To be shocked with what I found in mothercare

[Lehman]

Im from the uk but have recently moved to Brisbane. I was pleased to find they have mothercare over here but shocked to find they are selling gollie dolls. I thought they stopped doing these years ago.

mirry, you asked:

"Is it illegal to say the word golliwog or to own one? It may be offensive to some people but is it actually racist?"

and then said:

"If it isn't illegal, people are entitled to own or sell anything they want to. I wouldn't want to buy a golliwog, because I know it may cause offence to some of my friends, but I would defend the right of anybody else who may want to buy one. I hate the idea that you can be condemned for being racist when there was no awareness or intention to be so. I think borders on the kafka-esque"

Did you change your mind during the course of the thread? Can you see why your representation of your views is slightly confusing? After all, you can't simultaneously defend someone's right to buy a golliwog and agree that there's no need to keep making or selling them. The two points of view are completely at odds with one another. As is questioning whether golliwogs are actually racist and agreeing that they are based on racist stereotypes.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, I'm going to assume that you've changed your mind about golliwogs over the course of the thread; which is brilliant. Or am I incorrect in my assumption?

Mirry, you agree with BBQ but support anyone's right to buy one of these vile grotesques? Dichotomy, peut être?

Completely incorrect. I am not going to go over and over old ground when my views are perfectly clear and consistent and have remained so throughout. You are deliberately misconstruing what I have to say and now I feel I am being harrassed by you.

kitty and the fontenelles an example of what I mean is that I may hate someone who has been acquitted of raping me but I have to abide by the jury's decision.

I'm sorry, what?!

Kitty you are being deliberately obtuse.

Wilf had a knitted golly when he was small. Re Frankie Boyles autobiography I saw several copies of it in HMV a couple of years ago and i turned them all back to front!!!!!!!!!!!!

mirry, just to be clear... the person you were answering hadn't said she found leprechauns racist. she'd said offensive. slight difference, granted, but seeing as you keep mis-representing her i thought i'd point it out.

Your views are anything but clear, mirry.

It's a shame you can't say whether you've changed your mind or accidentally contradicted yourself; I am genuinely trying to ascertain this, in order to understand where you are coming from.

I used to own and love a golliwog that my grandmother knitted for me. I was about 4 years old. I have now grown up and I no longer feel comfortable with golliwogs and I would never feel happy giving one to my ds. Although I did not feel racist owning one, I can see the symbolism they represent and I abhor it.

I also used to believe many other things that I would now not be comfortable with - for example, I used to read Pearl Buck books as a child and think that biding feet in China was so wonderful - those pretty, dainty feet. That was well before I understood the cultural background to it, and the cruelty involved.

Surely learning new thoughts and ideas and evolving your thinking is part of growing up. It does not automatically make you a racist at 4 years old.

I'm really not. Why bring rape into it? You don't believe they should be made or sold but think people should be able to buy them?

spamm, I don't think anyone has accused a child who owned one of being racist; as you say, once you grow up and realise that golliwogs are racist, you make decisions based on that knowledge.

Indeed, my last post was full of vitriol.

Do you always get this upset when being asked to explain your views? That must be difficult.

I'm off to tread on some kittens now. Just for kicks.

Tethersend - I completely agree with you, my point exactly. People are not suggesting children who like golliwogs are racist. However, I believe it is difficult to ignore the history of it as a grown up.

You know very well what you're doing and it's not nice.

spamm, agreed.

In the same way as this photo (although it raises questions) doesn't make me think that the child actually believes in genocide

I do know what I'm doing, mirry- I am asking you if you'd changed your mind over the course of the thread, as I am having trouble understanding your shifting viewpoint. Until now, I had assumed that you were being disingenuous; it occurred to me earlier that you may have actually changed your mind on the issue during the course of the thread; so I asked you, giving an example of why it was difficult to follow your argument given its inconsistencies.

Ouch tether! You stood on my paw. That hurt

Wimpers

I really hate it when people misappropriate Kafka in bad arguments.