Is your artwork politically correct? Should it be?

The consumers drive the market, & publishers want to Make money.

Supply and demand. What do people buy? Picture books about white folk.

Disclaimer:  The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author in his or her, okay it’s Wayne so his, private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of FolioAcademy, or any others involved with FolioAcademy. In fact, many views portrayed here are not even those of the author, he is only exploring ideas and suggesting what his opinion might be, as even he is too spineless to make up his mind. He says he is always willing to update his opinion. So is he open minded or wishy washy? I think he is a short, chubby, gray haired, wrinkly old, slow learning, pale faced, Gringo, Stupid, right brained, attention seeking, art teaching, blog posting, picture drawing, lazy, art loving, math hating, spell check using, time wasting, attention seeking, Yankee and a little man who used to wet the bed.  

Yet another opinion from another middle class, white maLE. Go figure. 

Let me start with my own disclaimer, I do not in any way mean to offend and I refuse to be offended if you comment. This is a LONG post, read as much or as little as you want and please, Don’t let me offend you. That being said, POO-POO PEE-PEE! tee hee. No offence.

Strong words that offend can be used for shock value. 

I used to think that (poopoo peepee) was the absolute most worstest thing a person could say, and i peaked over our fence as a child and just blurted out “POOPOO PEEPEE!” at some innocent people. I ducked back down, giggling and feeling exhilarated and at the same time, scared for my eternal soul.

What Politically Correct means to me. 

My opinion in short, or in long as it may seam.  In a nutshell, PC is a hot and popular topic and it can affect your bottom line. Since the beginning of time, the white man (figure of speech) pretty much controlled and dictated what was published and HE didn’t care who he offended as long as he was on top and was making money. Well, we the people started to notice, and people are easily offended. So we complain and things slowly change. Depending on who’s buying your product, and if you want ‘those kind of people as customers’, you should comply to their needs and wants. A true Artist may draw and paint what ever SHE (to be PC one needs to limit the HE word) wants and “If you, (the would be client,) don’t like it, tough! I am being true to myself.” Maybe that’s why artists starve. If you want to make money, create value. If people want PC in their art, or ads or magazines or books or training material, then ultimately, they won’t buy your racist, chauvinistic, leave out the minority, pick on the handicapped, social faux pas art work and they will buy from artists that are smart enough to provide PC work. If you are working for Ebony magazine, for example, feel free to leave out the crackers. (white folk) if you are working for a White supremacist magazine, (I hope there aren’t any) then you could probably leave out the ‘people of color’ or even dis other races and be as non PC as you want. The cool thing about free enterprise is that you can do what you want and if you provide value, you will be rewarded. I believe however that it is ‘uncool’ to be racist, sexist, communist, supremacist etc.

People will take offence when they shouldn’t.

So what does Politically Correct mean to me? It means walk softly, try not to offend or exclude anyone. Be ultra fair. Do not pick on anyone. Stay far away from racial slurs don’t use racial, old age, career, or gender stereotypes to help get your point across. Look at your work objectively and be nice. That’s just good practice. But even still, there are a lot of people, I feel, with huge chips on their shoulders, just looking for an excuse to be offended. I hope you are not one of those, and I try not to be.

As a white child in a white (trash) neighborhood, going to a white school, with white friends in a white family, I never gave it a thought that most of my toys and books were “white”. My favorite fisher price character however, was a little black kid and I had a black G.I. Joe, and a red headed one, and a bunch of white ones. Billy blast off was white, my Bozo doll was white, (clown white), my trucks were yellow, my army men where green and my Teddy Bear was brown. My dinosaurs were all colors, and my blocks and tinker toys ere multi colored too. My favorite doll, yes I played with dolls, (Sissy!) was Zipy, a chimp and Bozo was my next fave.

