To worry most people won’t ever ‘get it’

[OverTheRainbow88]

All the marches, Protests etc and people still don’t seem to understand!

Will they ever?

I’ve just been unable to quote @Playmysong ‘s post of 11.50 - wonder if this means it’s been deleted for the ridiculous ‘all lives matter’ part?

But I wanted to address the ‘surely you can find someone who is offended by everything!!’ argument. I actually don’t think it’s even slightly true (please step forward, those who find themselves offended by the Very Hungry Caterpillar...), but also I think it’s disingenuous and bloody lazy to say this is a reason to tolerate items where a number of people have said there’s an issue.

Clearly there is some sort of critical mass - one person finding something offensive doesn’t mean it can automatically be declared offensive and forbidden and got rid of. But really, that’s not even the point in this situation, where presumably some relatively reasonable people at Tesco sit down and go “oh shit yeah, maybe putting a picture of a brown-skinned mermaid with the caption ‘her hair is too fluffy’ wasn’t the brightest idea we’ve ever had, let’s switch to the one with the glittery tail”.
‘How many people does it take to prove this is offensive’ is only really relevant in this conversation if instead you’re more interested in preserving your right to offend others...

I’ve just been unable to quote Playmysong ‘s post of 11.50 - wonder if this means it’s been deleted for the ridiculous ‘all lives matter’ part?

NellWilsonsWhiteHair 🤦‍♀️

It’s not been deleted. You can’t quote it because the post is already quoting a post.

PS. All lives do matter. HTH.

@NellWilsonsWhiteHair - perhaps someone who suffers with hyperphagia may be offended by the Very Hungry Caterpillar?

I always read these as ‘too soft’ ‘too big’ etc not as a criticism but as a it’s too soft / big / shiny etc for it to be my mermaid or whatever it is. Like if I was identifying my baby I’d say - that can’t be her, she’s too quiet.
Not like - urgh, she’s too big.
Just as a criteria for the thing that is to be found.

Maybe I’m missing the point?!

FFS I don’t get it . My friend who has dual heritage and sitting with me doesn’t get it. If anything , white people getting pissed off about this will just undermine all the good work that has been done in bringing BLM and support for other ethnic minorities to the forefront of society.

The message isn’t her hair is too fluffy full stop, it’s that it’s too fluffy to be my particular mermaid who happens to have hair not as fluffy. Could quite easily be “too long/short/curly”

ChainVaper Have you read the whole thread? White people getting pissed off about this shows that they are not too interested in how systemic racism affects POC anyway sadly. No doubt they would feel differently if it was them being affected though.

I’m mixed race.

I don’t find this offensive at all. In fact I think the hoo-hah about it is ridiculous.

There is a whole range of these books, with blonde, red hair etc....all with the same "subtitle" about the hair being too fluffy. You can look at it 2 ways. 1) you can say it's racist, but then how can it be when it's said about a multitude of different skin colours, or 2) you can look at it that the author was trying to be "inclusive".

We have the version of the book with a white mermaid on the front and the same wording. However, rather than just idly switching the colour of the skin in a bid for inclusivity, it would have been worthwhile considering the implications. At school my friend was bullied relentlessly as her hair was different; although I don't think it has been done purposefully to be insensitive, there has likely been a lack of thought which has been amplified by using just that image and text on a t shirt.

Yes, white people, finding racism where there is none, and not tackling actual racism.

Well done white woke folk.

By the way, the word 'too' in this context, is not negative. It is about a lost toy, and throughout the book, each fairy/unicorn/mermaid isn't yours because it's too shiny/bumpy/fuzzy whatever. Then you find the toy that is yours at the end.

Simple concept. To teach texture to babies.

Also, mermaids aren't real.

I only ‘got it’ after reading the article in the Daily Mail. I couldn’t make out the text in the image in the original post. I’m not a POC or a child and the only thing I have in common with mermaids is the inability to walk.

Awful!!! I'm shocked. I mean truly....wtf???

Ladies - some of us get it. I'm sorry.

Truly shocked at this appalling image and tagline.

