They’re changing the name of Uncle Ben’s.

[mummabear1967]

www.itv.com/news/2020-09-23/uncle-bens-name-dropped-from-rice-brand-after-logo-criticised-as-racial-stereotype?fbclid=IwAR0QAktv-u9bOTaruhDqMWGIcCJjAMILzpXtmRSe_iYzQE6qKBTWinyaIK8


Why on Earth are they doing that? Have people seriously complained? I don’t know why I’m acting surprised!

[chomalungma]

Yes, but most people don't go through life doing an appropriate Google search before every conversation

If one of your students came out with a statement without knowing anything about that statement before coming out with it, would you be impressed?

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I would link Aunt Jemima to slavery, but I think that's because pancakes and syrup seem much more American, so then you realise she was a "mammy" stereotype.

I never realised that Uncle Ben's was an American company so my brain just didn't make that link.

[chomalungma]

People learn through discussion and change their mind, as the OP has

The OP didn't change her mind. She didn't know any of the facts before posting.

Just posted a thread about the name change - which even says it is a racist stereotype.

She then learnt that it is a racist stereotype - and was saddened by it.

The article says it's a racist stereotype.

[RubbishQueen]

Wait? What? I honestly thought he was the loveable uncle Ben. Who cooks the best dinners and wanted to share his family recipes with the whole world. I am embarrassed by my own ignorance.

Well that's me educated. Once I've finished my Masters American history is on my reading list as clearly I have a MASSIVE gap in my historical knowledge.

[icode]

About time.

[LolaSmiles]

If one of your students came out with a statement without knowing anything about that statement before coming out with it, would you be impressed?
That sort of thing happens a lot, especially in PSHE. In those situations, we have a discussion about why their facts were wrong and then they'd know for future.

What I wouldn't do is be scathing towards them after they've acknowledged they got something wrong and say 'guess you should have used Google' because I think it would be a really arsey approach that might put others off asking or starting discussions.

[chomalungma]

What I wouldn't do is be scathing towards them after they've acknowledged they got something wrong and say 'guess you should have used Google' because I think it would be a really arsey approach that might put others off asking or starting discussions

What did Mark Twain say?

It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt

[flourbroach]

@PlanDeRaccordement

Wikipedia says this
“From 1946-2020, Uncle Ben's products carried the image of an elderly African-American man dressed in a bow tie, which is said to have been based on a Chicago maître d'hôtel named Frank Brown.[14][15] According to Mars, Uncle Ben was an African-American rice grower known for the quality of his rice.”

So, Uncle Ben and image is either based on a high ranking hotel manager or based on a rice plantation owner/grower.

But the people who owned the company that sold the rice were white. It’s cultural appropriation- Using the image of a black person as a brand in order to better sell your product when you are not black.

Then presumably the image is of one person, the name is of another.

Interesting though, that they chose that name and image for their product - why? Which market did it appeal to, and why did it make more people buy rice than it would have done if the image had been of anything else?

[KitchenConfidential]

Just going to paste this article again

www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/aunt-jemima-uncle-ben-deserve-retirement-they-re-racist-myths-ncna1231623

[QueenofAsgard]

I have this book, which almost other things discusses the use of racist imagery and tropes in advertising and food sales, it focuses on women though, namely "Aunt Jemima" and the "Mammy" stereotype. Difficult to get hold of these days though, but worth it if you can.

Not sure why people are still laying into the OP though, she's apologised and explained she didn't realise. Are people that desperate to get to dish out a big telling off?

[LolaSmiles]

What did Mark Twain say?
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt

I don't really care what he said. I think it's a bit unfair to pile onto anyone if they've accepted that they got something wrong. I wouldn't belittle my students who say something misinformed and then accepted they were wrong, I don't see why adults need to do it to each other either.

[QueenofAsgard]

I wouldn't belittle my students who say something misinformed and then accepted they were wrong, I don't see why adults need to do it to each other either.

Well said. But this is how it's done now. Berating and shaming and then if possible, "cancelled".

[chomalungma]

I think it's a bit unfair to pile onto anyone if they've accepted that they got something wrong. I wouldn't belittle my students who say something misinformed and then accepted they were wrong, I don't see why adults need to do it to each other either

If someone wants to exhibit their ignorance and start a thread about being surprised about people complaining about something being racist, they are free to do that. I am sure the OP has learnt from this that a bit of research beforehand is a sometimes a good idea before posting anymore threads about 'PC gone mad"

[KitchenConfidential]

Sorry, mean to elaborate on that article, it discusses how mascots such as Uncle
Ben and Aunt Jemima “were intended to let white consumers indulge in a fantasy of enslaved people as submissive, self-effacing, loyal and contentedly pacified.”

