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The Plan: Neutralize, Frustrate
The “news” story is here. The lead sentence: “The photo which was used for ‘Southern Charm’ week sparked outrage from viewers.” [emphasis mine]
The article states a person they identify as Joshua Itiola Tweeted, “Someone please tell me why @WheelofFortune has slaves in their ‘Southern Charm Week’ images?”
Regarding the backdrop photo used, the following information is given:
The image was taken by producers in 2005 during an on-location shoot at the Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, La. A spokesperson for the Oak Alley Plantation said that they do not hire people to portray slaves but do employ tour guides of all skin colors that wear period clothing.
So why did Wheel of Fortune respond as follows:
“We regret the use of this background image, and we will be replacing it moving forward on any rebroadcast,” Harry Friedman said in a statement to the New York Daily News.
Why? When will we learn? “Wheel of Fortune” producers should have ignored the one known person that is allegedly “outraged” or simply responded, “The backdrop photo reflects period clothing worn by actors and does not depict any actual event/persons. It is unfortunate the viewer has misunderstood the photo used in the backdrop but we are happy to have been given the opportunity to correct the misunderstanding. Thank you.”
…Or anything similar. And then, if the producers had truly wanted to do so, they could have silently changed the backdrop in any future reruns, or even decided to not rebroadcast that week’s episodes.
Why give any credence to the incorrect projections of an apparent racist regarding the photo’s depiction? (Or maybe the fella was just bored that day and decided to do a little trolling. Who knows?) But why would “Wheel of Fortune” producers regret anything? They did nothing to regret.
When will folks learn to use their brains to neutralize, frustrate, discourage the nonsense instead of encouraging more nonsense? Continuing capitulation to the fantasy visions of the Progressives continues to confound me.
Published in General
I’m just speculating here, but I’m guessing it’s because they’re running a business and it’s all about total lifetime value of the customer when it comes to advertisers and viewers. They might have decided, not unreasonably, it’s just better say “D’oh! Our bad. We’re going with another picture.” than getting involved in an ugly cultural/political battle.
We live in a culture where to be a victim is to be seen as virtuous. To be a victim makes one a hero. Need an example? The Navy just named a ship after Gabriel Giffords for the heroic act of surviving a shooting. Everyone wants to get into this game, from the lowliest bum to President to the most highly celebrated actresses. In a culture like that, you’ve got to find your victimhood where you can, even if it’s period clothing in a photo portraying a period in history.
You know what this leads to? This leads to any positive portrayal of the South as socially unacceptable… Oh, wait…
“Wheel of Fortune” is produced by Sony. As a Japanese company, they generally try to steer clear of anything that would entangle them in US racial or ethnic disputes (though they are also known, like other Japanese companies, to be blind to possible problems). The picture sounds like it wasn’t the smartest choice to have made regarding southern charm. “Wheel” (and Pat) is not obliged to turn a lousy choice of backdrop into a defense of the Confederacy.
This makes my blood boil because if they hadn’t shown any people of color, it would’ve been “You show only white people, you racists.” You cannot win with liberals because they search under every rock for a reason to feel irate and put-upon. If you look hard enough, you can always find something.
Yep, nailed it.
Indeed, I’m really tired of all the “white=bad” propaganda.
There is no need for Wheel to think they need to defend the Confederacy in order to defend their photo; that is exactly the sort of projection that we expect from the Left. The old plantations make interesting and informative tours and would be an enjoyable stop on any vacation tour. The old houses (the ones the Yankees didn’t burn) are charming. The docents, both white and black, are charming. The choice is fitting for a “Southern Charm” theme, and could be easily defended on that basis.
But the Grievance Mongers have made the topic of race so toxic in America that Wheel was right to abjectly apologize and shred any evidence that the photo ever existed. It would detract and distract and provide the potential for some goofy anti-Wheel campaign by some worthless scum who wanted to make a name for himself.
@patsajak
And they took jobs (or volunteering opportunities, as the case may be) away from black people.
@patsajak
You are very popular among the members of Ricochet. We like Wheel and we appreciate your contributions here, and we wish to see more of you in the comments.
But it occurs to me that there is no possible good outcome for you if you engage on this thread, especially if it makes its way to the main feed. It would be best for you to simply watch this one.
Not if you go to the Abbeville Institute. Learn real history, Southern culture, and see the South beyond the racial aspect of things.
Agreed that there’s tremendous prejudice against the South. Plus there’s no evidence whatsoever that “Wheel” did this with racist intent. That should be the end of any case against Sony. But why get so vehement about it? They could have picked from thousands of pictures–hell, Mike La Roche has some outstanding photographic reasons why people love the South–so what did “Wheel” pick? The Crimson Tide? The homes of Charlotte or Savannah? NASCAR?
A picture of mid-19th century costumes + plantations + Blacks. Sorry, Southron friends, but without captions or explanations the first thought that comes to mind for most people is going to be “the time of slavery”. Not just most SJWs, most people–whites, Blacks, Eskimos. Is that so hard to believe? You really don’t think the Atlanta or the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t have come up with a better historical picture from the view of today’s South?
Which, of course, proves only that non-Southrons believe the worst of the South.
Gary, I really don’t think this is quite true for “most” people. I, for one, did not see in the picture what you saw. I saw a beautiful picture, I thought of Savannah. Black, White, Slavery, SJWs, none of that even entered my mind. Although I’ve lived in the south for the last 40 years, just for the record, I was born and spent my youth in the northeast.
I can see Gary’s point, but I also think that the fact that a conservative would see the picture that way means that the left has succeeded thoroughly in certain areas. Nobody would have seen anything wrong until about 1990. We’re letting them win.
