)?  What happened to these guys to make them blame minorities for how disappointed they are in their own lives?

Didn't they see "Fight Club"?
The Credit Card companies are responsible.

             Why do so many of them think President Trump is the answer?  Just because he is racist and hired racist Stephen Bannon to be a chief policy advisor?  Even if President Trump is on their side they still have to look at how comically inept the President is and realize their star player is laughably bad at every task.

            Why is it so many people think every time white nationalists do something horrible at an event celebrating racism it is somehow a false flag operation?  Are they really that stupid, deluded, or just trying to cover it up?  I do not get any of this.

            A few months ago, I decided to coin the phrase, “Not-Zees” as a descriptor of the Alt-Right and White National supporters of Trump who were pedantic enough to point out they were not literal Nazis, which they defined entirely as a political party started in Germany following the first World War.

            I guess I can throw that cute nickname out the window.  Kind of hard for anyone to claim Nazi is such a narrow term when there are guys yelling “Heil, Trump!” and carrying Swastika branded merchandise.  Images of the KKK battle flag sitting next to the Nazi flag also erases any illusions people had of the two being distinct, and curb stomps all future moronic arguments of, “Heritage, not hate” as transparent lies, as if they somehow weren’t before.

My Thoughts

            Like I said, I don’t get any of this.

            I see the world as a big and diverse place full of people who are awful, but I see them as awful on an individual basis and I judge them on their Words and Deeds, as I have explained before.  So here we are, the President shows more deference to a Russian Dictator and Nazi mobs than he does to Senators in his own party.

            What is more, that is not just me exaggerating, I have a quote from white nationalist rag The Daily Stormer who took President Trump’s awful response to the issue and rightly interpreted it as a winking endorsement.

            “Trump comments were good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together.  Nothing specific against us.

            “He said that we need to study why people are so angry, and implied that there was hate… on both sides!

            “So he implied the antifa are haters.

            “There was virtually no counter-signaling of us at all.

            “He said he loves us all.

            “Also refused to answer a question about White Nationalists supporting him.

            “No condemnation at all.

            “When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room.

            “Really, really good.

            “God bless him.”

            -Taken from Here

Sleep tight America.  It has been less than 9 months.

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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Punching a Nazi?

            I am firmly in the camp of punching Nazis.

            If this idea is somehow offensive to you, I don’t care.  Once Someone’s worldview includes the systemic genocide of entire cultures you are "Hostis humani generis" and will not receive the protections of the social contract that you wish to destroy.

            What’s more, I am partial to extending this use of violence against people who don't consider genocide a deal breaker. If you are willing to vote or defend someone who wants to commit genocide just because it does not target you, you are guilty of conspiracy.

            There is no middle ground in this area for debate.  One side wants to exist, the other does not want them to exist.  There is no meeting in the middle when one side's stated position is, "wipe them out” just as there is no just compromise position between “everyone having equal protection under the law” and any position which takes away basic liberties.

            I do not oppose them for what they are but who they chose to be.  Because of the values they have taken on as their mission statement.  None of this should be tolerated, and should be opposed with proportionate violence.

            We did not win World War II with hugs.

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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

"Today, the Statue of Liberty shrugs." -Zach Weinersmith

Today, the Statue of Liberty shrugs.

Some of you have family somewhere overseas. I do not.

I do not, because four generations ago my great grandfather came here while his sister chose to stay behind. Her name, to the best of our knowledge, was Peltia Wollach (née Winokur) and she was lucky enough to die before the Shoah. As far as I could tell from the records digitized by JewishGen.com from Bialystok, Poland, and from documents in Yad Vashem, everyone else was murdered. Her husband Itzchak, and (I believe) five children - Chasia, Riwka, Tauba, Avram, and Jehoszua.

I am lucky that my ancestor, Szimon Winokur, came here in 1925. I am also lucky that he was white. If he had been Chinese, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 would have kept him out.

