...to be boycotting this wool shop?

[ilovemargaretatwood8931]

Good afternoon, this is the first thread I've ever started- please be as blunt and honest as you like!

OK, so there's a lovely yarn and needlecraft shop near my home. I used to visit it infrequently and spend too much on nice wools and needles (sometime knitter/ crocheter). A few months ago, some golliwogs appeared in the window display. I find these to be racist and a relic of the past that really isn't appropriate for a public shop display today.

I complained (very politely) about the dolls, and the staff member I spoke to was not keen to talk about it, as she was not the manager/ owner. So I wrote a note to the shop managers/ owners about the dolls, it was brief and respectful. I followed this up by going in there again a few weeks later, and of course the display was still in pride of place. It's still there, many months later.

I understand and appreciate that the shop (I imagine) has the right to have these toys in the window if they wish. But I just don't want to buy stuff from them anymore. I don't want my money to be supporting this unpleasant display of racist knitting goods.

Am I being unreasonable to not give this shop my custom any more?
WWYD?

August- your post is challenging (literally I mean), and I've tried to think of an adequate response to it.

Re Charlie Hebdo- I don't think that by not wanting to give custom to a shop means that I am pro censorship. As far as I can tell, 'being Charlie' is about accepting that people have the right to free speech and expression. I strongly support this. I have the right to it too, and voicing my opinions is also part of this.

Offence is TAKEN by people who actively decide to take offence instead of ignoring things they disgree with and letting other poeple form their opinions. OK, good point! I agree. I'm not stopping others forming opinions about things. And I also form my own.

Instead we have people on here telling other people to ring the police because they had seen a golly! Seriously! No wonder the police havent tracked down rapist gangs when they are expected to deal with hysterical phone calls from MNers about racist knitting materials.

Do you really think that I'd ring the police in hysterics about this? I assure you, I would not. I think rape is much more serious than a shop window display. But I don't have to like a shop window display. I'm not going to call the police because I don't like it though. I would call the police about certain things- to report a crime for example.
I also hugely respect the police, and I trust that they have the intelligence to be able to prioritise crimes- so that (for example) if they were simultaneously contacted about a violent rape taking place, a burgled house, and a window display that was deemed by someone to be offensive, they would be able to deduce that attending to the violent rape taking place first and foremost would be best. I imagine that they'd be able to prioritise things like this.

Was it St ives in Cambs? That's the last time I saw a window display.
No, East Mids.

Gollies are part of my hertiage as a person growing up in late C20th England. I am not going to permit a bunch of hysterical witchfinders to make me feel guilty about my childhood of collecting Robertson's badges and figures or watching the comfort my sister obtained from hugging her very large golly while her face was being stitched up after an accident.

They're part of my heritage too I suppose, I'm questioning their meaning though. I'm not trying to deny anyones heritage.
I'm genuinely sorry your sister had an accident, and am genuinely very glad that she found comfort in hugging a doll.
I'm sorry that you think anyone's trying to make you feel guilty. Why do you think they are? I owned a Golly badge when I was a child, and I don't feel guilty about it. It was given to me by a relative, who was kind. I rather liked it. It was a nurse (I was desperate to be a nurse). But I also thought it was a symbol that was racist, and still think that. There's no guilt there though.
I'm struggling to recognise myself as a hysterical witchfinder. I'm a person who is trying to appreciate different opinions and views. I am saddened and puzzled that you have interpreted my discomfort with a toy/symbol (that I see as a racist throwback) with an accusation of guilt towards you. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to work out whether I'm being reasonable or not to be uncomfortable with Golly's in a shop.

Get a grip
Thank you, but I'm fine for grips!

I'm trying to work out whether I'm being reasonable or not to be uncomfortable with Golly's in a shop.

Why? Why not just be what you are? Some people will feel uncomfortable, some will not. Vive la difference and all that, eh?

However, I was a bit taken aback to discover my local library (not UK) had a copy of Tintin in the Congo in the children's section. Now that is explicitly rascist!

I love the TinTin books.

The thing is the books were made in the 1930's, newer ones redraw the racist depiction of black people, (removing stereotyped big red lips and so on) but older books in older libraries will not. The people who run it probably don't even know about it.

Offence is TAKEN by people who actively decide to take offence instead of ignoring things they disgree with and letting other poeple form their opinions.