I don’t know if it was the smartest choice or a lousy choice — or just a beautiful picture choice. Whichever it was, I see no negative intent or impact. I really thought the picture was pretty, I like it, it was charming; apparently Mr. Itiola saw something else. So what? Should they put the backdrop back just because I liked the picture. Is Mr. Itiola’s opinion more valuable than mine?
Perhaps I did not express my opinion clearly in the OP — but we have one person that is reported to have tweeted a question about the picture, and a news publication reporting it sparked a wide-ranging debate; that’s it, no details. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the fire? I doubt there was any.
Even if there was, why didn’t the Producers just respond with the truth: “The backdrop photo shows mid-century period costumes worn by actors and does not depict any actual event/persons. It is unfortunate the viewer has misunderstood the photo used in the backdrop but we are happy to have been given the opportunity to correct the misunderstanding. Thank you.”
Why can’t we just neutralize the false narratives with the truth? Why can’t we just frustrate the those seeking to peddle discord and division by refusing to yield to false claims of victimhood? The owner of the property was quite clear the picture did not depict people being held in slavery. Why isn’t the truth enough?
I knew, to my great regret, that I’d probably annoy RightAngles, but I had no reason to hope that she’d be so gracious to me about it! Look, I didn’t “hate” the picture, or any picture like it. I’ve gone to see “Gone With The Wind” in theaters more often than most of you have seen “Star Wars”. I think that Southerners generally get the rawest of raw deals in the media. Suppose we had the nonexistent conservative show on PBS, and we zoomed out slowly, Ken Burns style, on the picture.
“It’s not as black and white as you think. No, you can’t tell the real story of the South without a complete picture. In “Roll Jordan, Roll, The World the Slaves Made”, we learn about Black craftsmen, laborers, weavers and builders. There was pride in a time we can hardly imagine today, in a greatly changed America. Take a look here: this isn’t a time of slavery, but painted in 1881. These Blacks are free. The harmony in the picture is real, but so are cross-currents of disharmony. There would be displaced whites and unsatisfied black hopes all over the country, not just the South. But here, and only here, the races may have lived separately, but they lived side by side all of their lives in a way most Northerners would never experience or appreciate”.
Well, gang? Could you live with a description like that? Truthfully, if PBS ever talked like that, would we feel about them the way we do? Righty? PW MJ?
The problem here is this was just meant as a neutral, controversy-free backdrop for a TV game show. There was no need for SJWs to turn it into “Game Show Promotes Hate”, and there’s no need for us to see a PR duck-out as “Game Show Is Sniveling Coward”.
I hear you Gary ( I think). I did not intend to suggest the game show producers are sniveling cowards; I think their their decision was actually more about money.
What am attempting to express is that I think when there is a false accusation/or “stories”, such as in this situation, the correct response should be to just respond with the truth. I think by yielding to the false accusation we give it legitimacy and encourage people to create greater false narratives — if only for the glory of being in the news.
I realize this is an OP about a minor, insignificant event to some. But I think it reveals a big problem and explains why the conservative side seems to be losing the culture
wardebate; we abdicate. Even when the impact of a particular false story seems small and insignificant; we need to realize it isn’t. We need to reveal, speak up with facts and the truth — always. We need to stop bending over, moderating our conduct, our words, our viewpoint just because it is easy, convenient, less time consuming and or less confrontational to do so. I am not suggesting we should be rude or disparage people just because their ideas are different.As a person from a southern family who now lives here, the whole thing makes me sad. And mad. BUT I have to admit that Gary has a point. I have to admit that, in view of the current climate in the country, I’m kind of surprised that nobody said it might not be a good idea. Having said that, I’m glad they tried it anyway, just to show them that somebody is still trying. The reaction was very predictable though.
I looked at that guy’s Twitter, sure that he’d be another white SJW feeling the pain of others. But he’s a black guy. I just wonder if the black guys in the photo might be saying, “Dang, we were on TV and now they took us off.”
Haha! Sure, like you could annoy me.
They probably should have shutdown the game show just to be sure nobody is offended.
I suppose you could make the point that Wheel of Fortune discriminates against the illiterate.
C_LT_RAL OPP_ESS_ON
Readers can see the picture here.
In the weirdness that suppression always becomes, not ever showing slaves in art and pictures robs those slaves of their dignity and grace under difficult circumstances. The psychological damage of slavery was the humiliation (see Man’s Search for Meaning :) ). It makes us uncomfortable so we don’t want to look at it. It is so typical of the tyrannical left to harm people more than help them.
How about about we reserve a little scorn for Fox News Entertainment for burying the real lede. I’d suggest a better story title: “Twit on Twitter Mistakes Tour Guides for Slaves, Embarrasses Self with Faux Outrage.”
The article says the picture “sparked outrage from viewers.” As near as I can tell, it was that one guy on Twitter. So, “sparked outrage from viewer,” and one loud guy gets to affect the rest of us.
This is a sad indication. @garymcvey is right that two African American women in period costume flanking the central portico of a plantation house is going to make a lot of people think slaves. I wondered, if they were slaves, why did they have on hoop skirts? So, the rest of the country thinks we are racists, what else is new?
If you wanted to see a real dustup, go ahead and show the University of Alabama as the central symbol of the South – that would have launched an internecine bloodbath. The Auburn people would howl, and the Clemson people would be talking about also rans.
And one loud guy who didn’t know what he was talking about. Essentially, he’s against hiring African-Americans as tour guides if they wear period outfits.
Amen.
Tired of seeing people forced to apologize because Twitter Twits are so easily offended and/or stupid.