He brought his family here. One of his sons, my grandfather, was a small business owner. His son, my father, received a free education in New York, then went to Caltech. My father was, until his retirement, a doctor in a small town in Texas. He has six children - One is a Christian pastor. One is an executive director at a medical technology company. One is a conservative political philosopher, one is a chief technical officer in silicon valley, and my little sister is a doctor in Louisiana. I’m the one black spot on this record because I write books for a living.

We are all here, all contributing to this country because in 1925, a boat passed Ellis Island and nobody told the ill-clad funny-accented people in it to turn around because they were too poor or not Christian enough, or that they hadn’t been vetted properly. You all know the poetry - give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The green lady’s tablet doesn’t say a thing about whether those huddled masses were Chinese or Muslim or Jew or Arab. And, it specifically enjoins us to take those who yearn for freedom. It doesn’t say take a highly educated European or Indian on an H1-B visa. It doesn’t say take a Christian or a rich business owner or a diplomat.

But, look east, and you can see Libertas shrugging. There are weights around her robes, and her torch is flickering in New York Harbor.

And the politicians who had the poverty of spirit to diminish her poem by knicks and cuts, and now slashes, could at least have the honesty to add their caveats and fears to the tablet she carries before it sinks to the bottom.

This nation is supposed to have been founded by pioneers. People like Franklin, who defied a Crown. People like Lewis and Clark who went west, not knowing exactly what they’d eat or what they’d find. People like Teddy Roosevelt, who took a bullet, then smiled through a speech.

We’re supposed to be a culture of people who are rugged and risky and independent. And yet, when you are more likely to be killed by a shark attack than a terrorist, we are told that we need protection. We are told we should be afraid. And the people who are telling us we need to be afraid are the very people who benefit most from our fear. Fear is their currency. Don’t make a deposit.

I want to quote at length from the book The Moon is Down, by Steinbeck, written in the midst of World War 2. This passage is from the end of the book, when Mayor Orden is going to be executed for not capitulating to the conquering authority. The people of the conquered city have gotten access to explosives from the British, and the conquering enemy (in the person of Colonel Lanser) wants the mayor to tell his people not to use them.

The Mayor spoke proudly.  "Yes, they will light it.  I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but - I do have a choice of how I do it.  If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight.  If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brave man will have made them a little braver."  He smiled apologetically.  "You see, it is an easy thing for me to do, since the end for me is the same."

Lanser said, "If you say yes, we can tell them you said no.  We can tell them you begged for your life."

Doctor Winter broke in angrily, "They would know.  You do not keep secrets.  One of your men got out of hand one night and he said the flies had conquered the flypaper, and now the whole nation knows his words.  They have made a song of it.  The flies have conquered the flypaper.  You do not keep secrets, Colonel."

From the direction of the mine a whistle tooted shrilly.  And a quick gust of wind sifted dry snow against the windows.

Orden fingered his gold medallion.  He said quietly, "You see, sir, nothing can change it.  You will be destroyed and driven out."  His voice was very soft.  "The people don't like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be.  Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat.  Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.  You will find that is so, sir."

Lanser was erect and stiff.  "My orders are clear.  Eleven o'clock was the deadline.  I have taken hostages.  If there is violence, the hostages will be executed."

And Doctor Winter said to the colonel, "Will you carry out the orders, knowing they will fail?"

Lanser's face was tight.  "I will carry out my orders no matter what they are, but I do think, sir, a proclamation from you might save many lives."

Madame broke in plaintively, "I wish you would tell me what all this nonsense is."

"It is nonsense, dear."

"But they can't arrest the Mayor," she explained to him.

Orden smiled at her.  "No," he said, "they can't arrest the Mayor.  The Mayor is an idea conceived by free men.  It will escape arrest."

Steve Bannon, who is now inexplicably advising the president on matters military, reportedly said he wanted to bring our entire system crashing down. But our system - our system of free people who do not want or need to be ruled - is like Mayor Orden. It can’t be destroyed, because you can’t destroy an idea. The idea may be silenced. It may leave its home, for a time. But, as long as people can think, no idea can die.

