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2008-06-11 Europe

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Posted by tipper 2008-06-11 06:37|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 "'Uncle Tom' is a racial slur,. . . ."

True, as a matter of modern usage. I've never understood why that is. Go back and actually read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and you find that Uncle Tom is the most admirable character in the book:

Uncle Tom, the titular character, was initially seen as a noble long-suffering Christian slave. . . . Stowe intended Tom to be a "noble hero" and praiseworthy person. Throughout the book, far from allowing himself to be exploited, Tom stands up for his beliefs and is grudgingly admired even by his enemies.

Posted by Mike 2008-06-11 08:52|| 2008-06-11 08:52|| Front Page Top

#2 That's the problem--he was not a grievance activist.

Posted by Spike Uniter 2008-06-11 09:03|| 2008-06-11 09:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Could be a bit more than a simple slur:

THE TITLE of Pierre Frei's Onkel Toms Hutte (hut in English) refers to a subway stop named after a restaurant near the Grunewald, somewhat reminiscent of Berlin Alexanderplatz and somewhat ironic. In 1945 (the setting of the novel), it is in the American occupation zone, and a boy named Ben has found a woman's body, a blue-eyed blond German who had worked for the Americans, the first of four such victims brutally raped and murdered in this area. They are all, in the murderer's eyes, "Aryan" women betraying Germany by "prostituting" themselves to the Americans.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-06-11 09:04|| 2008-06-11 09:04|| Front Page Top

#4 Well they do say,

German humour is not a laughing matter.

Posted by phil_b 2008-06-11 09:11|| 2008-06-11 09:11|| Front Page Top

#5 George Washinton Carver was also regarded as an Uncle Tom, mainly because his black contemporaries believed he gave cover to white people when they idolized him for his many agricultural discoveries. he was also a very fine Christian who'd beat you to the floor whenever the suggestion came up to pray. He continuously emphasized his former slave status and extreme poverty, and insisted that most of his "discoveries" were cued in by plants "telling him about themselves".

I'm convinced he was trying to communicate that he was living in a mode of Christian experience that is more transcendental that what is normally experienced, but lacked the words or concepts to convey it.

Posted by Ptah">Ptah 2008-06-11 09:47|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]">[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2008-06-11 09:47|| Front Page Top

#6 so, so, so sick of hearing about race in this country - instead of talking about what makes us a like and appreciating those "unifying" factors we talk about what makes us "different" & how we need to walk on eggshells around each other so we don't "offend" each other. Time for everyone to truly embrace the golden rule and also realize that Minority is a matter of numbers - get over it.

Posted by Chaviter the Wicked aka Broadhead6 2008-06-11 22:18|| 2008-06-11 22:18|| Front Page Top

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