Free Republic

This excellent article from The American Thinker is a discussion of the merits of criticisms leveled by the Left at the Disney movie from the Sixties Song Of The South. "In celebrating Black history month this year, I thought it would be fitting to finally recognize a triumph of African American literature that has, ironically, been falsely accused of racism. That achievement is embodied in a 1946 Walt Disney movie entitled Song of the South. I assume many of you have not seen the film because Disney has succumbed to the accusations of racism by refusing to re-release it in...

It is unbecoming of an adult to speak publicly about Disney theme parks, but I lament the demise of Splash Mountain. The log flume coaster, which featured characters from the controversial 1946 film Song of the South, was one of the most popular features of Disney's American parks, and revitalized a previously quiet corner of Disneyland. Yesterday, on its final day, a massive crowd stood shoulder to shoulder outside the attraction, waiting one last time to descend into its famous briar pit.

Here is the political question of the morning: When is the term “tar baby” not a racial slur? Answer: When a liberal Democrat uses it. If you’re a Republican and those two words pass your lips, stand by for a barrage, no matter what the context. Just ask Sen. John McCain or ex-Gov. Mitt Romney or late White House spokesman Tony Snow. Over the last couple of years, they’ve all had to issue groveling apologies for mentioning the old Uncle Remus character. But that didn’t stop “outraged community leaders” from tearing into them as arrogant and out-of-touch.

While tar baby can be used as a racist attack on black people, it isn't used that way in any of these examples. John Kerry used it in the same manner as John McCain and Mitt Romney. I, for the first time, find myself coming to the defense of John Kerry. He isn't racist because of what he said here (but he is still an elitist windbag.) The fact is this: You are being played, and those playing you for a fool rely on your ignorance. Pick up a copy of "The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus" by Joel Chandler...

ORLANDO, Fla. - Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film "Song of the South" was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs _ the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." It also carries the story line of the Splash Mountain rides at its theme parks. But the movie remains hidden in the Disney archives _ never released on video in the United States and criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. The film's 60th anniversary passed last year without a whisper of official rerelease, which is unusual for Disney, but President and CEO...

'Song of the South' pits art vs. cultural sensitivity http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=136791&pubDate=3/31/2007 http://tinyurl.com/2w5vty BY RON MENCHACA The Post and Courier Talk of a possible re-release of the 1946 Walt Disney film 'Song of the South,' which is criticized for its plantation-era depictions of blacks as the happy servants of wealthy whites, already is sparking a debate. The film was reshown in theaters as recently as 1986, but it never was released on video in the United States. Its cultural and cinematic significance have been the subject of scholarly debate for decades, and bootlegged copies of the film are popular on the black...

Where Have You Gone, Uncle Remus?November 19th, 2006 November 12th, 2006 marked the 60th anniversary of the movie Song of the South.  Perhaps this cultural milestone did not capture your attention. Perhaps you don’t even remember celebrating the 50th anniversary. There is a reason for that, and it is not your faulty memory. Disney goes to great lengths to hype every one of its Classic Movies “for a limited time, only” complete with memorabilia and trinkets and googaws and suchlike. But there has been none of that commercial celebratin’ for Song of the South. It is in limbo, or...

Those who have recently been decrying a "racist use" of the image of the Tar Baby might benefit from knowing more about the allusion and its origins. Tony Snow, now the White House press secretary, certainly found himself in the proverbial Brier Patch when he used the image to describe his predicament when facing his first meeting with the Washington press corps. The infamous Tar Baby originated as a figure in a grand scheme detailed in an African-American Brer Rabbit slave tale. These stories, in which the sly rabbit always manages to outwit those who are stronger and more powerful...

A classic "Bloom County" cartoon of the 1980s has Opus the penguin sitting on a park bench watching a host of people pointing out things about each other that they find offensive, till they all realize, "Life is offensive!" At which point they all run off screaming in horror. Opus sums up the spectacle thus: "Offensensibility." Offensensibility is something afflicting many in our society, and it's an especially volatile combination with cultural illiteracy. Just ask new White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. His first outing went well by many accounts; however, one thing he said set off the easily tripped...

I know that it's been a really rough winter so far. But who would have thought that Hell was gonna to freeze over? "What do I mean by that?," you ask. Well, I just got word that Buena Vista Home Entertainment will be releasing "Song of the South" on DVD in the Fall of 2006. That's right. "Song of the South." The Academy Award winning film that former Disney Feature Animation head Thomas Schumacher once told Roger Ebert was on "permanent moratorium" has reportedly been greenlit for release late next year. A special 60th anniversary edition that -- thanks to...

CHICAGO - (KRT) - Lawyers seeking reparations for African-American descendants of slaves say they have located a 104-year-old man in rural Louisiana who says that he and his children were enslaved throughout much of the 20th Century and even during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The lawyers say the discovery could give their lawsuit critical, firsthand evidence of slavery in America, but a federal judge in Chicago rebuffed their request on Monday for immediate approval to take a deposition from the man to ensure his account doesn't die with him.

Now when I think of the Middle East, I recall the Uncle Remus story of the tar-baby. Brer Rabbit learned a lesson from it. The thing about the tar-baby was, if you whacked it, it stuck to you. And as you pushed against it to get free, you just got more stuck. The Middle East has always been a kind of tar-baby for whoever invaded it. There are historians who suggest that the fall of the Roman Empire was hastened by its many efforts to subdue the Jews of Israel. There was the famous siege of Masada and then, after...