The Statue of Liberty may step down from her podium, she may sink below the surface, but will still be there. And, when the moon is up, you will see her shining through a rippling surface, ready to stand again.

I should end on that note, but I want to close with something pragmatic, because this can’t all just be talk. Barney Frank - the first openly gay congressman in US history - gave an interview to New York Magazine shortly after he retired. He said something that I’ve never forgotten:

I believe very strongly that people on the left are too prone to do things that are emotionally satisfying and not politically useful. I have a rule, and it’s true of Occupy, it’s true of the gay-rights movement: If you care deeply about a cause, and you are engaged in an activity on behalf of that cause that is great fun and makes you feel good and warm and enthusiastic, you’re probably not helping, because you’re out there with your friends, and political work is much tougher and harder. And I think it’s now clear that it is the disciplined political work that we’ve been able to do that’s won us victories. I am going to write about the history of the LGBT movement partly to make the point that, in America at least, this is the way you do progressive causes.

For a lot of us, in recent times politics has gotten a lot less fun and a lot more scary. I know we have to buoy each other up, but I say this as a professional writer of jokes - let’s take politics to an even less fun place.

When I heard about the immigration ban, the first thing I did was to order 400 sheets of paper, a giant roll of stamps, and a bulk box of envelopes. I will be writing letters as frequently as possible to all of my representatives. And, if they do not stand against this prodigy of indecency, I will personally donate to whoever opposes them. And, if Trump defies a federal judge’s order, I will join those calling for an impeachment.

You cannot arrest the mayor.

Zach Weinersmith

January 29, 2017

PS: I’m declaring this document public domain. Feel free to share any way you like.

Most Recent Disney Movie I Saw

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            Today is day 27 and the topic is “Most Recent Disney Movie I Saw”.

I think I used this image already this month.
Either way, good movie.

 “Zootopia” was a smash hit earlier this year and it was the last Disney movie—that is to say, Non-Marvel and Non-Star Wars—that I saw and it is going to be my movie of the year.  There are other movies that might have taken that if I had the time and drive to watch them, but I only have so much money.  Besides, I like “Zootopia” so much I think it is pretty secure on the pedestal.

I haven’t seen “Muana” yet.  I am sure I will like it when I get to it.  I live in an area where movie tickets are kind of overpriced.  Even a matinee with student rates only takes it down to 9 dollars.   Double what that would be in Tallahassee, my previous berg.  Not convenient.

Just for reference, I saw “Zootopia” on Netflix after twice trying to rent it and getting a bad disk.  Reason #2,000,000,000,000 that hard media is going to die out.  I actually saw this after seeing “Finding Dory”, which is also a good movie, go watch it too.

The Plot

The plot of the movie “Zootopia” goes as follows: Officer Hopps must enlist the help of a conman in her search for several missing people tied to mysterious incidents of violence.  Along the way she must face off against the lack of respect she gets from being the only small mammal on the police force.  Traditionally most of her comrades in blue are multi-ton weighing giant mammals like Rhinos and Water Buffalo, and there is an omnipresent air of discrimination as many feel she lacks the muscle to get things done.

Let’s just go ahead and try to outline the things I liked about the movie and give examples.

First Thing: It’s Funny

The movie has good humor, starting off with a children’s play emphasizing the sort of silly production values those usually have, coupled with a clear statement of the movie’s theme.  This is an excellent way to put forth exposition, you start off with a narration of the distant past, which turns into a modern day lesson on the past, the change of venue wakes up the audience and keeps them engaged.  Another movie that used this technique was “Serenity”, Joss Whedon’s swan song for the show “Firefly” which is simultaneously one of the best shows ever, and one of the most overrated now that its hypothetical greatness has been proselytized endlessly in nerd culture.  Getting off topic.

“Zootopia” moves from the school play to confrontations with systemic internalized prejudice, and external prejudice.  Pointing out these hang overs from prehistoric times of barbarism still hang around.  Thru practical example existing prejudices are shown after having the foundation explained, all flowing effortlessly into one another.  The movie even pokes fun at the idea of parents trying to discourage behavior they see as fruitless via what sociologists call, “The crab bucket mentality”, but these parents are still nice and positive people so they do not want to say “no” outright.

