[mnm1]

To call a cartoon racist based on a minor character that barely appears in some episodes is ridiculous. Just about every show back then that had non white people was racist. The whole society was racist, just as it is now. Frankly, it's ludicrous to focus on such a small, mostly irrelevant part of the show in light of the context.

[egypturnash]

Cartoons are typically put in front of kids without any context. If you’re going to show them without cutting the stuff that was okay in the 1940s but won’t fly in the 2020s, then you had damn well better surround it with context, and mark it as something kids shouldn’t be watching by themselves. What’s a six year old kid now gonna know about the forties? Nothing, that’s what. They’re gonna see gags from a time when we were actively engaged in constructing negative stereotypes of the Axis powers and when second-hand caricatures of minstrel shows was the only way anyone knew how to draw black people and just assume that’s what those people are like.

I love the medium, I trained to work in it. I have watched a lot of old cartoons. There is some stunning work by masters of the form at the peak of their powers that is also incredibly racist by today’s standards; it’s worth preserving this work, but Cartoons Are For Kids, and if something needs context you have to scream about this to keep distracted parents from just putting it on for their kids.

[mnm1]

Ah, the old save the kids argument. You think kids are that stupid? You really underestimate them. I was watching these cartoons when I was young and I didn't become a racist piece of shit. This was in a country that is almost completely white, where most people are actually racist. But hell, if Tom and Jerry are what's making America racist, let's ban that shit. Maybe we can ban the confederate flag while we're at it too. Oh wait, not that's racism disguised as "heritage." Don't ban that. They're still flying the swastika in Berlin right?

[egypturnash]

Darling, I grew up in the American South with old cartoons on TV and managed to not be a racist asshole too.

I’m not saying watching Mammy Two-Shoes shuck and jive her way through a couple of setups for Tom and Jerry to engage in a few minutes of slapstick comedy is going to turn you racist. I’m saying that times have changed and that stuff falls flat now, and that no matter how hard people campaign for animation as a medium appropriate for adults, there are still a lot of people who think that any animation is appropriate to plop unsupervised kids in front of, and is it such a terrible idea to mark some old cartoons as Not To Be Watched Without Context?

Is “making it hard to acquire eighty year old cartoons that get really racist is a terrible idea” really a hill you wanna die on?

And, yes, I am all for banning the Confederate flag. Assholes would find new symbols to rally around, but depriving them of the ability to call it “tradition” sure won’t help their cause.

[mnm1]

If it doesn't negatively affect kids, as you say, then why not let them watch it? Also assuming children know nothing about their history and culture to provide their own context seems a bit presumptive, especially for the older kids that would be watching. I don't buy this idea that kids are completely ignorant of their culture and history. Not to mention that the mammy character is so small and minor, it's almost irrelevant to the show.

[denzil_correa]

It depends on which side of the line you stand. If a stereotype caused harm to a person or a group, they have a right to be aggrieved about it. You asking to “simply forget” and invalidating their situation by calling it “ridiculous” may not be the best possible option to take.

[mnm1]

I never asked that. Quite the opposite. I think the show is great and shouldn't be banned as it is in many places. It's the people who call it racist that are banning it as if somehow that will make the world less racist? Or it'll make history less racist? Or why do they want to ban it? In that case we need to start banning all the shows of that era because they are literally all racist. Why single this cartoon out when there are much worse examples? So where is this line to be drawn? Because this seems arbitrary. Let's ban some things that are racist but not others.

[icebraining]

> banned as it is in many places

Is it? Where?