Well Alright Tom-mus, I mean Amazon & ITunes

I may be in the 5% of the population that may not see suggested or hidden sex & sexuality. That is because I in the percentage that will see racism. I don't tell you guys but there so many racist sighting blogs I've have attempted to write but then I feel like a racist conspiracy believer and erase them. But I see racism a lot in the media, movies, TV, & commercials. I almost wrote about a Twix commercial recently but I hit delete. Some of it makes me upset. It started when I was 10 and I saw this cartoon called "The Fighting 69 1/2th" on TNT.

Watch the clip above and tell me what you see.

Yep, the black any with the big lips and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson accent saying, "Forgot the Mustard" made me upset. I didn't "see" the Watermelon scene until I was older because I didn't know that stereotype until I was older. My mind was awakened then. After that I decided for a few years not to watch "classic cartoons". I have now been taught & grown to understand "that was the times". 

Comedy featuring blatant racist, sexist, homophobic jokes were common in early entertainment. And to paraphrase a Maya Angelou quote, When we know better, we do better.

Now, The companies Amazon & Apple-owned ITunes are trying to "do better". On it's Prime services, subscribers can watch classic Tom & Jerry cartoons. The cartoons come with a disclaimer that says:

"Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today.

The original "Tom and Jerry" ran from 1940 - 1957. It was about the rivalry of Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse and had many other characters. One of those characters was named Mammy Two Shoes, voiced by Lillian Randolph.

She was a plus size, darker hue black American maid (I thought it was her house until this topic came up) that wears house dresses & slippers and has a stereotypical black southern accent. When she yells "Thomas" when referring to Tom it sounds like she says "Tom-Mus". Also she uses is in place of are and am ("is you" and "I is").  I totally understand how she is perceived as wrong. As a child I never understood why she spoke like that. Now, her clothing was not offensive to me. She was cleaning the house what was she suppose to wear. But being the 40's and 50's, that how Hollywood thought people act. But again, We know better, We do better. 

Amazon & Apple decided to show the cartoon in it's original form (An act I agree with because cutting around it make the cartoon dumb) but let subscribers understand that these images were, are and will continue to be wrong. Wording that is actually similar to disclaimers on DVD releases.

I commend these companies for these disclaimers. I said this on a FB comment on a post by a FBF. I was taught to ""Consider the time period" but the problem is now we are finding out many were/are not truly been/being taught about the time period. I think is why the disclaimer was slapped on. If they hit "Tom & Jerry", I just hope many of the Looney Toon & Warner Bros cartoons get hit also." I don't want another 10 year old discovering the subliminal racist, sexist, homophobic, etc images like I did when watching "Classic" Cartoons and Shows made by Warner Bros, MGM and others in the past. This is one time I say if parents and school are not teaching about the past let the TV (Video Service in this case) teach them. At least this lesson taught in these two sentences will be teaching them against something and not the "Anything Goes" lesson it has the reputation of teaching.

Now, I want to watch "Tom & Jerry" but I will not watch "The Fighting 69 1/2th". LoL

Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms

Non-Pierced Ears Blues

My ears are not pierced. Well not anymore and well not only one is still pierced, I think. My mother didn’t pierce our ears as babies. She does not have pierce ears nor does my grandmother. My sister had my aunt sign for her at age 16. I didn’t get mine pierced until I was 22. My friend BJ made a deal with me. He thought I was weird for not having my ears pierced. So, if he brought refrigerator down from the third floor of my dorm to my mom’s car, I had to get my ears pierced. It was not that bad. Then somewhere I wore some “cheap” earrings for a special occasion and didn’t wear some better quality afterwards so my left hole closed. I tried pushing an earring through but I was steady giving myself a heart attack with each push so I returned to clip earrings. I play with the idea of re-piercing my ear but I haven’t done that yet. Something about knowing the slight pain that comes with it that tells me “Clip Ons are better for me”

I like clips but 1. Why are they limited in quantities? 2. Have to be only bought online? Limited quantities should not shock me. Back when I was in the high school little bit before the popularity of the internet, I could still go in Clair’s and find a few clip earrings.  My friends could buy 5 pairs of pierce earrings but on the same trip I would only but maybe have two or three. But those were the days before online shopping. Online shopping is made to believe everything purchasable can be bought there. Clip Earring not as much. The online trust worthy sites for clip earring for me are Palm Beach, Amazon & Cliptomania. Palm Beach & Cliptomania can get pretty pricey. Can we get more trust worthy jewelry sites to sell clip on earrings? Can we get in-person stores to carry clips again? I can’t find an in-person store that has non-pierced earrings to save my life anymore. What is up with that?

The answer is not, “Get your ears pierced”. Stop alienating a part of the buying population. Don’t make me start a Non-Pierced People Protest against the Jewelry industry. Get some clip on in your stores and on your websites. And to those who are selling them, Thank You!!! Keep up the Clip-On work.