Parents, can't encourage bad ideas, but can't crush dreams.  A razor thin line to walk.

Stu: Judy, you ever wonder how your Mom and me got to be so darn happy?

Judy: Nope.

Stu: Well, we gave up on our dreams, and we settled.  Right, Bon?

Bonnie: Oh, yes.  That’s right, Stu, we settled hard.

Second Thing: It’s Exotic

The primary location of the story is a city divided to accommodate the numerous types of sentient animal contained within it.  The locations are vibrant and varied.  There is an area that is scaled up for large animals like Giraffes and Elephants and an entire micro-city for the mice and voles.  There are divisions for jungle, forest, tundra, desert, and the grand cityscape that blends elements in subtler ways.

Like the over world of a Nintendo game.

IT IS COOL.  And I thought going in that I would hate it as being too tortured a concept.  I imagined it being cheesy but the twisted logic of the setting has it make a great deal of sense.  This is the sort of—I won’t say “silly”—but “high-minded” consideration that I appreciate.

I hope this sort of thought is put into science fiction and fantasy projects Disney might make going forward—a Disney iteration of “Babylon 5” maybe—As the varied visuals add so much to the movie.  I like traditional fairy tales that take place in one environment type, but this is so different that it was refreshingly different.

Third Thing: It’s Exciting

“Zootopia” is primarily a mystery story.  There are missing animals, signs of violence, and a government conspiracy.  The unraveling of what is going on and why adds tension to the narrative, clues are dispensed at regular intervals so that the audience takes in and processes the information like the characters do.  You don’t feel cheated as you do with some mysteries that seemed to be holding back information.

Beyond mystery, there are chase scenes in the context of being a police officer, and it is some daring action.  Judy is a tiny little bunny, but she is so agile, fearless, and fast she manages to move almost like Spider-Man and in one memorable scene makes smart use of her movements to turn her opponent’s strength against him.

There is a neat little juxtaposition when she and a suspect (who is a weasel) fight in the micro-city of mice and voles.  She and the weasel are like Kaiju, compared to the tiny residents, knocking over multi story buildings.  While the rest of the time she has to get by fighting people much larger than her via escape, regroup, and counter attacking… you know, like a cop who is out gunned and getting back up.

Also, little known stereotype: Cops eat donuts.

Fourth Thing: It’s Paced

The script is rock solid in regards to unveiling information and character development.  Beyond the technical proficiency the SUPER complex racial and gender themes running thru this elevate it to that next level of story telling you always hope to see in a family movie.  I do not want to discuss specifics, it is a mystery film, so I am trying to be more general with the praise for this element, instead letting the examples in the other entries illustrate.

Fifth Thing: The Themes

I keep seeing people (morons) trying 1-1 comparisons of the material to real life, completely ignoring that the movie is not entirely about simple racial stereotypes applied to animals.

Applying straight 1-1 racial stereotypes to different species… say, making all the Hyenas black people, would have bad implications.  The closest they come to this is one scene in which a crime boss is portrayed as Italian.  And I have to ask, when it is a straight up reference/homage to “The Godfather” is it still racist?  Is “The Godfather” racist to Italian people?  Because at this point it is all a little weird, mostly because I am so tired of that movie being referenced.  Whatever.

My point is, that people are too hung up on RACE as the issue this movie hits on.  Race is there, no denying that, but these strawmen are missing another element: there are also a lot of gender issues too.  You don't see a lot of female officers on the police force in this movie.  I don’t actually remember any beside Judy, and she is forced into the role of meter maid.  There is some commentary going on there and it might be too subtle as it is not getting mentioned very often.

And Judy has some culture shock too.

But beyond that there are other forms of stereotyping that ascribe only to the animals in the setting.  Even between non-predatory species stereotypes and pre-conceptions exist as there is a big scene about how, "An elephant never forgets, man" even as that stereotype is not shown in action and completely subverted.

