Like I said, in a private space between friends and family, we can understand the context of jokes, but for a business or for a public setting like a theme park aimed to children, it makes perfect sense to remove offensive references rather than hoping people get it. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
I understand and agree with your point.
I still disagree. It's why standup comedy was one of the last areas where people could say things that in other formats would be disavowed... People can take in context and intent if they want to. And in formats like art or theme parks... you can actually explain things with people instead of acting like its presence alone is going to cause the rot of civilizaiton.
I find the lack of comprehension or dialog on topics far more destructive. The lack of knowledge, not the mocking of someone, is what causes harm.
I understand where your point is coming from.
I will be 53 at the end of this month. When I was a kid, the societal consciousness did not see red “Indians” as offensive. In fact, native Americans were still often portrayed as “enemies.” Hey kids, play cowboys & Indians where you pretend to shoot each other. That was the norm. That was the lore.
Walt did not set out to make racist or racially insensitive films. That’s just how it was. Native Americans did not have enough of a voice yet to have their objections heard, much like with sports mascots. Also, they are not a monolith - some apparently either don’t mind, or not enough to bring it up.
I could be offended by mob caricatures of Italians. Some Italian Americans are. I’m not particularly worried about it as I’ve seen it portrayed so far.
What I’d like to get across to younger folks is while you can intellectually learn new things, when you’ve grown up in 20+ years of what’s “acceptable” or not, and that shifts, it’s not easy to completely erase the way you were brought up.
There are gay people who have internalized homophobia because of what they were taught growing up, even though they know, intellectually, it’s nonsense. So we can see it goes beyond flipping a switch sometimes.
The European ethnicities used to make fun of each other in a more familial or good natured (but still stereotypical) way, but it was more biting against black, Hispanic, and Native Americans. Let’s be real about that.
We grew up navigating all that. Stereotypes were the default, not the exception. We referred to people as black, red, and yellow (and much worse.) The n-word was still on TV (and cable didn’t exist yet.)
You can understand something without condoning it, and while acknowledging it’s no longer socially acceptable - for valid reasons.
