My enslaved ancestors
By Brandon Astor Jones
"Kyle's mum's a fucking Jew" — Cartman.
A cartoon character spoke the words above in an episode of the television show South Park. I know from personal experience that anyone who would say the words above would have no compunctions about using the "n" word in reference to me. It seems that anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and a host of other isms have become the order of the day.
The February 1 Independent carried an article by David Margolis, who wrote "I have suddenly found myself surrounded by 'acceptable racism', thanks to a cartoon". David is a Jew. He also wrote, "South Park has an ongoing anti-Semitic theme, which is justified by one of its creators, Matt Stone, on the grounds that he is Jewish himself".
It is worth noting that being a Jew does not necessarily mean you have the best interest of Jews at heart, in much the same way that being an African-American does not necessarily mean you have the best interest of African-Americans at heart. Likewise, it is not uncommon to find an assortment of women around the world who consciously and unconsciously promote sexism.
The man or woman who makes this kind of behaviour so abhorrent, in my opinion, is that person who is high up in the communication industry's chain of command and will insist, for the sake of his or her pocketbook, that it is quite alright to subject the pliant mind of a child to racism, sexism and/or sexually suggestive material under the guise of "children's programming".
Such a person or corporation will facilitate the bombardment of the world's children with an evil, and then pretend to be surprised when that evil is personified in the child's thoughts and deeds. They are hypocrites.
A friend who lives in Manchester went home one day and found her five- and seven-year-old sons viewing a television character the presenter called "The Horrible Old Woman". The name conjures up a general prejudice against all older people. She had rollers in her hair and appeared to be about 65 years of age. She began to act — in a word, "badly". She then went to mimick singer Peter Andre.
My friend wrote: " ... the song was basically about sex, and she stood there doing very crude, vulgar movement with her pelvis ... running her hands up [and] down her body [and] over her breasts. I looked at the faces of the children in the audience, some clearly thought it funny ... but some ... just looked worried [and] troubled ... They clearly did [not] understand why she was there doing that, and they looked uncomfortable. Neither of my boys laughed: [one] just wanted to know why she was fiddling with herself."
My friend contacted the television station and shared her concerns with its management. Program officer Isobel Reid responded in writing. This patronising excerpt is from Reid's October 13 letter:
"The Zig and Zag Show: A Brush with the Mob: Children's [Independent Television Commission] ITV ... The company responsible for the program was Meridian ... I should first explain that the responsibility for broadcasting programs lies with the individual television companies ... They must all, however, adhere to the requirements of the ITV Program Code which sets out standards for violence, language and [a] range of other matters including taste and decency.
"You felt the pelvic thrust movements ... inappropriate in a children's program ... In case you are unfamiliar with this series ... it contains many elements usually associated with pantomime — for example, exaggerated, stereotypical characters, slapstick, an emphasis on puns, audience participation. We believe that most children understand this and do not take any element of the programming too seriously ...
"The Horrible Old Woman ... on this occasion pretended to be the singer Peter Andre, who is very popular with children. The pelvic thrusts to which you objected simply mimicked ... Andre's performance style, and drew attention to and made fun of his trade mark "washboard" stomach. We do not believe most children would have interpreted this in a sexual way, but would have seen it for what it was: a send-up of the singer ... We are therefore sorry that we must disagree with you on this occasion."
As I read Reid's letter I thought about how "popular" Michael Jackson is with children. I wonder, might ITC's next character be "a send up" of Jackson grabbing his crotch?
I am also a bit put off by some of the language used in Reid's letter, such as "stereotypical characters". Does her choice of such words mean that children can soon expect to see long-legged blondes in skin-tight jeans declaring that it is impossible to rape them without their consent?
Or perhaps there will be a fellow with skin the colour of mine shown grinning, scratching his head, eating watermelon and dancing a jig in his bare feet? After all, those too are stereotypical societal images, born of racism and sexism.
Public and private agencies like ITC need to promote an end to such stereotypes instead of perpetuating them. The overt self-righteousness of Reid's letter is but another example of how myopic corporate vision is when it is asked to consider the greater public good.
My friends have a right to expect so-called children's television programs not to cram sexually suggestive images down the throats of their five- and seven-year-olds. If they had wanted their children to watch sexually suggestive television, they would have let them watch a music video program or some other programming in which sexually suggestive behaviour is both expected and appreciated.
The world would be a much a less violent place if more corporate attention was paid to what children are watching on television. Programs like South Park and corporations like ITC contribute greatly to the world's violence and hatred.
I do not agree with Margolis, who feels that "South Park's humour is acceptable [because] one of its creators is Jewish". In the same way that there were more than a few Jews helping Hitler's henchmen, I am sadly reminded that it was usually an African-American in antebellum US who snitched to the plantation owners' overseers when there was a large slave revolt or escape being planned, often enabling the violent recapture and murder of my enslaved ancestors.