There is also a thing about the effects of drugs on a community?  I put a question mark because there are drugs, but they are inflicted, not voluntarily consumed.  So that message is a bit muddled.  There is also a “Breaking Bad” reference, though that almost felt out of place.

The whole thing is supposed to be allegorical, but not simplistically so.  It is supposed to make you think.  Unlike other racially charged projects of the past that I have talked about in this blog series.

No Numerical Position: My Only Identifiable Complaint

The only complaint I have is that the movie ends with a godawful Shakira song that has nothing to do with anything.  Would it have been too hard to license "Man in the Mirror"?  Or was that too obvious?  The movie is about discrimination and that is the quintessential song about discrimination and prejudice.  Like, right on the nose that is the obviously better song for this situation.  Whatever.

The Other Thing: Beg for Attention

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry. 

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So tell me about the last Disney movie you saw.

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If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

"Worst Disney Songs" and "Racism!"

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.
(For some reason the formatting is being a jerk, and I can't get everything centered)

            Today is day 12 and the topic is “Worst Song”.

There are really only two possible contenders for this crown made of thorny twigs held together with poo.  And really, it is because Disney is such a venerable institution that they have a metric ton of OLD SHAME hanging around tainting their legacy as an American icon.  Family entertainment used to be kind of racist on multiple levels, and these two songs are racist on the most obvious level.

Is it fair to judge modern Disney by the actions of their company at a time when social norms were different?  No, and I am not judging modern Disney, I am judging them as a whole.  Looking at weaknesses in their legacy makes sense, and shouldn’t be held against the modern company who is obviously not too appreciative of this stuff.  Both of these tunes keep appearing at or near the bottom of every “Best/Favorite Disney Songs” list on the internet to no objection and nobody at the company seems to be lionizing them.  All that being said, let’s look at these things.

You know how white people are the default race?  Like how everyone used to be white till some folkloric BS turned them into their current race?  Some people actually think this stuff—which is fucked up when you hear some people claim that black people are the descendants of Cain, the Bible’s first murderer, cause Adam and Eve were not only literally real, but also definitely white according to these people—yeesh!  So what race is just discolored white people according to an old Disney movie?  “What Makes the Red Man Red” from “Peter Pan”.

What is sad is that this song happens in an otherwise good movie.  Peter Pan is an energetic figure who embodies a fun idea of never having to grow up and just having adventures forever with one’s friends.  The adventures have pirates, Indians, mermaids, hidden forts, and FLYING!  The movie even has subtle stuff like how Captain Hook and Wendy’s father have the same voice actor.  “Peter Pan” also introduced Tinkerbell, the—I going to say first—in a long line of strange pop culture sex symbols; a tiny mercurial-backstabbing-jealous-insecure pixie obsessed with a 10-year-old boy; Harley Quinn was not the first unhealthy animated fixation.

Maybe I am reading too much into a woman in a short skirt standing on a mirror floor.
There is nothing sexually suggestive about that right?

So what is the other song? This one is less obvious for reasons.  Rather than having minority characters they have animals that embody racial stereotypes singing about how they are a particular ethnicity.  You know, cause using animals to embody de-humanizing stereotypes is okay!  No, not really.  Not when you explicitly point out the ethnicity as the source of the stereotypes, if anything it makes them worse.  This sort of racial coding is what was wisely avoided in “Zootopia”.

The song is “We are Siamese (If you Please)” from “Lady and the Tramp”, a movie that many people probably would have forgotten existed if not for the iconic image of eating spaghetti leading into a kiss.  Overall this is less racist, as it is just buck toothed, slant eyed, and devious cats introduced with the sound of a gong…. I guess that is—strictly speaking—less racist than “What makes the Red Man Red”.

But here is the thing, it is a worse “song” from a musical perspective as it has no energy.  Slinking background music taken from some stereotypical Asian den of inequity of the era, and insidious back and forth rhyming by two characters who—I am guessing—are only two characters so they could get the rhyme of saying “we” at the beginning of the tune.  I would even say that their interchangeability could be seen as another Asian stereotype.