My mother and father were nearly illiterate and seldom read to me. But I enjoyed it when they did. Among my favorite books were, Where the White, I mean, Wild Things Are, (that would have been my fave no mater Max’s race, was he Asian?) ping, (Asian) and a bunch of white people books, Dr. Suess types. My sister’s favorite dolls were Mrs. Beasley (an old lady, white) and Nancy (a black girl). And some little dolls called Kiddles, some were of color. My mom was puzzled.

This was Inspired by Will Terry’s Response to the New York Times ‘Why No Peeps of Color in Children’s Books’ Article; by Walter Dean Myers

WHY DO YOU THINK THE CHILDREN’S BOOK WORLD IS so NEGLECTING TO DEPICT, PEOPLE OF COLOR?

When I was a kid, I didn’t like any people in the books at all. The fewer humans, white or other, the better. I liked animal characters in my books and in the cartoons I watched, and in the coloring books I colored in. Or monsters or dinosaurs. Animals are cuter than people and more fun.

I worked as an in-house artist for 12 years creating educational software, books and videos for Waterford Institute. We were mostly white folk there, trying to create artwork and educational stuff for the ‘inner city’ children, so we had a ‘PC department’, more white folk, and a lot of our stuff got shot down. We were only allowed to put so many white people in our work. One time an artist there, we’ll call him Pat, illustrated a book with a whole family of whities. He used up our cracker ‘quota’, so then nobody else could illustrate a white person again on that project.

It was difficult too as we were in an area where we just didn’t have the mix of other races so it was hard to find models. It’s always easier to just grab one of your kids or their friend and shoot some scrap and paint them what ever color they happen to be. In most cases at least around here, that’s white. Then when you do put other races in your work, you have to really be careful about stereotyping. And I wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Remember Fat Albert. We couldn’t exaggerate ethic features like that or paint the minority in a bad light. That wouldn’t go over where I worked but we were ultra PC. There is a lot of not so PC stuff out there and I think most of their audience is fine with it. I had a Richard Scary book called The Polite Elephant and there was a page with a big fat Hippo in a dress, obviously female, squeezing her way into a bus. There’s no way that we could paint a woman in that light for a children’s book where I worked. I think you should be fair too, are all the fat people going to be women? Were people offended by the “Black” crows in Dumbo? Or the “Mexican” Chihuahua in Oliver and Company?

Follow the Money

In most cases, I would say that the market dictates what is produced. Artists, illustrators, musicians, cooks, home builders, doctors, lawyers, etc. All want to make money. What artist doesn’t want to be successful? So they do what they think will be most profitable for them. Within the boundaries of their morals and conscience. Where does that money come from? Well who buys the children’s books and what kind do they buy? There is going to be less demand for products for minorities as there are simply fewer customers to buy them. That’s why we call them minorities. I think that if all of a sudden, every one was buying picture books with Asians, Latinos, Blacks, Native Americans etc. And just not buying that many “white” books any more, Publishers, authors and illustrators would be quick to jump on the bandwagon and publish books to fill that market. What do Japanese, ‘anime’ artists in Asia draw? (or at least what do a lot of them draw?) What sells? Young, White, big “Round Eyed”, (hey I’m round eyed, that offends me!) characters called anime or Manga art. And they bring in a lot of money. Why? The consumer wants it.

Where I worked, you would think that the whites are the only people that are ever disabled or lower class. You’d think that all bosses, doctors, and lawyers are women or people of color? All our token handicapped people had to be white. The only fat people in our world were also white, and male. For fear of offending others, we could no longer paint a lazy black man, or a handicapped Asian, or a fat woman, or a white leader. Why? Simple, we were selling to school districts and inner city kids where whitey is the minority. And that to me, is fair. So if you want to make money, you need to appeal to YOUR audience. If I was offended by that, it would give me an opportunity to ‘see what it’s like’ to be picked on.

