The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daniellaemanuel/gen-z-dragging-millennials-tiktok

This is almost entirely fair - as a wounded millenial. I have a lot of hope in the kids. From everything I see they are very good.

[derspiess]

  Get 'em, Gen Z...

[Josquius]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daniellaemanuel/gen-z-dragging-millennials-tiktok

This is almost entirely fair - as a wounded millenial. I have a lot of hope in the kids. From everything I see they are very good.

1: Tick tock is the devil.
2: Aren't random hashtags a digital native thing rather than a millenial thing?

[garbon]

I was rather embarrassed to see my generation characterized by its love of a boy wizard.

[Valmy]

Generational conflict is lame as hell.

[Sheilbh]

Generational conflict is lame as hell.

It's the circle of life

And generally I find these funny, if a little embarrassing as g says.

(Also - in most Western democracies it is actually becoming one of if not the biggest indicators of voting preferences - in the UK, for example, it's far more predictive than class or education so....)

[Valmy]

Well as a Gen Xer I find most things that suck as lame man.

[derspiess]

Okay now apparently they're going after the Cream of Wheat guy.  Never knew his back story but if what someone posted is true, I guess he's got to go.

But Mrs. Butterworth?  Seriously??  How could she offend? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z45ys7oJuCA

[Sheilbh]

Macron is in London to mark the 80th anniversary of de Gaulle's appeal. I think this is the first sort of state visit in the age of covid. So Prince Charles met him and they kept at 2m distance (the Queen is too vulnerable for this sort of thing apparently).

I love de Gaulle generally, but especially the sheer audacity of this moment and coming out with this sort of thing: "I call upon all French servicemen of the land, sea and air forces; I call upon French engineers and skilled armaments workers who are on British soil, or have the means of getting here, to come and join me. I call upon all Frenchmen who want to remain free to listen to my voice and follow me."

[Oexmelin]

A little while ago they removed the "Indian Maiden" from Land-o-Lakes butter. 

They removed the Indian and kept the Land...

[Eddie Teach]

Well as a Gen Xer I find most things that suck as lame man.

Word.

[Barrister]

Okay now apparently they're going after the Cream of Wheat guy.  Never knew his back story but if what someone posted is true, I guess he's got to go.

But Mrs. Butterworth?  Seriously??  How could she offend? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z45ys7oJuCA

I dunno, here's the story according to Wiki:

The original boxes of Cream of Wheat were handmade and lettered, and they were emblazoned with the image of an African American chef produced by Emery Mapes. The character was named Rastus and was developed by artist Edward V. Brewer. Rastus was included on all boxes and advertisements. It has long been thought that a chef named Frank L. White was the model for the chef shown on the Cream of Wheat box—a claim White himself made. White's headstone contains his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.[9]

Leading up to 2020, there had been public pressure aimed at various companies to change branding that had racist origins, such as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's.[10] The character of Rastus had once been depicted by B&G Foods as a cook who was barely literate and did not know about vitamins. Rastus is also a derogatory term traditionally associated with African Americans in the United States. For these reasons, B&G Foods had been under public pressure for years to make changes.[11]

Demands from the public increased during the George Floyd protests in 2020. In response, on June 17, 2020, B&G Foods said they were "initiating an immediate review of the Cream of Wheat brand packaging."[12]

It's just a picture of a black chef - and the chef himself seemed proud of it.  The only offensive thing appears to be that they gave the character the name "Rastus" which is apparently derogatory, although I don't know if that name was ever used in marketing.

[Syt]

My sisters are now posting that the removal of Aunt Jemima erases the history and legacy of Nancy Green. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Green

[Valmy]

My sisters are now posting that the removal of Aunt Jemima erases the history and legacy of Nancy Green. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Green

Maybe they could paint their faces and dress up like her to keep her legacy alive?

Sorry...that was petty of me.

[Barrister]

Another extreme cancel culture example.  Unfortunately the original article is paywalled, but heavily quoted in this critique:

https://reason.com/2020/06/18/washington-post-blackface-halloween-costume-cancel-culture/

50-something year old woman goes to a Halloween Party in 2018 hosted by a cartoonist for the Washington Post.  This woman wore a business suit, wore blackface, and had a name tag that read "Hello, my name is Megyn Kelly".  Apparently this was because Kelly had said earlier in the week that "When I was a kid, that was okay, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character."

Anyways, two people took offence to the blackface back in 2018, confronted the woman, and she left the party.  She apologized to the cartoonist host the next day for her costume.

But anyways two years later these two decide to dig this story up.  They didn't know the woman's name so they went back to the cartoonist.  When he didn't immediately give up her name, they accused him of complicity in her racism.  The cartoonist gave up the name, the two spoke with the woman, the woman reported this to her employer, who immediately fired her.

And this woman... is nobody.  She's a government contractor, nobody famous or noteworthy.

And then it turns into a 3000 word story in the Washington Post.