The Old Sam Shitstorm

   
   The folks at the far eastern tip of the continent have 'awakened' and some of them who are employed by The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation decided that Old Sam needed a closer look. The image is "commonly perceived to be a laughing, elderly Black man", which doesn't seem offensive to me and I have noticed more smiling Black people in commercials lately, which I thought was a good thing. When I looked at the Old Sam company website, I found that "Sam was a man who demanded much of himself, his workers and his rums, but brimmed with generosity for guests and friends." 
   I recognize, however,  that the illustrations per se, of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben are also not offensive and that context is everything, and just about everything is offensive these days.  As this is being written, the employees of the NLC are "exploring the history of the product and whether changes are needed." I am sure they are.
   Our colonial past is soaked in rum and we probably shouldn't drink any brand of it. Plus, Captain Morgan is surely problematic and I imagine horrors happened at Appleton Estates. Mount Gay appears to be okay since the name relates to the Mount Gilboa Plantation, but then again, it was a plantation.


   I have my own reasons for being upset about Sailor Jerry and the employees at the NLC may object to the improperly appropriated hula person pictured. They will need a very strong drink if they investigate further. The current company website shows a black woman blowing a bubble announcing that the new "Savage Apple" Rum is now available. If other brands and types of liquor are studied, it is likely that only a few bottles of Screech will be left on the shelves.

  I suppose it is a good thing to have socially conscious employees determining what it is that those of us who are less enlightened can drink. Recently I recall that some other progressive staff members here on the mainland made a decision about something we should not see. It was a documentary about Jordan Peterson.

Post Script:
   I should stay away from these current controversies and I am sure you agree. Before I return to obscure and obsolete matters I cannot resist making another contrarian observation.
  I do so only because of an accidental discovery. When I thought of the Peterson documentary controversy, I decided I would check and see how he is doing since I recalled reading about his recent health problems. It seems he is okay, or at least he is still writing.

   Unfortunately I read his recent, rather robust piece which is the reason I am straying further into current and controversial territory.  I also just read portions of another recent report that issued from Western University: The President's Anti-Racism Working Group Final Report.  It is instructive to read the two reports together.

   According to the Western Report, things are grim at that institution. Here is how bad it is:

"For the past four months, we have heard from hundreds of community members about the insidious, often violent, nature of racism at Western and its devastating impact on their mental and physical health, and on their sense of well-being and belonging. The stories we heard and the data we gathered affirmed for us that there are systemic problems embedded within the University’s colonial history, traditions, structures, practices and policies that normalize “whiteness,” that “other” racialized groups, and that perpetuate racism."

   It may even be worse:

"Contrary to the principles of a meritocracy, we heard stories that point to
an institutional culture that privileges certain groups over others. 

We wonder about the stories we did not hear—but know are out there—
because some people are too fearful to speak up."

   I was surprised that the racism is systemic, was unaware of the violent nature of the environment and disappointed to learn that people without merit were successful generally because of their 'privilege'. I used to study and work there, but am white and generally oblivious to what is really going on.

  Then I read Professor Peterson's report which relates very much to the issues of diversity and merit in the university setting. Although it is not about Western, I do think that Peterson would very likely be highly skeptical of the conclusions reached in the Western report. There may also be some at Western who feel that way, but "are too fearful to speak up." 

  The title of the Peterson report may be all you need to read, but I will offer a bit of the introduction:

                "Missives of Appalling Idiocy and Envy Embarrassing to Behold"

"I have observed the colleges and universities of the Western world devour themselves in a myriad of fatal errors over the last two decades, and take little pleasure in seeing what I knew was inevitably coming manifest itself in an increasingly comprehensive manner. It is of course a self-destructive and unfortunate tendency of human reason, with all its limitations—as well as ego, with all its pretensions—to wish or otherwise agree to serve as Cassandra, and to derive a certain satisfaction in watching the ship whose demise was foretold breach its hull on rocks hidden from all other observers. The self-righteous pleasure of “I told you so,” is, however, of little comfort when the icy water wends its way around ankle, knee and thigh, threatening to swamp everything still retaining its incalculable and unlikely value, even if it simultaneously makes short shrift of the ignorance and willful blindness that is frequently part and parcel of the death of something once great.

It is also necessary to note that the catastrophic failures of process and aim which I am about to relate were by no means hidden from the public view by the persons and institutions in question. They were instead positively trumpeted to all by multiple attempts to harness the powers of social media and announced, more traditionally, in press releases designed to indicate the success of some great and laudable moral striving. It is nothing less than a dire day when the proud revelation of vices of deadly and multifarious seriousness serve to substitute for announcements of genuine and valuable achievement, but that is where we are at—make no mistake about it."

The entire report can be read here and it is worth doing so, even if you don't agree with it. That used to be what people did - read something in order to be able to discuss it.

Sources:
   I don't usually use slang obscenities (in this blog), but "shitstorm" does seem appropriate here. It occurred around the middle of June and plenty of articles can be found. Here is one:
"Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corp. Reviewing Old Sam Rum Over Racist Branding Concerns," By The Canadian Press, Fri., June 19, 2020.

  A link is provided to the Jordan Peterson website and the Western report is easily found at Western and much more will certainly be written about the horrors that exist there.

  Although there is considerable contrarian content in the Peterson article, here I will provide another contrarian source, which is about gender, but relates to race and quotas.  That's my job. Here are some snippets from:
"Stop Counting Women:Quotas and Tallies Won't Bring Real Progress on Gender Parity,” Katherine Mangu-Ward, New York Times, Feb.23, 2019.
 "However, the notion that the lack of perfectly equal representation is obvious evidence of injustice is wrongheaded and counterproductive.
"By focusing on having equal numbers [or erasing images] you  -are more likely to provoke resentment than to convert the reluctant."
Keeping those running tallies of gender [racial] imbalance is like other emotional labor: It’s exhausting and distracts from more substantive work, and some people are skeptical it needs to be performed at all.