The Buyer of the children’s books is Probably the Biggest Factor

Is it the writer, writing ‘white’ stories, the artist, illustrating white characters, the publisher promoting ‘white’ stories or the public who is buying the ‘white people’ books? I don’t know but I think it is the public’s ‘fault’ for buying what they buy.
At Waterford I illustrated a book called “Movin’ to the Music” Time. About a child that loved to dance. Well it couldn’t be a boy, that paints him as a sissy, so it had to be a girl, wait, are we implying that all girls dance or that only girls dance. It couldn’t be a black child because people would think I am stereotyping black kids as natural dancers, but then it couldn’t be a white because the ‘inner city’ kids wouldn’t relate. And besides, Pat already used up our white people quota. I remember saying, “just tell me what you want me to paint“. They, the dreaded ‘committee‘, finally decided that it should be a black girl. I said fine and illustrated it. I was not offended and I hope I didn’t offend. By the way Cherry Lyon Jones, the author, loved it. So in that case, it was not the artist or even the writer, but the publisher who’s bottom line or end client that dictated what we did, they wanted more PCness in our stuff.

Some people will be offended no matter what you do.

Sometimes I feel like there are those who just have a great big chip sitting precariously on their shoulder while they go around looking for some one to accidentally knock it off. In a lot of cases the people that are offended are offended in behalf of someone else, another race or class or whatever. At the same time we do have to look at our work objectively and ask, how it might be taken. It’s funny how sometimes you paint something like an obvious  phallic symbol and not see it until someone points it out and then all of a sudden it’s the only thing you see and you can’t miss it. Hopefully before it’s published and there is time to change it.

I can look at a lot of art where there was NO mal-intent whatsoever and still come up with a “politically correctness” issue that could be taken wrong. If you look at something a different way or from a different cultural viewpoint, you may be offended, especially if you want to be, and quite frankly, I feel there are a lot who do, ‘WANT to be’ offended. God bless the do-gooders.
The sad truth is, we are all different, everybody, not just every race but every individual. The happy truth is, we are all different, everybody, not just every race but every individual. and most of these differences are a good thing.

opportunity: Fill that Void, cater to the Minority 

If nobody is catering to the children or people of color, there should be a very big Niche. Maybe you could cater to that niche. Maybe you want to use a more ethnic sounding name, like those female authors that used men’s names so they could get published. (you’ve heard stories) Like I said, life isn’t fair. “Poor me, I’m a white middle class male, I can’t get a job because they need a quota of ethnics, I can’t jump, I can’t, get a scholarship cause I’m white and to make matters worse, you can see my blood-veins through my pasty white skin. I’m a victim. I need a hug!”

OFFENDING PEOPLE MIGHT JUST BE YOUR NICHE. 

Didn’t I once say, use your strengths? If you are good at offending, and if you don’t care what others think or say about you, offensive non Politically Correct art and illustrations may be your forte’. (forte’ means strength) Have you seen or heard of the book, Go the F**k to Sleep? A children’s book but not really for children, or The Farting Dog? Need I say more? Sometimes it’s that Offensive thing that sells books. I’m not saying I want you to be offensive, but I am saying, that America is still a semi free country and we still have the freedom of speech, I think, and if you want to go that rout and reap, or suffer the consequences, you are free to do so.

“You will never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator”  ~Lisa Simpson

Is ‘Mexican’ the new “N” word? 

I don’t mean to offend, Spaniards, Latinos, or Mexicans, I think they are beautiful people with deserving respect and equality just like EVERY human being on this planet. When I was dating my wife I thought she was Mexican and I asked once why she didn’t speak Spanish. I sure wasn’t trying to offend that beautiful brown skinned girl whom I was trying to impress. And luckily, she took no offense, but over the years, I guess that “Mexican” has become a derogatory word. She was also a pig, (aka copper) well a dispatcher, someone who tells the cops where to go.

Around here, Mexican has become a derogatory word. 