[pollylocketpickedapocket]

@InFiveMins

Nope, can't see how it is racist to have a packet of rice with a logo of a black man and it being called Uncle Ben's. Way too over the top and people just looking for something to complain about.

Yep

[chomalungma]

Well said. But this is how it's done now. Berating and shaming and then if possible, "cancelled

The OP was originally trying to berate the brand and shaming the people who've complained. I bet there are going to be some people on here who will boycott this product now because they've done this.

[pollylocketpickedapocket]

@andpeggy1

Also Ben was probably not his actual name, but the name his owners gave him on his arrival to
The plantation house

So you have evidence this was a person that actually existed?

[pollylocketpickedapocket]

@mummabear1967

I didn’t know any of this, literally just thought it was called uncle bens with no real meaning behind it!

It probably was!

[pollylocketpickedapocket]

@Gilead

Slaves on plantations and rice paddies often didn’t know where their father’s were, having been sold etc. So uncle was a term used for an elder who took over parental duties. It became a euphemism for boyfriends of ‘ loose women’. It’s unacceptable.

Uncle has always been attributed to the "boyfriends " of " loose women"
A disgraceful term but I've certainly never heard it used racially.

If anything, growing up in the 80s it was mainly spoken towards white women, and I grew up in a very diverse area

[LolaSmiles]

If someone wants to exhibit their ignorance and start a thread about being surprised about people complaining about something being racist, they are free to do that. I am sure the OP has learnt from this that a bit of research beforehand is a sometimes a good idea before posting anymore threads about 'PC gone mad"
Yes, but they'd already accepted their ignorance before some posters continued with the stupid comments about how she should have used Google.

At the point where someone has accepted their ignorance and they've got something wrong, anyone piling in after isn't highlighting the benefits of research. They're just sticking the boot in from behind a screen because it makes them feel big and clever.

[Gertrudetheadelie]

I used to teach secondary school kids about this when we learnt about the subtle legacies of slavery. The changing depictions of Aunt Jemima make it pretty clear what the backdrop of this whole language of 'aunt' and 'uncle' is tbh. I'm glad it's going.

[QueenofAsgard]

I bet there are going to be some people on here who will boycott this product now because they've done this.

So you're defending the possible fall in profits of Mars Food when you tell the OP off then? That's what you're concerned about and are justifying telling the OP off on those grounds?

[andpeggy1]

"Women have been oppressed for centuries, and held in roles of servitude, such as being chained to the stove making yorkshire puddings. Maybe Aunt Bessie's should do a rebranding too. I think it's ok for Mr Kipling still to make pies though, and for Captain Birdseye to still do the fishfingers."

@Eckhart
At no point ever has a woman been physically chained to a stove making Yorkshire pudding! If they have show me the picture! Go on show me the proof!

On the flipside men women and children were actually chained, taken from their homes and forced in to endless, backbreaking work and were treated like the scum of the earth!

Don't be purposefully ignorant just to comfort your own prejudice and white privilege

[chomalungma]

@LolaSmiles

If someone wants to exhibit their ignorance and start a thread about being surprised about people complaining about something being racist, they are free to do that. I am sure the OP has learnt from this that a bit of research beforehand is a sometimes a good idea before posting anymore threads about 'PC gone mad"
Yes, but they'd already accepted their ignorance before some posters continued with the stupid comments about how she should have used Google.

At the point where someone has accepted their ignorance and they've got something wrong, anyone piling in after isn't highlighting the benefits of research. They're just sticking the boot in from behind a screen because it makes them feel big and clever.

The OP

I didn’t know any of this, literally just thought it was called uncle bens with no real meaning behind

And my reply was to this comment.

The OP even posted the thread with the racist stereotype in it.

So yes - it clearly does highlight the benefit of research. Or reading the article before posting.

Unfortunately another modern trend is to post an article without reading it - to get retweets or to stir up something - often hate. The article gets to go around the world with people just reading the headline. Or doing some basic research and getting another view.

So yes - if people are going to be the kind of person who posts an article expressing outrage without having read it first, then that's the kind of modern attitude that should be called out.

Unfortunately we live in a world where many people don't do that. They just post and tweet and retweet without thinking.

[chomalungma]

@QueenofAsgard

I bet there are going to be some people on here who will boycott this product now because they've done this.

So you're defending the possible fall in profits of Mars Food when you tell the OP off then? That's what you're concerned about and are justifying telling the OP off on those grounds?

And that's another modern example of misrepresenting what people say, jumping to the wrong conclusions etc.