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Imagine being so fucked in the head you think the aunt Jemima bottle is a problem. I want all the martial arts movies burned because they perpetuate a stereotype that Asians know karate
please don’t give them ideas
As long as we’re on this moral purity kick, I want Deliverance burned. Its depiction of Georgia offends me.
Oh thank god, I could never drink syrup knowing aunt jemima was the root of racism in America.
Why not just modify her and/or change the name instead of removing her entirely
That sounds a lot better tbh
Make aunt jemima white! That will solve all the problems, right? Right?
We had the war to end all wars.
Now we have the racism to and all racisms.
What worries me is that the war got a bigger and badder sequel.
God, this sounds like an Onion article, it’s actually breaking my mind to acknowledge it as real.
Take 2/1d10 sanity damage.
I now know how this guy felt.
Cthulhu better raise from R’lyeh fast or humanity will surpass him in inflicting insanity…
You know, considering how this will mean a huge hit in name recognition for Ms Butterworth (also on the chopping block for… no known reason), Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Jemima, how long before these companies bring the names back simply because people will not buy their brands anymore without recognition value?
Literally who saw an image of A.J. and thought that’s what black people are normally like? Is chef Boyardee going to be removed next? Mario? The Lucky Charms Leprechaun?
Would you refer to your best friend as “the redhead” or “Kristen”? Is your favorite teacher “the teacher” or “Mr. Small”? An epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase used to refer to a person. Referring to a character by a trait or their title is called an “amateur mistake” when used incorrectly, but “good perspective writing” when used well. What makes title of epithet a mistake is when it creates a sense of distance that doesn’t make sense given the narrator’s perspective.
These three sentences are written using different methods of reference, and the method is very telling of how the narrator perceives things.
The doctor waved to the nurse as she passed him in the hallway.
This reads as very impersonal, like the narrator doesn’t know either of these characters. This is the kind of sentence I’d expect from a narrator who just met those two people, or never met them and is just observing some hospital interaction.
Dr. Martinez waved to Nurse Merther as she passed him in the hallway.
Now the narrator is familiar with these characters, just not close enough to use a first name. Maybe they don’t know it, maybe they prefer to be professional with medical personnel, or perhaps they’re a colleague who doesn’t choose to socialize with either of those people.
Angela waved to David as she passed him in the hallway.
The narrator clearly knows these two people well enough to drop any formality at all. Perhaps the narrator is a close friend, a social colleague, or just a rude patient who somehow figured out all the names of the hospital staff.
The point is, the method of reference can show perspective and creates distance when used incorrectly. A narrator familiar with a character almost always uses the character’s name unless the situation is one where there is a power difference or there’s a good reason for it. You don’t think of your best friend as “the (hair color)” and wouldn’t refer to them like that, so you narrator isn’t going to do that to their best friend either. If they do, it often sounds odd and distances the reader.
Now, the line does get fuzzy when a narrator is omniscient 3rd person, but that still ties into the idea of perspective. How the narrator refers to someone shows what they think of the person. This can be used to show growing familiarity: perhaps “the doctor” becomes “Dr. Martinez” after a nice conversation, then becomes “Angela” when the narrator really gets to know her.
“Show, don’t tell” is often used to describe character action, but it applies just as much to perceptive. Instead of narrating how much someone likes their doctor, perhaps opt to use a less formal character reference in scenes. Consistent perspective is the mark of good writing and often a good story. Some writers use epithets or titles to avoid repetition in their writing, but it’s an incorrect use of impersonal character reference. Swapping out ways to refer to characters because you think your writing is repetitive has two outcomes:
The writing is fine and the pronoun/name use is a non-issue.
The writing is repetitive, and in that case you’re only creating a different problem by swapping pronouns and names for something else. The solution is to work on the repetitiveness of the writing rather than trying to patch it up with nicknames or other ways to refer to people. That “solution” is only creating an additional problem because the underlying writing is still repetitive and now your narrator suddenly seems to have forgotten their friend’s name.
Unnecessary use of titles, epithets, and monikers are a telltale sign of a novice writer. They don’t exist to “spice up” writing or fix an issue of repetitiveness– they’re for showing the reader how the narrator thinks of the character, the level of respect, and personal distance via word choice. Much like many aspects of improving at writing, learning why something is an issue is key to becoming more effective at the craft.
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Gaslighting seems way too common in political discussions now, especially in social justice topics. It’s really distressing and needs to stop.
Yeah please stop pressuring people to talk about politics if they’re explicitly not comfortable with politics.
And stop calling it a “privilege” to not want to talk about it.
Especially if you try to talk about your own systemic issues and another group goes, “No, you’re privileged because my group faces worse problems than you. Keep your mouth shut, we’re talking.”