Last x-mas, (Oh oh, did he just  ex out Christ!) I was in Tucson visiting relatives and we went to the neatest little “Mexican” eating establishment. Very authentic Mexican food and buzzing with beautiful brown Spanish speaking people of Tucson. They were all inside even though there were tables and it was nice outside. My sister in law, who’s identity I will protect by calling her Rachel Fisher Scholes, suggested we eat outside, and boy did I put my foot in my big fat not so PC mouth. I used the “M” word. I said, “Let’s eat in there with the Mexicans.” You should have seen Rachel as she grimaced looked left and right, and in a hush hush, but loud whisper, scolded me and said, “watch your language! You are SO offensive! They are [called] Latinos [now] you are such an [racist] idiot!” OOPS! My bad, or is it my bad? It’s getting hard to keep up with all the ‘politically correct’ terminology these days.

choose not to be offended; LIFE IS UNFAIR AND PEOPLE ARE MEAN. 

Thou shalt not be offended was the 11th commandment at my friend Nate McKay’s house, and a good commandment it is. I don’t care who you are or what they say, you can always be offended if you try hard enough. Sometimes you don’t need to try at all, I’ll give you that but… You can also choose not to take offence. (leave that fence alone!) I think things become offensive as we are exposed to them in negative ways. Some of the things that offended me most was when a teacher would say, I had diarrhea of the mouth or that I was an attention seeker or a show off. But what I mean is, we grow offended about things, usually through conditioning. Life is ‘unfair’ and people are mean, Deal with it!

On Facebook there was a post saying, “let’s get rid of the “R” word. (Retard) 

Really? Let me pick on the “R” word for just a minute. I think it went like this. A long time ago, a scientist or doctor, somewhere decided that an appropriate word for someone who was slow, or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress or capacity, would be the word “mentally retarded”, which literally means, “mentally slow, or slowed”. That word morphed to Mental Retard (one with a slow or slowed mind) and then to Retard. Is that offensive? Not until we decide that it is. Sooner or later, people figured out what that meant. People would use the word in a mocking or derogatory way, calling others ‘RETARD’. And then we became offended by the use of the word. So “they” came up with another word, Special, which soon came to mean, retarded. So “they” were forced to look for another euphemism so’s not to offend. So they came up with Mentally Handy-capped, and soon, we all started to catch on, to that, (Hey that means retarded too) so that was soon offensive, how about mentally challenged? Down syndrome? (a chromosomal condition  that causes retardation) then “a Downs” or trisomy 21. So do we just have to keep avoiding these “bad” words and coming up with new words that mean the same thing? Or get rid of words we don’t like, which of course is impossible. Didn’t we try to abolish the word ain’t? Don’t get me wrong, I believe we should scrub our language and respect others, even if they are different. Or worse, even if they’re NORMAL!

Is it racist to believe that ALL Whites are racist? Are all men, sexists? 

Are you fat? No, I’m heavy, I mean short for my weight? Ugly? No. Aesthetically challenged. White? No, Caucasian, oh cock-Asian? no, Anglo Saxon. Oriental? No Asian. Indian? No, Native american, i mean, indigenous species. By the way aren’t Russians Asians? And further more, I was born in America so doesn’t that make me a Native American, yet I get grief and accused of being a racist if when I say I’m a native American. Should I be offended if i am called English, or Caucasian, I don’t know what Caucasian or Yankee means? How about Swedish as my name indicates or Norwegian as I am an eighth but I’ve never been. My blood is mostly English (i’m a limey) and I’ve never been there either. Life is unfair. You can even call me “late for dinner” if you want, as long as there is still plenty of food. Life is unfair and people are mean. Let us do our best to be fair and loving fellow beings.

a few more words that we “should” get rid of

 Disclaimer: every one of these words or phrases is offensive to someone.  

