Ethic Soup

Vintage Racist 'Happy' Valentines

The lovely vintage valentine, above, is what I've always thought  vintage valentines were like. Sadly, not all were as sweet and romantic as I believed.

The truth is not only disappointing, but it provides shocking evidence of the pervasive racism in America, from the 1800's through the 1950's, and how it was an everyday, common experience. Hopefully, the following vintage valentine cards will remind us to be ever alert to the more subtle forms of racism alive today and the courage to fight it.

I know that I'll hear from someone about how I just don't have a sense of humor, you know, can't take a joke. Someone else will comment that this valentine card wasn't serious, "It doesn't mean hang the Negra literally." If the above description is what you plan on doing, forget it. 
Forget about me and save yourself.
 

 

America's racism against the Chinese shouldn't be a surprise. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the only U.S. law to ever prevent immigration and naturalization on the basis of race. These laws brought additional suffering by preventing the reunion of the families of thousands of Chinese men living in the U.S. who had left China without their wives and children.

 

 Native Americans have experienced discrimination and marginalization through wars, massacre, forced displacement (like the Trail of Tears), restriction of food rights and the imposition of treaties. Click here to read more about the American Indian.

 

 

 

 

The two valentines to follow aren't racist just very offensive and discriminatory. In the first, from good old Hallmark, the skunk illustrates what men have done to the women they abuse -- threaten to hurt themselves and others and blame it on the woman that they've abused and emotionally blackmailed.

 

 

 The last valentine is offensive towards women, whom men believe they have a right to rape. In case you missed the clues, the doctor isn't wearing trousers and he's clucking his patient's chin. Both the woman and the dog are obviously frightened. But, hey, it's just a valentine card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE POSTS ABOUT RACISM:

CLICK AND READ: "Bigots Scare Tactics Oppose Facts: More Immigration Linked to Less Crime"

CLICK AND READ: "Horrible Third-Grade Quiz Suggests Killing Illegal Immigrants"

CLICK AND READ: "Nuclear Racism: Black Employees Subjected to Excessive Radiation Exposure"

CLICK AND READ: "California Councilman's Hateful Rhetoric: I'm A Proud Racist" 

CLICK AND READ: "Connecticut Mayor Shows Racial Bigotry While East Haven Police Officers Under Federal Indictment for Racial Hate Crimes" 

 

 

Written by Sharon McEachern

Kids Smoke More When They See Other Kids Smoking Say Researchers

Young people who smoke daily light up more cigarettes if they see other young people smoking. Surprise!

NEW RESEARCH ?

Most of us have known this fact for years. That's why parents don't want their kids to associate with kids who smoke. They are a bad influence. Afterall, most kids desperately want to be just like their peers. Being different is awful for them.

Yet, Zeena Harakeh, a social scientist from Utrecht University, Netherlands, recently researched the subject of what encourages young smokers to light a cigarette. Surprisingly, she came up with an unexpected finding.

WANNA CIGARETTE OR WATCH ME ?

Dr. Harakeh investigated what encourages smokers aged 16 to 24 to light up. You would think, intuitively, that young people would smoke more when they are offered a cigarette. But, you'd be wrong. They actually smoke more when in company of a smoking peer, even when no one offers them a cigarette.

Verizon Succumbs to Consumer Anger : Scraps $2 'Convenience Fee'

 

Yesterday, Verizon announced its customers would have to pay $2 fees for making payments via phone or online with a credit card.  Today, Verizon shouted a mea culpa and scrapped the controversial fee. About the quick, one-day, about-face:

VERIZON SAYS IT REALLY LISTENS

 "At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers," Verizon CEO Dan Mead said in a statement.

Uh huh. But, they sure do have short memories.

You would have thought that the big bananas at Verizon had observed what happened with Bank of America recently. Well, of course, they did!

CORPORATE ARROGANCE

But, corporate arrogance made them think they could get away with it -- charging a fee for every payment that subscribers make on their Verizon phones or online with their credit cards. But that's what they said was going to happen come January 15th.

Good News: Secret Santas Pay for Strangers' Layaway Bills

THE SPIRIT of Christmas can be seen in the smiles of children and this holiday is made more happy for a number of children -- and adults. Growing numbers of Secret Santas are popping up at layaway counters in stores across the country.  

They are paying the layaway bills for strangers who haven't enough money to pay for and pick up the presents that the stores are holding for them. And many are doing so anonymously.

The first incident reported in the media happened in Plainfield Township, Michigan, two weeks ago. At a Big Kmart, a 30-something woman walked up to the layaway desk, pushing a shopping cart full of toys she was going to donate, reported Money MSN.

DONOR INSISTED ON ANANIMITY

The shopper asked if she could pay a few customers' layaway contracts, only asking that the orders include toys and that she could remain anonymous. She randomly selected three and ended up paying about $500 -- all but $10 on each ticket.