Absolutely. My thoughts exactly.

It's shit like this that makes people not take racism reports seriously.

Absolutely. My thoughts exactly @choochoose

@TheGoldenChild I agree and I say that as a white woman with a black DH and mixed race children.

We actually had this discussion as a family and not only are none if us insulted but my DH thinks "people clearly have nothing to do all day but be outraged over nothing" and my kids were sad that they have fond memories of has basically been ruined but "people with nasty brains".

I quite agree, sometimes people see what they want to see and it says more about them and where their mind sits.

I was always raised that humans are all equal. I was taught that there were nasty people out there who treated people differently based on the colour of their skin and i have always found that repulsive...

lucky you for growing up white in a white-dominated society then. I am assuming you’re white as if you weren’t, you’d have grown up knowing that all humans are not equal, and that you would have to work twice as hard as white people to get half their opportunities. You don’t have to be a white supremacist or actively racist to be a product of a white society, built to protect white privileges.

I haven’t read the whole thread yet (I will) but I’m really actively upset that there are so many people who have voted yabu, added to the horrible racist phrases like ‘professionally offended’ and the view that ‘well if it hasn’t happened to me personally then it hasn’t happened’. Jesus.

FFS, its totally ridiculous. The mermaid is beautiful and it was nothing to do with her being black. Just finding offence in everything. Christ on a bike...they'll be changing bin liners to blue next.

It's not even saying that the mermaid's hair is too fluffy (aesthetically, professionally, whatever), or that it's too fluffy for her to be a mermaid. It's just saying that she doesn't resemble the particular 'my mermaid' that the narrator is looking for.

I believe 100% that discrimination about black hair is a thing that happens and that it's appalling. I just don't think that's what this is.

@Littlepond

In the past the texture of a black persons hair was used to prove “how black” someone was, or wasn’t, and then obviously used to oppress and discriminate. I have a friend who grew up in South Africa who told me about the “pencil test” - literally they would put a pencil in your hair and if it stayed there you had “black” hair and therefore were a second class citizen. If the pencil fell out your hair was smooth enough that you could pass as being white enough for privilege.

Being that the texture of black people’s hair has been widely used throughout history as a tool of oppression and discrimination, are there really people who cannot see how a black mermaid with the words “her hair is too fluffy” is at all offensive?!

People in South Africa during apartheid were designated at birth into either “white” “coloured” or “black” race classes. There was no “being white enough”. If your ID card didn’t say that you were designated as a White Person, there was no privilege and certain areas/facilities were off-limits, end of story.

It should go without saying at this point that apartheid was a disgusting system. The creators/enforcers of this system certainly didn’t leave it to chance by classifying an individual’s race with a pencil or care if a black person had “smooth enough” hair; the discrimination started the moment a child was born and classified by their race unfortunately...

It's not even saying that the mermaid's hair is too fluffy (aesthetically, professionally, whatever), or that it's too fluffy for her to be a mermaid. It's just saying that she doesn't resemble the particular 'my mermaid' that the narrator is looking for.

I do agree, but that's as I've read the books and know what they are about. Having lifted just that image and that text to put onto a t shirt, if you don't know anything about the books it's easy to see how it can be perceived.

Drop the hypocrisy. Most of the above comments are from white people trying to act woke. Black people are above this nonsense and don’t give a c**p. Black people love their hair...because it’s fabulous. They don’t need white sympathy. They don’t need white people trying to impress them with their wokeness. Black people want white people to shut up and stop making it ‘all about them’ (white people). Shut up and listen. Black issues are not a platform for white people. There are serious Black issues out there...hair is not one. Black people have amazing hair and they know it. x

@Noolablue10 attitudes like that are why a lot of people don't bother, as nothing is ever right, ever enough, or its too much. What are people supposed to do???? If people remain quiet that's also seen as an issue. I have friends who weren't outraged or wildly offended, but found it inappropriate, maybe they didn't get the memo that everyone feels the same about everything!!!

thought you meant the nurses, the state of our right wing country and bloody Boris, who the hell voted for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O yes all the northern racists!