I think it is horrible, racist, and offensive. How could they think it is appropriate to have a monkey represent the image of an African American man?

I recently had to explain to my IL’s why my husband and I didn’t want them calling our biracial child a “little monkey”. I’m AA and have had that term applied to me growning up. So, I can believe that there are those who are unaware of the history behind the doll. However, I find the fact that the owners of this business and several others refuse to see why some would be offended.

I am appalled and embarrassed. Although I should note that I am also offended when people refer to President Bush as “chimpy”. I see that as equally odious.

Hideous. Totally inappropriate. Where do I register my disapproval besides this comment space?

whooooooa. i gasped. how awful.

makakona,

I neglected to put this link in the original post. In an interview this morning they insisted that they are looking to go ahead with this product.

Jeff (6),
It may well be offensive when people refer to Bush as chimpy; it’s certainly not nice, nor respectable political discourse.

That said, it also doesn’t have the horrific (and long) Jim Crow history that referring to African Americans as monkeys has.

And they didn’t know? Did they miss the whole “macaca” thing that sunk George Allen’s prayers of a presidential run?

Sad sad sad.

McCain’s sock puppet will be wearing a sandal, because nothing says old white guy more than wearing socks with sandals.

This goes to show that people can make tragic mistakes all the time. Sad.

I think it’s at least as funny as the Hillary Nutcracker (which, by the way, is on sale at 67% off now that the primaries are over). But I’m guessing the stereotype police wouldn’t agree.

And what’s wrong with it coming out of Utah? That it plays into stereotypes about Mormons being racist?

#15 and 17. I live in Utah, and I don’t see how that’s an excuse not to know this is insulting. They’re either idiots or can’t figure out another way to spin it now that people are complaining.

I must confess I don’t completely understand the strong feelings I’m seeing here on this. When I saw the picture, my first thought was “Cute, a sock monkey!” followed by “Gee, would a sock monkey McCain look like McCain? I wonder what makes the sock monkey look like Obama? Oh. Hm. I bet some people aren’t going to like that.”

For the record, the physical traits most often referred to when making any kind of comparison between African-type people and monkeys (like, say plump lips) are actually traits that are unique to homo sapiens sapiens. Other primates lack the subcutaneous fat that fills out our faces (and other body parts).

PDoE,
The reaction isn’t to this particular sock monkey, which, itself, may be plenty cute. Rather, it’s to the historical baggage that associating a monkey and an African American man carries.

And I admit, the people who make it may have been so out-of-touch that they weren’t aware of the baggage. But that they continue to press their case after being confronted makes it even more inexcusable.

Maybe they’re related to Sen. Chris Buttars…

If you DON’T have the Jim Crow legacy, which we don’t here in Utah, we never had laws like that, it may not have, for them, the kind of freighted meaning that it has for you.

Are you kidding? See here for just a small sample.

I’m LDS and grew up in NH but currently live in Southern TX, I don’t care where you live, it is just thoughtless, ignorant, stupid, complete thoughtless. I am so embarrassed, I really hope they are some of the non-LDS people living in Utah.

Clark, I’d agree with your translation if Mormons needed to learn the lesson in this case. But we weren’t guilty — how is offending us going to make that point to the guilty parties?

And you think people like me EMBRACE those foul stereotypes? That upsets me as much as the stupid cartoon. I’m sorry I mentioned the thing in the first place, and withdraw from the conversation.

wow – you can’t tell me that someone who grows up in the US can honestly be oblivious to how this could be offensive. I kind of liked the cartoon by Ardis – if a Mormon can find offense in the cartoon, then maybe they could see how some could be offended by the monkey…

Ardis I suspect he had been listening to the myriad of talk radio shows here where people had been calling in asking what the fuss was about and complaining about society being too politically correct. Normally I’d agree but I think the historic baggage in this case is such that it goes well beyond political correctness. I think the problem is that Utah’s so isolated from the racism of the South that most of these connotations just aren’t understood. (Which isn’t to say Utah hasn’t had its own form of racism – just that the symbols were often different)

It was interesting. I was listening to KSL yesterday as I picked my wife up from the doctor and a black guy from Utah county called in not understanding what the fuss was about. (He was born and raised here)

So I think there’s some serious ignorance going around.

Clark, the overweight lady popping Prozac is an ugly stereotype.

