← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Ed Toner
Thread ID: 12224 | Posts: 15 | Started: 2004-02-09
2004-02-09 02:37 | User Profile
Dear Congressman Smith,
I sent the following complaint to the FCC Commissioner, and I would appreciate a followup on action taken if any, by your office:
"I have seen FedEx commercials that exhibit overt racism and sexism on major TV Channels, and I am deeply offended by them. I just watched, for instance, a TV Commercial where two white men are raving "We're doomed, doomed". They are in a agitated state, complaining that they do not know how they will get a document package to Houston.
Enter a small frail Negro woman, with the solution - FedEx! The poor, stupid white men stand there in awe. Wonderful!
This theme is repeated often, and as a white man, I am offended. Had the scenario been reversed, there would have been all Hell to pay.
Is FedEx in violation of FCC rules here, and if so, what can be done about it?
Edward Toner LCDR USN Ret. 481B Jason Place Brick NJ 08724 732-840-4203 [email]captained@comcast.net[/email]."
2004-02-10 01:22 | User Profile
Ed, your letter was well-intended but unfortunately, about 99.5% of the rest of the country would respond to your letter by saying "Lighten up; it's 2004. And what's with the 'small frail Negro woman' bit?"
With that aside, I myself cannot stand television today, especially how White men are portrayed as dumb/clueless, while their female counterparts are superior to them in every way. In a few recent commercials I spotted, a woman is showing her husband directions to some anonymous place by giving him a map and also directing him. In another one, some clueless man is doing something obviously wrong, and the woman "corrects" without saying a word, and behaving in a type of mannerism that reads: "this is how you do it, you a**hole". Of course, nobody says anything about it. I think to the majority of the public, this type of advertising is sort of a visual version of "just desserts", in the manner of "the White man oppressed the black man for 400 years; now it's the White man's turn to be oppressed", only this time it's sex-centered. Either way, it's advertising that unfortunately works and in reality, it reflects the White Male of 2004, emasculated and feminized.
2004-02-10 02:10 | User Profile
"Either way, it's advertising that unfortunately works and in reality, it reflects the White Male of 2004, emasculated and feminized."
I think this trend in advertising (I hardly need to restate it; even a blind man could have noticed it) works so well as anti-male propaganda (and, to a lesser extent, anti-White propaganda; I even saw a commercial just last night, I forget for what product, that showed a healthy-looking, young White couple in some sort of romantic embrace, while some Jewish-looking character sneered onward, as if to say, "Isn't love corny? Doesn't it just make you want to puke? Its SO much better to be a cynical, smart-alecky, greaseball jerk, which is why such people are invariably your leaders" - OKay, so I'm reading more into it than was probably intended - but we WNs ARE a wee bit more sensitive to such messages than the general public; we have to be) precisely because (within the anti-male context), it contains a grain of truth. After all, women ARE (or so it seems to me) a little more adept than men when it comes to certain things (understanding human psychology and decoding social mores and cues spring immediately to mind as solid examples of this). We've all seen (and most of us, been) the man who benefits from his woman telling when not to ask a given question or whatnot. The problem is that A) our advertising never shows men correcting women who are ignorant on some subject where men are characteristically more adept and B) frequently portrays women as superior in precisely the sort of fields (such as reading maps and the mastery of home electronics devices) where men tend to dominate. But because most men are generous enough to admit that women really ARE better at some things, it perhaps seems small-minded to point out that these commercials, which constantly portray men as idiotic, incompetent buffoons, are neither accurate nor fair. Thus little tends to get said. Meanwhile, an entire generation has its brain and spirit contaminated with this intentionally subversive, filth-ridden propaganda. Its time for White men to start getting angry in the face of these defamations constantly launched against us. It wouldn't be tolerated against any other genetically-based group.
2004-02-10 03:02 | User Profile
I agree with your comments but I often wonder if men would really understand what is going on. The only recent incident that I can recall where a man took a stand on something sex-oriented was when Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson defended Augusta's all-male policy last year in the wake of Martha Burk's tirades and LPGA golfer Annika Sorenstam's publicity stunt.
I can understand if a commercial was to show that a woman is more adept at, say, being in the kitchen and cooking up a storm or price/product comparisons, but the point is that these commercials are spitting at gender's face. That the natural distinctions of masculinity and femininity are outdated and are only relevant in 2004 America when females utilize them.
2004-02-10 06:33 | User Profile
I was watching a dodge ram commercial in which some idiot brags to his buddy that he dictated to his wife that he was going to buy a 'man's truck' while his wife reveals to her friends that the decision was pretty much hers. The commercial ends with the idiot lighting himself on fire to underscore his utter buffoonery to audiences too mentally numb to read in between the lines.
As I watched this I realized something; corporate monkeys want us to believe we are all devoid of any nobility or dignity, without any redeeming cultural values. Thus the only way we can differentiate ourselves is to buy their products. If corporate America can deny the existence of absolute values like chivalry, nobility, virtue then it can convince us that the only meaning in life is to revel in the worthless crap they have to sell nowdays.
