I was recently hectored on FB by an ex-girlfriend over some meme referring to the silliness of the Aunt Jemima pancake syrup situation. Quaker has apparently decided to retire the iconic brand, due to the complaints of "anti-racism" activists. My ex-girlfriend, who is a school teacher, claimed to have been noticing a number of white-people "outraged" over the brands demise, and proceeded to list the entire history of Aunt Jemima as proof of the wisdom and virtue of that development.
What follows was my response...
You know, it’s interesting, because I’ve been noticing a lot of white-liberal women roaming the internet, attempting to police opinions, jokes, even words, that they find disagreeable. They remind me of Mao’s Red Guard. Well anyways, you did ask if you got something wrong, and… well... you did.
Your premise of seeing white people “outraged” over the retirement of Aunt Jemima, is wrong.
There is no such outrage. There are no protests, no riots, no boycotts of the Quaker Oats Company. Instead, the thing you mistake for outrage, is actually mockery and disbelief that there are people who take such things seriously.
Of the billions of things a person may do with their time, being outraged by pancake syrup, must surely rank somewhere below the hundred million mark.
To be outraged by such a thing requires either brain-damage, or a concerted effort to become “educated” on such matters. I believe you have just provided an example of a ‘concerted effort,’ and please note, that the end result of such education, is indistinguishable from brain-damage.
Because, absent such education, only a brain-damaged person would be outraged by a drawing on a bottle of pancake syrup. So is the problem really Aunt Jemima? Or is it the education?
This is not just a theoretical point. I was some time ago married to a black woman, who unsurprisingly had a black family. (Last name Floyd by the way, not sure if any relation to the guy in Minnesota). Anyways, they liked pancakes. And when I was sent to the store to get pancake syrup, I was told in no uncertain terms to buy “Aunt Jemima. Not that other stuff.”
They liked Aunt Jemima, they had no problem with Aunt Jemima, in fact my wife used to wear a kerchief just like Aunt Jemima. They were not oppressed by drawings on pancake syrup. Why not? Two reasons:
1. they were not brain-damaged.
2. they were not “educated” to simulate brain-damage.
They were normal people who went about their lives not worrying about such trivialities. If some white-liberal-woman had showed up to explain how they were being oppressed by a bottle of maple syrup, they would have laughed her out the door.
Except for one. The youngest daughter, Crystal, took it upon herself to become “educated” in such matters, and she went on to be the most miserable person I have ever known, in a constant state of outrage, unable to keep either a relationship or a job, and a permanent drag on productive people and society in general.
Though highly intelligent, her brain was damaged, and subsequently, her life was destroyed and the world was made a less-kind, less-prosperous, less tolerant place. That was the result of Crystal’s “education.”
So no. I’m not outraged over Aunt Jemima, I’m outraged that so many people are having their brains damaged by well-meaning but misguided educators who think that outrage over pancake syrup is not only justified, but morally virtuous and productive.
I’m outraged that so many people think they are making the world a better place with such efforts, when exactly the opposite is the case.
Filling the world with over-sensitive people eager to take offense at everything and combat imaginary injustices doesn’t help anything, least of all the people infected by such garbage.
This used to be common knowledge. Ancient wisdom. A part of civilization meant controlling one’s emotions, to not be manipulated or take offense, but to concentrate one’s ability and attention on more useful efforts. It used to be taught with a simple phrase that went something like this:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but pancake syrup will never hurt me.” Something like that.
Your timeline of Aunt Jemima only proves that the brain-damaged are now in charge. To take just one example, consider the following quote from your post above:
“Some historians argue that the massive success of the brand was due in large part to the ready-mix products promoted very intentionally by Aunt Jemima, if they couldn't have slaves at least they could have a “slave-in-a-box."
That is not history. There is no factual basis to support that statement. There has been no poll establishing any such motive for purchasing flour or anything else. It is made up. An invention of the supposed “historians,” who more accurately should be called “brain-damaged liars” for attempting to pass such drivel off as history.
That is not history. It is propaganda.
Unfortunately, people who have already sustained educational brain-damage cannot tell the difference between history and propaganda. And so here we are. Brain-damage has become official policy.
Now that, is cause for outrage.
Should you feel the urge to delve further into this topic, please feel free to do so on your own FB wall. The make-believe crisis of maple syrup brand names is rather low on my list of priorities, and this is already much more than I’ve ever wished to write on the subject.