Devyn, jjohnsen, I think you can grow up in the U.S. and not learn a sensitivity to these things. We’re looking at this as people who are tuned in to the zeitgeist. We know about all the political scandals and high-profile breaches of political correctness because we follow this kind of stuff and participate in conversations about it. But not everybody is tuned in to this kind of thing. George Allen’s “Macaca” moment was mentioned upthread. I would bet that 85% of the U.S. population doesn’t know what that’s referring to. A lot of people don’t pay attention to this kind of thing. There’s no class in school where you learn how to avoid all the different ways to be racially insensitive. And when you go through life not having any personal interactions with people of certain races you don’t learn sensitivity by practice. I only know that the monkey thing has a history because I heard of some sportscaster being fired back in the 70′s for saying something like, “Look at that monkey run!”

So, again, I think it’s plausible, even likely, that there was no malice intended. And I don’t think you have to be a moron to not have a sensitivity about these things. I’m sure there are a lot of non-moronic, non-racist people in your family and mine who wouldn’t think twice about the Obama sock puppet. They might see the problem once you point it out to them, but they won’t have an instinctual negative reaction.

Sam B.,
Yeah, I agree. As I said above, once people get clued in they should rectify the situation. I can’t defend anyone for persisting.

Tom, people find the stereotype of an overweight woman popping prosac that offensive? Really? How many Mormons make fun of that stereotype? For that many how man BYU Coed jokes told by BYU students use that sort of stereotype. Can it really be an offensive stereotype when the community stereotyped are the very ones making use of it?

Tom, I remember it well, it was in 1983. From Wikipedia:

Cosell drew criticism during one Monday Night Football telecast in September 1983, for stating “look at that little monkey go,” when he referred to a play by black receiver Alvin Garrett of the Washington Redskins regarding a run after a reception. While some saw “little monkey” as a racial slur, others who knew Cosell were quick to point out that he used this term routinely in an approving way to describe quicker, smaller players of all ethnicities. Among the evidence adduced to support this claim is video footage of a 1972 preseason game, between the New York Giants and the Kansas City Chiefs, during which Cosell refers to Mike Adamle, a 5-foot-9-inch, 197-pound white, as a “little monkey.”

In another incident, four years later:

Campanis’ infamous remarks took place on the late-night ABC News program Nightline, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s Major League Baseball debut (April 15, 1947). Campanis, who had played alongside Robinson and was known for being close to him, was being interviewed about the subject. Nightline anchorman Ted Koppel asked him why, at the time, there had been few black managers and no black general managers in Major League Baseball. Campanis’ reply was that blacks “may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or, perhaps, a general manager” for these positions. Elsewhere in the interview he said that blacks are often poor swimmers “because they don’t have the buoyancy.” Koppel says he gave Campanis several opportunities to clarify (“Do you really believe that?”) or back down on his remarks but Campanis confirmed his views with his replies. A protest erupted the next morning and he resigned two days later.

I think Trevor there are two issues. One is whether people find something offensive versus whether there are things a community finds offensive. There are plenty of stereotypes that individual Mormons find offensive that the Mormon community as a whole doesn’t (or vice versa).

Now you can say certain stereotypes ought be found offensive but that says nothing about whether they are found offensive. My point is that many LDS stereotypes are embraced and used by the Utah LDS community and as such can’t be judged offensive to that community. Certainly individuals will find it offensive. But then we’re talking about a community in which individuals found Rodin sculptures offensive. (grin)

As to whether overweight women popping pills should intrinsically be off-limits I’d probably disagree. I just don’t think it has the history that say monkey-African American comparison does.

Probably doesn’t mean much, but the lady in the cartoon isn’t fat, she’s pregnant.

Stereotypes aren’t all bad. Christ has been stereotyped as gentle and meek and patient, when he often proved to be abusive (e.g., the cat-o-nine-tails episode), angry (he brought the phrase “brood of vipers” into the vernacular), and quick to attack dissenters (like when he called people “whited sepulchers” or smote the tree that didn’t provide nourishment). Without this stereotype, it is unlikely that Christianity could survive.

Veritas, I do not believe there is any way whatsoever you can prove that. Have some ice cream or some other tasty chill pill.

They have their site back up, with a doll that looks nothing like McCain, as well as the Obama puppet.
http://sockpoliticians.googlepages.com/index.html
I note that it is hosted at google pages and payment goes through paypal, if anyone wants to express disgust to those two companies. The Trib’s coverage of this includes links to a letter from the pair to the media about their reasoning. (I think the spam filter will catch it if I try to post another link here, especially since I can never remember how to do links in comments the spiffy way.)

Yeah– the McCain thing seems to be just sort of a lame attempt to cover up their motives. It’s not a sock monkey, looks nothing like anyone identifiable, etc.

Not worse than Texas though. But I guess that’s not saying much.

Not Texas. The Texas GOP. Dan doesn’t understand that the two are not necessarily the same. There are a lot of Texans offended by the pin.