A confession: ITQ, too, once laboured under the misapprehension that “tar baby” was actually a pithy, if anachronistic Southern colloquialism, and not a racial slur. In fact, she very nearly deployed it in a recent blog post. Luckily, she checked with her Hot Room colleagues before hitting publish, and was told in no uncertain terms that it was most emphatically not, but given that recent experience, she has no trouble believing that Pierre Poilievre had no clue that he was being hideously offensive — well, hideously offensive in an unintended way. Although really, when considering launching a revival of a word or phrase that seems to have fallen out of use, it’s a good idea to Google it first, just to make sure there’s not a very good reason why nobody says it anymore.
UPDATE: Colleague Wherry has the transcript of Poilievre’s remarks here.
Meanwhile, one of ITQ’s countless fans at PMO sent along the following examples of various media outlets, reporters and former Liberal cabinet ministers using the phrase “tar baby”, apparently without sparking a furious backlash, although it would be interesting to find out if there were any angry letters sent to the editor in response:
“Marois’s effort to shake off the referendum tar baby is good news…” (Editorial, “Cynical PQ bid to rebrand party,” The Toronto Star, Friday, March 7, 2008).
“Same-sex marriage has generally been treated like a political tar baby over the past few years, with most parties reluctant to whip up highly sensitive arguments touching on religion and deeply rooted social values.” (Susan Delacourt, “Martin could exploit gay-marriage gift,” The Hamilton Spectator, Friday, December 10, 2004).
“Nobody is saying you toss over your U.S. relations. Of course you don’t. But it doesn’t mean to say you have to become slavishly connected like some kind of tar baby with them.” (Lloyd Axworthy, “Canada’s new leader to improve U.S. ties,” Detroit Free Press, Thursday, December 11, 2003).
I agreed to post them, for fairness, but I’ll say the same thing here as I said in my email (edited ever so slightly for coherence, and leaving out the other side of the conversation):
Hey, I nearly made the same mistake he did — the difference is that I asked first, and heeded the wisdom of my colleagues. I’m sure he meant no harm, but if I were him, I would just admit it was a bad choice of words and try to move on. You have to pick your battles, etymologically speaking – and this is one that you can’t win.
I think that’s pretty much where I came in, although it’s probably worth noting that it seems to be at least slightly less unacceptable (yes, I know that’s a double negative, just get over it) to use “tar baby” to refer to a concept — like, say, the carbon tax — than a person, but for a politician, at least, it’s probably safest to avoid it completely, no matter how much it may seem to be le mot juste.
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As a very young child we bought penny candy like ‘mojo’s’, 3 for a penny and little black licorice baby’s that we referred to as ‘tar babies’ as well as, in an even a more derogatory way.
As a very young child, I knew no better, intended no harm, and had no idea about racism, but as an adult, I would never, never, repeat those words as I perceive them as very derogatory, despite the actual definition.
I loved Mojos, I used to spend my whole allowance on them. *sigh*
I’m not sure about “off the reservation” Kady – but I’d be upset if someone referred to my recent tonsorial extravaganza as “scalping”…
It’s rather amusing really.
I adopted the Wascally Wabbit monicker after William Kristol – well known New York Neocon columnist – mangled the Bugs Bunny running gag with Elmer Fudd – and obviously thought – in a typical right wing confusion of the facts – that it was Fudd who was vanquishing the Bunny in these cartoons.
Now we have Silly Poilievre applying the tar baby story to Ignatieff – without realizing the point that Br’er Rabbit loved to get his Rabbit *ss into the Briar Patch to escape the Fox.
Maybe we’ll be seeing later today a presser from Mr. Tenycke explaining – on behalf of Mr. Poilievre – that the reference to Tar Baby was of course linked to the Tar Sands..but that will only dig him in deeper – because all the pro-Big Oil types have been using Oil Sands to “sweeten” the image!
As to the racial epithet assumption – it really depends upon your interpretation of what Harris’ intent was – with these stories.
Uncle Remus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uncle Remus in Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, 1881Uncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881. A journalist in post-Reconstruction Atlanta, Georgia, Harris produced seven Uncle Remus books.
Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore, collected from Southern United States blacks. Many of the stories are didactic, much like those of Aesop’s fables and the stories of Jean de La Fontaine. Uncle Remus is a kindly old slave who serves as a storytelling device, passing on the folktales to children gathered around him.
The stories are told in Harris’ version of a Deep South slave dialect. The genre of stories is the trickster tale. The term “uncle” was a patronizing, familiar and often racist title reserved by whites for elderly black men in the South, which is considered by some to be pejorative and offensive. At the time of Harris’ publication, his work was praised for its ability to capture plantation negro dialect.[citation needed]
Br’er Rabbit (“Brother Rabbit”) is the main character of the stories, a likable character, prone to tricks and trouble-making who is often opposed by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear. In one tale, Br’er Fox constructs a lump of tar and puts clothing on it. When Br’er Rabbit comes along he addresses the “tar baby” amiably, but receives no response. Br’er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as Tar Baby’s lack of manners, punches it, and becomes stuck. Now that Br’er Rabbit is stuck, Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless, but cunning, Br’er Rabbit pleads, “Please don’t throw me in the briar patch,” prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br’er Rabbit escapes. Using the phrases “please don’t throw me in the briar patch” and “tar baby” to refer to the idea of “a problem that gets worse the more one struggles against it” became part of the wider culture of the United States in the mid-20th century.
The animal stories were conveyed in a manner in which they were not deemed as ostensibly racist by many among the audiences of the time; by the mid-20th century, however, the dialect and the “old Uncle” stereotype of the narrator, long considered demeaning by many blacks, as well as Harris’ racist and patronizing attitudes toward blacks and his defense of slavery in his foreword, rendered the book indefensible to many. Without much controversy the stories became less popular.[citation needed]
Harris himself said, in the introduction to Uncle Remus, that he hoped his book would be considered:
…a sympathetic supplement to Mrs. Stowe’s [author of Uncle Tom's Cabin] wonderful defense of slavery as it existed in the South. Mrs. Stowe, let me hasten to say, attacked the possibilities of slavery with all the eloquence of genius; but the same genius painted the portrait of the Southern slave-owner, and defended him.
Mark Twain read the Uncle Remus stories to his children, who were awed to meet Harris himself. In his Autobiography Twain describes him thus:
He was the bashfulest grown person I have ever met. When there were people about he stayed silent, and seemed to suffer until they were gone. But he was lovely, nevertheless; for the sweetness and benignity of the immortal Remus looked out from his eyes, and the graces and sincerities of his character shone in his face.
Twain wrote that “It may be that Jim Wolf was as bashful as Harris. It hardly seems possible….” Jim Wolf being a person from the first humorous story Twain ever told—the story recorded in “Jim Wolf and the Cats”.
Kady, would you be our MP?
I see the gnomes of It-land have been busy. thumbs up!