But good luck with your quest for social justice at the supermarket, maybe you can do something about ‘Scotch Tape’ next, sounds kind of white supremacist to me, and also that sneaky little leprechaun on Lucky Charms is clearly up to no good…
What follows was my response...
You know, it’s interesting, because I’ve been noticing a lot of white-liberal women roaming the internet, attempting to police opinions, jokes, even words, that they find disagreeable. They remind me of Mao’s Red Guard. Well anyways, you did ask if you got something wrong, and… well... you did.
Your premise of seeing white people “outraged” over the retirement of Aunt Jemima, is wrong.
There is no such outrage. There are no protests, no riots, no boycotts of the Quaker Oats Company. Instead, the thing you mistake for outrage, is actually mockery and disbelief that there are people who take such things seriously.
Of the billions of things a person may do with their time, being outraged by pancake syrup, must surely rank somewhere below the hundred million mark.
To be outraged by such a thing requires either brain-damage, or a concerted effort to become “educated” on such matters. I believe you have just provided an example of a ‘concerted effort,’ and please note, that the end result of such education, is indistinguishable from brain-damage.
Because, absent such education, only a brain-damaged person would be outraged by a drawing on a bottle of pancake syrup. So is the problem really Aunt Jemima? Or is it the education?
This is not just a theoretical point. I was some time ago married to a black woman, who unsurprisingly had a black family. (Last name Floyd by the way, not sure if any relation to the guy in Minnesota). Anyways, they liked pancakes. And when I was sent to the store to get pancake syrup, I was told in no uncertain terms to buy “Aunt Jemima. Not that other stuff.”
They liked Aunt Jemima, they had no problem with Aunt Jemima, in fact my wife used to wear a kerchief just like Aunt Jemima. They were not oppressed by drawings on pancake syrup. Why not? Two reasons:
1. they were not brain-damaged.
2. they were not “educated” to simulate brain-damage.
They were normal people who went about their lives not worrying about such trivialities. If some white-liberal-woman had showed up to explain how they were being oppressed by a bottle of maple syrup, they would have laughed her out the door.
Except for one. The youngest daughter, Crystal, took it upon herself to become “educated” in such matters, and she went on to be the most miserable person I have ever known, in a constant state of outrage, unable to keep either a relationship or a job, and a permanent drag on productive people and society in general.
Though highly intelligent, her brain was damaged, and subsequently, her life was destroyed and the world was made a less-kind, less-prosperous, less tolerant place. That was the result of Crystal’s “education.”
So no. I’m not outraged over Aunt Jemima, I’m outraged that so many people are having their brains damaged by well-meaning but misguided educators who think that outrage over pancake syrup is not only justified, but morally virtuous and productive.
I’m outraged that so many people think they are making the world a better place with such efforts, when exactly the opposite is the case.
Filling the world with over-sensitive people eager to take offense at everything and combat imaginary injustices doesn’t help anything, least of all the people infected by such garbage.
This used to be common knowledge. Ancient wisdom. A part of civilization meant controlling one’s emotions, to not be manipulated or take offense, but to concentrate one’s ability and attention on more useful efforts. It used to be taught with a simple phrase that went something like this:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but pancake syrup will never hurt me.” Something like that.
Your timeline of Aunt Jemima only proves that the brain-damaged are now in charge. To take just one example, consider the following quote from your post above:
“Some historians argue that the massive success of the brand was due in large part to the ready-mix products promoted very intentionally by Aunt Jemima, if they couldn't have slaves at least they could have a “slave-in-a-box."
That is not history. There is no factual basis to support that statement. There has been no poll establishing any such motive for purchasing flour or anything else. It is made up. An invention of the supposed “historians,” who more accurately should be called “brain-damaged liars” for attempting to pass such drivel off as history.
That is not history. It is propaganda.
Unfortunately, people who have already sustained educational brain-damage cannot tell the difference between history and propaganda. And so here we are. Brain-damage has become official policy.
Now that, is cause for outrage.
Should you feel the urge to delve further into this topic, please feel free to do so on your own FB wall. The make-believe crisis of maple syrup brand names is rather low on my list of priorities, and this is already much more than I’ve ever wished to write on the subject.
But good luck with your quest for social justice at the supermarket, maybe you can do something about ‘Scotch Tape’ next, sounds kind of white supremacist to me, and also that sneaky little leprechaun on Lucky Charms is clearly up to no good…
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