White Bread, Pale face, Yankee, Stupid American, White trash, Trailer Trash, Red Neck, Poor, Short, Fat, Fatso, Freak, Cripple, Deaf, Blind, Mute, Harelip, Indian, Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, Slow, Special, Spic, Chink, Old, Geezer, Old lady, Woman, Chauvinist, Stinky, Dirty, Sissy, Toe head, Wop, Dago, Nip, Kraut, Albino,  trisomy 21, Down syndrome, down’s, Learning impaired, Cross eyed, Gray haired, Toothless, Ornery, Acne face, Red Head, Carrot top, Freckle face, Pollock, Jew, Mormon, Homo sexual, Queer, homo phobic, Ugly, Geek, Nerd, Jock, Bimbo, Blonde, Air Head, Dunce, Virgin, Whore, Harlot, Prude, Pig, Religious fanatic, Artist, Right brained, Brainiac, Egg head, Brainless, Dough head, actress, man hole, male man, he, his, Pudding head, chowder head, Fingernail fever head, (that’s one my sister, we’ll call her Wendy Cooper, and I, used to call my brother Mark Andreason, who shall remain autonomous) Anvil head, D**k head, Dork, Nut job, Crazy, Mad, Insane, Psycho, Pedophile, Dope, Jackass, Jerk, Stupid, Dumb, Ignorant, Whitey, Redskin, Coward, Muscle head, Narcissist, Murderer, Softy Spineless, Showoff, Tattle tale, Rat fink, Nark, Liberal, Conservative, Diaper head, rag head, bed wetter, zit face, Hipster, Yuppie, Prima donna, Lawyer, F***er, Screwball, Meany, Injun, Boy, Girl, Suit, Lazy, Homeless, Idiot, Spade, Scoundrel, Oreo, Weakling, Bookworm, Anorexic, Gas bag, Weirdo, Four eyes, Limey, Frog, illiterate, Oriental, Asian, Peg leg and Honky to name a few.

What are words for?  ~Missing Persons

Words, to a writer or speaker, are like paint and shapes to an artist. They are just sounds that when mixed in different ways, hurt or please the beholder. Some more passive and pleasant, some more provocative and aggressive, it’s art. A thousand words is worth a picture if you ask me. When we choose to HATE a word, or LOVE a word that gives it more power, save it for the right moment and it will be still more powerful. Get rid of a word? How retar… I mean, how slow is that?  My boss at Waterford hated purple and brown, we had a hard time getting something to pass his muster if it had purple in it or too much brown.

If we used the word “pillow” in an offensive way, and gave it an offensive meaning, sooner or later, that would be offensive and no longer PC. I.E. gay, queer, intercourse, balls, shag, retarded, dumb, etc. Words are just sound that we give value and power. We can use words and images to uplift or offend, and WE can choose to let them uplift us or offended us.

My Sister is Special. (mentally retarded) 

P.S. I have a younger sister named Molly, who is mentally retarded and I have pondered and given the “R word” a LOT of though throughout my life. I love her and hope to always be her favorite brother. But as a matter of fact, she is retarded, that is just a fact, it may not be a good thing but it is the truth. We don’t call her a “retard”, but some have and it is hurtful. So are sticks and stones. If instead we use the word sluggish, profound, jiggy or (insert any word here_________), sooner or later, we would put two and tow together, (for some of us that will take a little longer, I never was good at math, I am slow at math) and the word would be offensive and no longer politically correct.

My little brother used to call people “RETARD” once in awhile and one time he, my baby brother, much younger than Molly, slipped and called her a retard! It was funny to see him back peddle, he knew he had crossed a line. “I mean, oops, Sorry! Your not that, uh, I meant to say… uh, Jiggy?” She forgave him and we moved on.

I have another Sister, named Wendy and she too is special, not mentally retarded or slow in any way, just special. And today is her birthday. Happy Birthday Wendy, I love you. Even if you are special. (Special to me)

Your comments and opinions are welcome.

P.S. By the time you read all this, I may have changed my thinking, I often “update my opinion”, and for the better I hope.

P.P.S. Every time there is a violent murder, they assume the perpetrator is a man, and they are almost ALWAYS right, but How sexist!