Hacker News Reader

Comment by lupusreal | Hacker News Reader

Seems to be missing entries for the Censored Eleven.

Good riddance. It’s antiquated trash.

Others may cherish this stuff as a tribute to free thinking or whatever, but I’m happy to see the lack of distribution as a sign we’ve learned some things. This isn’t Chesterton’s Fence or the Mona Lisa, this is just racist humor aimed at boomer kids.

So they were aimed at boomer kids despite all 11 cartoons having been released before 1945? How odd.

Technically you are correct, which is the best kind of correct. Should have said “pre-boomer”. But many were made or reissued in 1944, and as I understand it, cartoon shorts were replayed for years.

Not including this stuff where it belongs is gaslighting. Black people should know what their boss laughed at when he was a kid.

It's also literal whitewashing to take all of the black people out of the past, even if white people depicted us as clowns and monsters. I should be able to say "your grandfather depicted me as a clown and a monster." Better than being a problem swept out of frame.

There's still tons of it around! The Marx Brothers movies are a great example of high-quality content with questionable segments that perfectly capture those old stereotypes. And as a classic movie fan, there are tons of movies with incidental black characters like that. I don't think those should all go in the bin, they are a product of their time.

The WB content is aimed at kids, and I think that makes a difference.

I don't think anybody is arguing for those Censored Eleven to be shown on TV. They're still out there for any adult who cares enough to find, I think that's enough.

For that matter, I wasn't even criticizing the OP document for missing those eleven. Given the time it was written it's quite possible the author didn't even have access to them. In any case, the omission of those few from what seems to be an otherwise comprehensive document is, I thought, notable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com