• yesman@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Everyone assumes that Uncle Tom was a character like Sam Jackson’s Stephen from “Django Unchained” or Uncle Ruckus from “Boondocks”. The character in the book is nothing like this. In fact, Uncle Tom is an admirable character. How this man’s name became a slur is more complicated than it first appears.

    The weird part about reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is that its advocacy literature, and most of us don’t need much convincing that slavery is bad. But we need this context to understand that Uncle Tom was created by a white woman to appeal to a white audience because it’s his tragedy that is supposed to persuade the reader. Uncle Tom didn’t fashion himself to please some master like Calvin Candy, he was created whole-cloth as a device to awaken empathy of white audience. It’s not his character, it’s his raison d’être.

  • JenneyFromDaBlock@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Most Americans are apparently oblivious to the state of affairs. The problem is the lack of accountability across the board. There are stupid policies of both parties. Taking away people’s rights is no joke, though.

  • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Why use that description of race? It’s the word used back then, but not today.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I believe its being used in the same contextual format as it would the time period of Uncle Tom, similarly to how quotes work.

      You shouldn’t censor history.

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        No, but it’s a shower thought. If it were a quote, I wouldn’t have said anything.

  • Possibly linux
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    1 month ago

    Can we just move on?

    Sure this is a shower thought but it also is yet another politically changed thought.

  • John Richard@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    You’ve just described a majority of the Democratic party as well. Don’t forget a majority here was certain that Joe Biden was more dynamic than he’d ever been, and later convinced that supporting Israel’s genocide and neocons would win Kamala the election.

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      No. It takes a truly shallow mind to come to this conclusion. Most of us Democrats understand how politics work and knew it was Trump or Harris once Biden stepped down. That’s it, no third option. Only a true idiot or a Trump supporter (same thing) would think not voting, voting this party, it voting for Trump was in anyway better for Israel, Ukraine, and America.