To want rid of the gollys?

[SueBaroo]

Dh just got given a shedload of very old gollywog models by FIL, who is cleaning out his loft. Dh reckons there's quite some money involved if a collector wanted them, but I think they're vile, and I would just like to bin them.

AIBU?

That's not the point. Nobody is saying owning a golly automatically makes you a racist. The point is that many people find them hurtful and offensive. Armed with that knowledge it is then your decision whether you care enough about how others feel to own or display one. Entirely up to you.

Some people did seem to be rather implying that if you'd ever owned a golliwog you ought to be ashamed of yourself, which I think is a bit much. Owning or displaying one as an adult, having been told that some people find them hurtful and offensive, is a different matter from having had them as toys when you were a toddler and didn;t know what racism was.
THough what a person chooses to own or display in his/her home is up to him/her. Even if your taste in decor runs to swastika wallpaper and a life-size colour poster of David Dukes.

I had golly's too and badges that came with Robertson's jam.

Things have moved on now though. I had no idea at the time what they were supposed to be or that they could upset anyone.

I would sell them on in your situation SueBaroo. There doesn't seem to be a place for them nowadays.

toomanyshoes, I find many things that people do hurtful and offensive. I don't expect them to change because of me though.

I find it offensive to have to look at overweight people in crop tops with their flesh oozing out over the top for instance. But THAT is MY problem.
If someone is offended by a golly then that is THEIR problem.

Kitty, i don't expect you to change, as i said in my post what you do is entirely up to you. If my children are called gollywogs at school in the same way as my husband was by our generation i shall remember to tell them that it is their problem

tooshoes, it is their problem though, ultimately. Getting rid of a toy isn't going to change attitudes, getting rid of associations is.
My dp too suffered racist abuse.

He hasn't go a problem with gollys. He sees other people's racism as a problem they have.

DIttany, what about if the adult were studying anthropology and social history or indeed setting up an anti-racist museum? An object is only an object: the context in which it is aquired, wanted or displayed does surely make some difference.

No one implied owning a gollwog as a child makes people into racists- what kind of assupmtion is that ?
I see gollywogs in shops in tourist areas all the time around here. They are highly offensive.

OK- they are just objects- the swastika is just a bit of embroidered fluff on a jacket.
Ever heard of the power of symbols ?

Anyone would think you want to propogate the survival of a vile symbol of racism.

Just get rid of all of them.

Kitty- being offended by a gollywog is not just "their problem".
It is a much wider issue than that, and by saying something so narrow you are belittling the point.

Northernrefugee: where do you live if you see gollowogs in shops? I have't seen one for about 20 years (apart from teh very occasional one showing up at an antique or collectors fair)
With regard to symbols and their contexts, there are swastika patterns among the decorative mosaics in the ruins of Pompeii (this is not gaga conspiracy theory, but a fact: the swastika is a very ancient symbol): would you have those destroyed in case they offenced someone?

dittany are you suggesting that people shouldn't be allowed to collect these things?

I live in the North- (would rather not say where exactly because there's someone stalking me on another thread- sounds dramatic- he's really a bit pathetic, but i don't want to give away exactly)
Anyway- there ar golliwogs sold in at least four tourist spot towns here.

Kitty- I am saying people who collect racist memorabilia are sick.

I can't believe people think it's ok to collect such offensive items.
But I'm sure there are plenty of people who do.
People collect Nazi memorabilia too.

My DH had a collection from when he was a boy. I hated them - he didn't like them any more either but was at a loss at what to do when we were binning stuff to move house. He had a quick look on ebay - they CAN be worth a ridiculous small fortune, and I think he made nearly 300 quid from the sales. It didn't occur to us at the time, but I think the idea to give the money to an anti-racism charity, or any charity would have been really good. I don't think you are perpetuating racism by selling them. Either collectors are just old duffers who just don't know better, or if they are vile racists, do you really think that not selling them a golly badge is going to change their world view? I think not.

Lots of people don't find them offensive though!! And many of them are black!

So that makes them ok then kitty?

To my mind it doesn't make them anything.

They are different things to different people.

Some find them offensive because they associate them with racist imagery, to others they do not have that association.

It is fine to say that you find them offensive just as it is fine to say that you don't.

DIttany, I think I'm arguing for people's right to own what they want and collect what they want and think what they want in their own homes: taunting other people or harassing them by brandishing objects at them is another matter. And if you start going after people who collect stuff (but do not in any other way display offensive behaviour to others and probably don't percieve themselves as bigots in any way) you just make them feel hard-done-by, don't improve their generosity of spirit to the rest of the world, and make fuck-all difference to the behaviour of geniuine racist thugs.

Both sets of people are entitled to their feelings. Both sets of people are entitled to express their feelings as long as they do not do so in ways that actively harm or interfere with the rights of others to go about their lives.