I won't ignore racism. I do indeed actively decide to take offense at it. And I would hope that I could, and that I have, helped people form their own opinions against it.

keletubbie- Yikes! This (almost) appeals to my Chinese side!

Miaow- thank you for your comment.

FecklessFairy (I like your username btw!), I'm trying to respect others opinions and really, really don't want to be pitchforky. I'm sorry that you and others see my bringing this up as goady. I found it to be an interesting issue and really wanted to see what people thought about it.

Anyway, on that note, I must get on with neglected work and sort out my messy house. Also, I'm starting to bore myself, and so probably not adding anything of use to the discussion.

Dawn, it's a bit pointless to say that it has nothing to do with your perception when you have described exactly what your perception is then pointed us all towards links which gave you and other people exactly that perception.

And to say 'this isn't about a religious icon, it's about hundreds of people's lives over hundreds of years'. Well yes, that religious icon has also been an intrinsic part of people's lives for hundreds of years for billions of people.

For what it's worth I would personally would choose not to patronize a shop which had such a display because I do also share the belief that Golliwogs are offensive and hark back to the days of slavery and segregation. However I don't prioritize my right to be offended above the right of the shop owner to offend.

I find it offensive, the shop owner and their clientele obviously don't and find Golliwog's, perhaps nostalgic, cute and endearing. I don't prioritize my view of Golliwog's above theirs. We're both exercising our freedom of choice in our perception of the image and in my opinion that's what a free society is all about.

No, a free society is about responsibility.

Were they sold as golliwog's?as they are not meant to be called this,gollys are sold in many a shop..

What's racist about Tin Tin?

What's racist about Tin Tin
TinTin in itself isn't racist, but it's from the 1930s, so the original art is
This kind of thing, the newer reprints obviously redraw these types of panels.

Here's an example of the newer redrawn panels.

But what is that responsibility? The responsibility to suppress images based on a set of values which not all share and not all wish to see the back of? Or the responsibility to accept that others may hold different values and express them in different ways and have the freedom to do so?

We have laws which protect against violence and the active promotion of discrimination against others. But when you start getting into the realms of wishing to ban dolls and drawings you move from the grounds of asking people to take responsibility to actively suppressing the expression of others.

It's not actively suppressing the expression of others to voice one's opinion to someone else that what they are doing or have depicted is offensive to many people. That is what the OP did. It's also not actively suppressing the expression of others to refuse to do business with people or concerns who express ideas that one finds offensive. I do not do business with several concerns in the US because of their recent history of anti-feminist or anti-gay actions and statements.

What I do hope for is a society where it is less acceptable to voice those offensive positions because fewer people believe in them. Speaking out and boycotting are forms of education, of trying to change people's minds. I want to change minds, not to suppress expression.

I once asked a Jamaican friend of mine if she was offended by golliwogs. She said no but if someone called her one she would be.

Rights are rights. They are unalienable. They DO NOT come with responsibilities.

Perhaps they should. But 'responsibilities' are in effect qualifications and eligibility. I.e. If you fulfil this condition you will then have a right to

Emphatically No!

Ilove are you South Notts by any chance?

I've recently stopped using my local wool shop for a similar reason, and because the owner insists on giving me lessons because I'm so young

In just these past few days, speaking out, boycotting and promising to boycott has influenced the Indiana legislature to change an anti-gay law to a law that actually protects LGBT people.

www.cnn.com/

Better link

www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/politics/indiana-religious-freedom-law-fix/index.html

The gift shop at Land's End had a large display of Gollywogs (labelled as such) when we were on holiday last year.

Was quite surprised by it. Especially as they had a big sign saying Gollywog.

Welcome to posting on MN - I think you will fit in well if you can manage an AIBU post and not be scared off!

Thank you giraffe!

It's been an interesting first OP post! But have really enjoyed reading the responses, and there's something amazing about interacting with all the people on here, anonymous yet very real.

Also, thank you EVERYONE who's responded- it's really made me think about why I think certain things and has certainly made me more aware of the need to respect others- whether or not I agree with them. It's also given me more respect for the wool shop owners- I kind of forget sometimes that most people are going through life just living and working as best they can (like me) and they're not actually trying to annoy me! I'm a very small cog in the big machine and all that... and it takes all sorts to make a world, which is great.

I'm still not a Golly fan, at all, but I've also recognised that I can be judgemental at times. It's also really made me question my own thoughts on censorship.