GOOD NEWS: Anonymous Woman Pays Water Utility Bills for 17 Families

 

IT CAN BE a wonderful world. It's nice to have this belief reinforced during the holidays, which can be a time of despondency for many, especially during an economic crisis when so many have lost their jobs and can't even pay their utility bills.

Not having running water, a basic need, is a low blow. Needing to take buckets to a neighbor's house for some of their water, so you can flush your toilet, can be a humiliating chore.

To get clean you have to wash in the sink in a convenience store's bathroom and pray they don't ask you to leave because you can't buy anything.

Just hearing about the woman in Iowa City, Iowa, who insisted on remaining anonymous, has been inspiring to many. 

The woman walked into City Hall to pay her own water bill. Then she donated $1,640 to pay off the delinquent balances of 17 families, to ensure that they would have running water over the holidays, reported the Iowa City Press-Citizen. 

FCC Finally Fixes Earsplitting Volume of TV Commercials

FINALLY, yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission  unanimously approved rules that will require cable operators and TV stations to quiet those thunderous TV commercials.

More than a year ago, September 2010, Congress passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, giving the FCC the job of ensuring that TV commercials aren't louder than TV programs. Next, we, the listening public, had to keep sticking our fingers in our ears at commercial-time because nothing changed.

WE CAN'T BE C.A.L.M. FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR

But, it's still not going to take effect for yet another year. Supposedly, the new rules start next December, in 2012. That's when cable operators and TV stations will have to make TV commercials no louder than the TV programs. What's with the hold-ups, deferrals? I think it's just part of the definition for government.

Consumers have been complaining about the excessively loud television commercials for decades -- decades.

 

Colorado Towns Ban Plastic Bags, Charge Fees for Paper Bags

   Mt Sopris visible from Carbondale, Co.  Photo: Flickr/Thad Roan/Bridge Pix

 

 

PLASTIC grocery bags are being banned and fees attached to paper bags in more Colorado towns.

 Preserving the majestic beauty of the pristine Rocky Mountains, formed between 80 million and 55 million years ago, is of great benefit to its residents and visitors. Who wants to look out their window at evergreens holding onto plastic bags that float by ? 

More importantly, protecting the environment from plastic pollution is the ethical thing to do.

Recently we reported on the new Aspen ordinance banning the city's two grocery stores from distributing plastic bags and ordering a 20-cent fee on paper bags.

Now, there are two more Colorado towns restricting or placing fees on single-use, carryout shopping bags. The hope is that the efforts will encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags to the grocery store.

 

Colorado Ski Town, Aspen, Bans Plastic Bags

People in Aspen, Colorado, the renowned and beautiful ski resort town in the Rocky Mountains, don't want their town to look like the landfill below, full of discarded plastic bags. 

Yuck! Of course not.

Aspen is an international glitzy playground of the wealthy and famous. Founded as a mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom, Aspen's Rocky- Mountain-High beauty was immortalized in resident John Denver's songs "Aspenglow" and "Starwood in Aspen."

Apparently, plastic pollution doesn't fit Aspen's image, nor, apparently its political-correctness.

PLASTIC BAGS BANNED

So, last week, on Oct. 11, 2011, the Aspen City Council voted to ban plastic bags from the town's two grocery stores -- its population hovers at plus-6,000 -- and placed a 20-cent fee on paper bags, reports the Washington Post.

Barbie Loses to Bratz Doll: Mattel Needs $315 Million to Appeal Federal Ruling

 

I can hear the loud raspberries being blown from the Botox-pouty lips of the Bratz dolls (above) aimed at, and showing contempt for, the Barbie dolls.

MATTEL STOLE TRADE SECRETS

Surprisingly, that's what has happened when the world's biggest toy maker, Mattel, tried to ruin much smaller MGA Entertainment, the makers of the Bratz dolls. 

It's been a long legal battle, with a series of court cases beginning in 2004. That's the year that MGA attorneys introduced into evidence a Mattel memo that warned of a "rival-led Barbie genocide."

Whoa! Talk about doom! 

"This is war and sides must be taken: Barbie stands for good. All others stand for evil."

DOLLS MEAN BIG BUCK BILLIONS 

No, they were not talking about human beings. They were beating their chests about dolls. Actually, the chest-pounding was all about money, of course. Globally, Mattel sells $3 billion Barbie-branded (below left) merchandise annually, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

Want Extra Sugar, Sugar? Police Arrest Dunkin' Donuts Worker as Prostitute

Melissa Redmond, 29, got a job as an overnight employee at a New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts. Perfect! She didn't have to stand on a street corner in a 'tenderloin' neighborhood to make some extra cash.

QUICK PARKING LOT BREAKS

Instead, Melissa just took ten to fifteen minute breaks to make her money in the parking lot, after propositioning customers -- including a plain-clothes officer -- via the drive-thru window. 

"Cops cleverly dubbed their investigation "extra sugar," gathering info and watching over the premises for six weeks," according to New York Magazine, which asked: "But were they allowed to expense their late-night surveillance snacks?"