So which of these two is the worst song?  Do I have to choose?  In addition to being awful by the standards of subject matter they sound like crap!  They have no redeeming features and serve only as mill stones strung around the necks of their respective films.  Neither really tie into anything, they are not about or by substantive characters, they just show up, make female leads of their respective movies miserable, and then bug off.

If I had to pick one, I am going with “What makes the Red Man Red” because it uses human characters the stereotyping and racism is less masked and thus worse.  It is a close call.

If I had any memory of "The Aristocats" I might have spent some time on whatever the hell this is.

Bonus Topic: Racial Stereotypes

            I have talked about perceived racism in movies before but there is an aspect I haven’t talked about until here, the idea of racially charged stereotypes and characters.  The two above examples came from an era in which they were common and seen as part of comedy, laugh at the minorities by exaggerating traits or pointing to those traits as somehow “wrong” or “distorted”.

            What about stuff from the modern day?

            Recently the TV shows of “Supergirl”, “Legends of Tomorrow”, “Flash”, and “Arrow” had a mega-crossover.  An alien menace was threatening all for shows with complete domination.  These aliens were called… The Dominators… Not the most creative thing, but aptly titled.  Why am I bringing up a CW/WB owned and operated property here?  Because the Dominators look like this in the comics.

Can you see the issue people might be having?
I mean, they're not cats singing about their Asian origins, but you can see what people might have issue with.

            They are based on—if you couldn’t tell—lots of traditionally racist Asian stereotypes.  So you might think I would be among the first to say, “having these things as the bad guys in the modern world is racist.”  You’d be wrong.

            The Dominators are aliens.  The yellow skin, yellow in the sense of yellow not in the sense of Asian; the huge teeth, huge in the sense of menacing fangs rather than goofy buck teeth; long fingers, in the sense of monstrous claws rather than portraying an Asian person as sub textually a manipulator; and the other exaggerated traits are all dehumanizing.  When taken together they do look like an old time racist cartoon of an Asian person, but the story makes no comparison between those aliens and Asian people.

Though it would help if there were more Asian cast members on the good guy team.
Or if there were more Asian roles in superhero stuff at all.

            Generally speaking, those old cartoons were about Asians and drawing them with these features was to dehumanize them, to make them alien, because these features of claws, teeth, and jaundiced skin were creepy.  You could take anyone of those features and it would make for an alien race in Star Trek or Star Wars, because they are alien, and those alien features are weird.  They are not scary because we associate them with Asian people, real Asian people don’t look like that.  Those traits are scary because they are alien.

            By saying that these traits are inherently racist you are missing the forest for the trees.  The reason the traits are racist is because they were used as racist tools, there is nothing inherently racist about the traits themselves.

            Now you could say that putting all the traits together is evoking the image of the racist caricature, that it draws on a vague cultural awareness of that image to make it scarier.  I don’t think so.  Aside from Fu Manchu there are not a lot of Asian stereotypes still floating around that look like this.

Let’s look at another example of these things with a Marvel property, the Mandarin, who in the comics is this sort of racial pastiche.  Even the Mandarin’s live action presentation in “Iron Man 3” was rightly deconstructed and mocked as a racist idea created to scare people.  The Mandarin is evoking stereotypes and breaking them, the Dominators I would argue are not even evoking stereotypes, they are using the exaggerated features of a stereotype because those features make for a good alien.

THOUGH!  These guys came to predominance in the 80's a time when fear of Japanese economic world domination was reaching a fever pitch, and they do have a bit of Japanese flag on their face.  So maybe I am giving too much credit to the creators when I assume they aren't racist.

            Boy did this turn into a completely different blog than what was intended.

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry.

            Feel free to comment about how racism in pop culture is not a big deal, or how I am racist for excusing the use of discredited tropes being used as such.  Whatever.

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So please, tell me how my opinion about cartoon movies is biased and how your opinion on cartoon movies is objectively right.

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If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.