I think whites and males are targetted more often for two reasons. First, whites and males have more disposable income, so making them feel insecure yeilds a higher payoff. The second reason is simply that traditional western culture still clings to the notions of virtue. The advertising industry doesn't need to attack black cultural values and seduce them into materialism; because of their cultural background, corporate America already has them where it wants them.
It's easy to see if you look for it. Commercial are designed to berate any kind of notion of meaningful manliness or virtue. People are all just a bunch of silly animals whos lives are given meaning by posessions. Its pretty well documented that commercials sell by making audiences feel insecure. It's simply a matter of connecting the dots to see that white males are a regular target of ridicule.
-Llen
2004-02-10 23:01 | User Profile
Thank you for the post, Llen. You made some excellent points!
2004-02-11 13:08 | User Profile
"I think whites and males are targetted more often for two reasons. First, whites and males have more disposable income, so making them feel insecure yeilds a higher payoff."
I don't thinks so. Why piss off your best potential customers, the white man?
2004-02-11 13:25 | User Profile
There is another FedEx commercial that uses the same bumbling idiot white man-sensible negro woman theme. This version has the fat, shirtless man complaining that his package arrived at 7 o'clock just as he requested. He is bent out of shape because he expected it to be late, and was involved in some typically feminine activity when his package arrived on time, thus causing embarrassment. The voice of reason, of course, is a negro woman.
Just thought I would add some fuel to the fire. ;-)
Dan
2004-02-11 17:04 | User Profile
How much are your views of race and sex affected by television shows and commercials? Probably a little. For people who are less aware than WNs, it has got to be having a major impact.
2004-02-11 19:44 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ed Toner] I don't thinks so. Why piss off your best potential customers, the white man?[/QUOTE]
Ed, you may be right, I don't know. But your question is more than rhetorical. Why is the advertising industry risking pissing off it's potentially best customers? There must be an explanation for this destructive trend because the simple fact is that the industry is indeed taking the risk of pissing off its best potential customers.
I realize there are a lot of khazars in hollywood casting blond, blue-eyed actors as villians, but I don't have enough info on the advertising industry to know if its dominated by the same consciously anti-white agenda as hollywood. So I have to explain it as an unconscious result of short term greed.
There are many examples of how advertising sells by making people feel worse about themselves. The peanut butter commercial that says, "choosy moms choose brand X" for example, basically prompts mothers to question whether they are truly good mothers. Why wouldn't the advertising industry use race as a way to undermine the pride of its customers? Proud nationalists don't make good consumers.
Anyways, thanks for the post, at least it's led to some interesting discusion. I am sure that my explanations don't fully justify the anti-white bias in commercials but I still think its a start.
2004-02-11 22:41 | User Profile
Who runs the advertising industry in America?
2004-02-11 22:47 | User Profile
She broke down and cried when she failed to make the cut!
2004-02-12 02:22 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ed Toner]"I think whites and males are targetted more often for two reasons. First, whites and males have more disposable income, so making them feel insecure yeilds a higher payoff."
I don't thinks so. Why piss off your best potential customers, the white man?[/QUOTE]
I think that it is because whites, including white males, are going to be a minority because of low birthrates and that today's minorities will be the big spenders of tomorrow. As for the reasons for appealing to white females, well you need good stock to improve the new breed of consumers and hopefully to take off the bad traits that these groups have.
2004-02-12 02:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Robbie]Ed, your letter was well-intended but unfortunately, about 99.5% of the rest of the country would respond to your letter by saying "Lighten up; it's 2004. And what's with the 'small frail Negro woman' bit?"
With that aside, I myself cannot stand television today, especially how White men are portrayed as dumb/clueless, while their female counterparts are superior to them in every way. In a few recent commercials I spotted, a woman is showing her husband directions to some anonymous place by giving him a map and also directing him. In another one, some clueless man is doing something obviously wrong, and the woman "corrects" without saying a word, and behaving in a type of mannerism that reads: "this is how you do it, you a**hole". Of course, nobody says anything about it. I think to the majority of the public, this type of advertising is sort of a visual version of "just desserts", in the manner of "the White man oppressed the black man for 400 years; now it's the White man's turn to be oppressed", only this time it's sex-centered. Either way, it's advertising that unfortunately works and in reality, it reflects the White Male of 2004, emasculated and feminized.[/QUOTE]
I have noticed that also and was remaking this fact to my husband the other day. I think that this is a cultural assault and that companies do not care because they are part of the global establishment who wants to destroy American infrastricture. But the dumb/clueless man is nothing new, and when offered occasionally, very funny. Remember "the Honeymooners" and, of course, "The Three Stooges"? Both shows were highly rated and the Stooges' audience is mainly white males.
2004-02-12 02:33 | User Profile
Somehow I doubt the diminishing number of whites and big colored spenders are compatible.
White males' wallet is a property of their wives. Hence they target females to make them spend their husbands' money. It's not up to the "dumb" white males to decide how the money should be spend. Earn and try to be as "cool" as a "smart" negro by buying more stuff, and try keeping your wife by giving her enough money, or else a "cool" negro is going to steal her attention.
White males -- so useless that only by earning more and spending they can keep their white wifes and be a little cool.