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AIBU?

To not be sure who is wrong in the Golly dispute?

279 replies

Mitmoo · 07/09/2011 07:41

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2034203/Grandmother-faces-court-placing-Golliwog-window-dispute-neighbour-black-wife.html

OK it's a DM to flame me but never the less..........

A grandmother has a longrunning dispute over boundary issues, which I know from personal experience can be extremely distressing, even though in my case it was just a part of my small back garden not serious land as in this case.

The grandmother IMO was probably being racist in putting the golly in her window, but it is in her house and no one is being forced to look at it. She says it is a grandchild's toy and was put there only while tidying up. Other neighbour was so offended they photographed it!

But AIBU in thinking the other couple were being ridiculous to go to the police about it and now the original woman (probably in the wrong, don't buy the grandchilds toy story) could be facing two years in jail?

Perhaps there is an argument for granny being a nut in this day and age to buy a golly for a child, while admittedly loved the badges from the jamjars in the 70's.

Ultimately it is a doll, in her house, on her windowsill, she's wrong, she's probably racist but how can this be a good use of our courts, our legal system, this is a neighbour dispute.

How can they prove what was in her mind when she placed the golly in the window sill? AIBU in thinking these families are as bad as each other and are blowing this up out of all proportion, while accepting boundary disputes do get under your skin big time.

It seems to me involving the police was vindictive and a court case over this is unnecessary?

It's the sort of behaviour if I saw it I would say "silly cow" or similar and move on.

Two wrongs and all that. Not defending racist behaviour for a second just seems to me this has been blown out of proportion in making this a court case with possible jail time for having a golly on your windowsill.

Particularly as I am not sure they can prove her intent when putting it there.
We are supposed to be in dire financial straights as a country, how much is this case costing?

OR AIBU?

OP posts:

Report

Malcontentinthemiddle · 07/09/2011 16:02

If she wasn't a horrible racist old cow, she wouldn't have kept the golly. And if she only kept it because her lovely old racist grandpa gave it to her in 1890 or something, and it had sentimental value divorced from its unfortunate set of cultural signifiers, then why keep it on a window ledge, facing out?

tethersend · 07/09/2011 16:08

Hahaha are we doing the old 'Gollywogs aren't racist because I know someone who's black and got one/they're lovely and cuddly/they were on jam'?

Have a look at its origins here

KeepTheChange · 07/09/2011 16:08

The fact that the swastika was used by Nazi Germany has completely overshadowed any other meaning it had.

Sorry about that.

KeepTheChange · 07/09/2011 16:09

No tethers, we've moved onto why the swastika is actually an OK symbol to have tattooed on your neck

tethersend · 07/09/2011 16:10

"So again my point is that the gollywog is not racist in itself. it is only racist if it is used in a racist and negative way. Sitting on a windowsill is not being offensive."

Oh dear lord.

Um, it would still be racist if it was wrapped in the ANC flag and paraded around the Notting Hill carnival.

tethersend · 07/09/2011 16:10

Oh good, Keep. That's reassuring

Malcontentinthemiddle · 07/09/2011 16:13

There are literally hundred of other uses of swastikas now apparently. My local academy is thinking of using one for its logo.....

NO OF COURSE THEY'RE FUCKING NOT FOR GOD'S SAKE.

KeepTheChange · 07/09/2011 16:16

I've got a swastika painted on the bonnet of my car, and I've called my cat Hitler.

What? What's wrong with that? It's a perfectly normal name with a history going back centuries!

Malcontentinthemiddle · 07/09/2011 16:19

Quite! cars are only racist if driven in a racist way, and I'm sure you have let a coloured person pull out in front of you at least once, haven't you?

KeepTheChange · 07/09/2011 16:24

Of course I have! I did shout some bad words out ot the window at them which related to the colour of their skin, but I didn't mean it so it's not racist.

Malcontentinthemiddle · 07/09/2011 16:27

'bad words'? How can a word be bad? A word is just a word. Moron, that's one of my favourite words. Moron, obtuse, ill-informed, ignorant, racist, pig-headed and thick are all words which have no inherent meaning or badness. I just like to think of them sometimes. They used to be on jam.

tethersend · 07/09/2011 16:28

Jam?

I've never been so insulted in all my life.

grovel · 07/09/2011 16:29

What does moronic jam taste like?

FreudianSlipper · 07/09/2011 16:29

i do it all the time and tell people i bet you ate all the pies they know i am only joking i am so witty everyone knows that i am only joking its all for a laugh

grovel · 07/09/2011 16:31

My golly took offence when I asked him if he belonged to a gang. It was all OK once I explained I was only joking.

Malcontentinthemiddle · 07/09/2011 16:32

Moronic jam tastes of strawberry flavouring and despair.

Mitmoo · 07/09/2011 16:37

I read today that Hitler banned all German children from playing with Gollywogs as the "Aryan race" were too good to be playing with black dolls.

Surely giving your children black dolls and white dolls to play with, as my parents did with me, is an indication that they are NOT indeed racists?

OP posts:

grovel · 07/09/2011 16:39

Mitmoo, I didn't know that.
Gollygosh!

MrsSchadenfreude · 07/09/2011 16:41

The granny is racist and thick. Had she just been tidying up grandchildren's toys, there would have been a couple of teddies, a doll with no knickers and a few random bits of lego plonked on the shelf. Not just the golly.

Mitmoo · 07/09/2011 16:42

I know a lot more about Gollywogs that I did this morning.

Google is my friend.

OP posts:

MrsSchadenfreude · 07/09/2011 16:43

LOL at moronic jam. Politically correct jam would be made from every fruit, in equal quantities, no?

SiamoFottuti · 07/09/2011 16:43

Black dolls: presumably dolls that are black.

Gollywogs are a different thing entirely.

Mitmoo · 07/09/2011 16:45

MrsScadenfreude I am sure she thought she was being very clever. It wasn't necessary she had won the main dispute that should have been enough. Though it really should not be a police matter.

It can't be a crime to have a perfectly legal doll on your windowsill in your home.

I can't see how the intention to be racially offensive can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It seems like two ridiculous people have found themselves living next door to each other.

OP posts:

Pendeen · 07/09/2011 16:53

Quite agree Mitmoo, they are both being very silly.

No one should call the police for such a trivial matter and no one who lives next to a black person should display such a object.

HalfTermHero · 07/09/2011 16:56

I have seen Gollywogs displayed in 2 different houses featuring on Rightmove. I have no idea if they were placed there to offend or not. I just thought it seemed a crazy thing to include in a pic to promote the sale of your house .

Flip

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