I went on a short break to Devon (a county at the bottom peninsula of England) the other week. We camped in a small sea side village etc. Whilst we were looking around the shops in the village I noticed something quite strange...There was a little Gollywog doll being sold in one of the gift shops. For some reason I found this absolutely THERE IS NO FUCKING E IN RIDICULOUS becuase had considered them a racist item from about 50 years ago. Anyway, I decided to buy one for a laugh becuase no where else is gonna sell this doll, right? Wrong. I went to a few other villages together with found that they not only sold the same little Gollywog that I bought, contrary to expectation they had them in various sizes! A selection of Gollywogs....

I later found out from some friends that it's tradition for the people in the area to paint their skin black together with parade down the high street once a year.

What do you make of this? Am I reading too much in this?

Oh indeed, I concur, this is a gollywog if you don't already know...



edit: just stumbled across this news article aswell http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458772&in_page_id=1770

yeah dude that shit is pretty racist you're not reading too much into it at all

yeah the term wog is an insult for blacks, it's just a racist little doll most people don't sell out of general not being shittiness.

Gollywogs used to be the logo for Robinsons Jam or something and they had to change that a few years ago, and I remember there being this MASSIVE UPRISING of old people in protest. English people love their gollywogs.

are gingerbread men racist

Everyone in Devon is racist.

Anyone who says "political correctness gone mad" is almost certainly racist.


I'm very probably racist.

wog was actually a slur agains italians in austrailia. These dolls have been made for so long thats it just takes to tradition, they first started making these in africa if my memory serves me right.

It's not a matter of skin that they made the dolls, it was to show that they didn't feel total racism agains other colors of skin.

i was waiting for somebody to come in and support these things

Gollywogs used to be the logo for Robinsons Jam or something and they had to change that a few years ago, and I remember there being this MASSIVE UPRISING of old people in protest. English people love their gollywogs.

panda and I were talking about this yesterday. it's amazing how people will scream and fight for the right to have a racist mascot.

OUR CULTURE IS REPRESENTED BY THIS *presents a big lipped jig eating a watermelon* WHO CARES IF IT OFFENDS IT'S CULTURE ok cool no one is talking about editing the history books and saying gollywogs never existed but a gollywog is a pretty racist thing, welcome to 21st century.

wog was actually a slur agains italians in austrailia. These dolls have been made for so long thats it just takes to tradition, they first started making these in africa if my memory serves me right.

It's not a matter of skin that they made the dolls, it was to show that they didn't feel total racism agains other colors of skin.

you're thinking of wop and you're very confused if you think the gollywog is some attempt at racial equality.

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/

I had never heard of this doll before but after looking up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gollywog) the book/images look very familiar to me, and I think it might have been in "Bamboozled" maybe????

not racial equality exactly, thats not in the general idea that i meant, I mean they were in the community and it was a representation.

man it's creepy that does look like a gingerbread man, sorta.

its cute :3

EDIT: holy shit dada i just stumbled across that same wikipedia page, did you follow the same path as me through "blackface"?
 

not racial equality exactly, thats not in the general idea that i meant, I mean they were in the community and it was a representation.

so if they had a jew doll with a really big nose and dollar signs for eyes that would just be acknowledging that they're a part of the community and that's not racist at all right

I dunno, I think this kind of thing is fine, because most racists aren't going to buy it, because why would they, and the people that are buying it just perpetuate a kind "laugh at the ridiculousness of blackface" attitude. I mean, I'm not black and if a lot of black people are angry about this they should stop selling them, but it seems pretty harmless.

who cares if RACIST PEOPLE WON'T BUY IT.  that's not the problem!  the doll itself is racist and OLD-FASHIONED and honestly I had no idea they still existed what is that shit about.

edit: also if black people aren't offended by this then that's kind of a problem

hundreds of years of slavery and racial bigotry let's all just have a laugh and forget it ever happened.  nigger.

haha, he said nigger!

edit: HEY NIGGER ACCORDING TO THIS DOLL YOU HAVE PITCH BLACK SKIN AND OBNOXIOUSLY BIG LIPS AND YOU LOOK PRETTY DUMB.  ISN'T THAT FUNNY?