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.

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  1. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Jude (View Comment):
    I wondered, if they were slaves, why did they have on hoop skirts?

    Nice to know I’m not the only one who looked at the picture and thought something along the lines of: Slaves wouldn’t have dressed that fancy/nicely. Whatever time period they’re trying to depict must be sometime after the Civil War.

    Of course, as it turns out, they weren’t trying to depict a specific time at all. They were simply hiring qualified people -the color of their skin deemed irrelevant – to walk around in period costumes. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t by some people.

    • #31
  2. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Every time someone bows to these Twitter Twits, it encourages them that they were right to complain, and that their outrage was justified. Want the culture cops to stop policing everything? Step one: Stop apologizing for everything.

    • #32
  3. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):
    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.

    I stand corrected.  Not only should Wheel of Fortune be shutdown but also the business that enslaves these folk.  Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, LA needs to be closed and burned to the ground.  Wonder if we can set up a petition and Facebook campaign and get it done?  I bet we can.  Just need to connect up with the confederate monument destruction groups.  They would probably get off on the exposure.  Being that this initiative is coming off of Ricochet a conservative web site we could probably get some bipartisan support for it.  Who wants to handle the twitter buzz?

    • #33
  4. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    MarciN (View Comment):
    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.

    I was thinking something quite like this, MarciN: that, as usual, the targeting of the supposed enemy (white, Southern, Republican, Christian, etc.) harms  young black Americans, who desperately need to have a more nuanced vision of the past than “they oppressed us.” The victimology is irritating and insulating for those who, it is claimed,  fit into the category of “them” but it’s genuinely disempowering for the “us.” Black Americans have been an integral (as in “integrate”) part of this country from the beginning, and for all the racism and unconscionable cruelty, there would be no such thing as a black American had it not been for the impossibility of ignoring the obvious reality—that black people are human beings, with whom all manner of relationships will develop.  Do we really imagine that, say, Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chef did not take pride in his excellence? Wasn’t excited to be sent to France to develop his skills? Didn’t have interesting discussions with Jefferson about dinner parties?

    • #34
  5. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Kate Braestrup (View Comment):
    Black Americans have been an integral (as in “integrate”) part of this country from the beginning, and for all the racism and unconscionable cruelty, there would be no such thing as a black American had it not been for the impossibility of ignoring the obvious reality—that black people are human beings, with whom all manner of relationships will develop. Do we really imagine that, say, Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chef did not take pride in his excellence? Wasn’t excited to be sent to France to develop his skills? Didn’t have interesting discussions with Jefferson about dinner parties?

    Back in January 2016, a children’s picture book (A Birthday Cake for George Washington) got pulled for pretty much that exact reason. It was published on Jan. 5th, and the publisher pulled it from the market on Jan. 17th. Why did it come under such heavy criticism? In part because it depicted “smiling, happy slaves” which might “give children the wrong impression about what slavery was actually like.”

    My thoughts? (I know. No one asked. I’m going to give them anyway.) If that was the only book in existence that touched on the subject of slavery, the critics might have had a point. But it isn’t. If that particular book would have left a false impression about what slavery was like, there are plenty of others to be found that could correct it. All the critics succeeded in doing was squashing a picture book about an African American man who, despite his slave status, was a respected and important part of George Washington’s life. If anything, his story should be told and celebrated as an inspiring example of success despite less than stellar circumstances, not kept quiet because the man might have smiled while he cooked.

    If anyone’s interested, you can read more about the controversy surrounding the book here: Amid Controversy, Scholastic Pulls Picture Book About Washington’s Slave.

    • #35
  6. PW Member
    PW
    @TempTime

    @weeping, Thank you for your thoughts, the story and the links.  Your story provides more evidence that to yield and remain silent about false narratives and continuing to abdicate to false claims/complaints is, in effect, supporting the false narrative that ultimately dismisses and demeans all of us; thusly we become accomplices in the degradation of our culture, history, and the heritage of all our citizens.   I think we should stop doing this.

    .

    • #36
  7. profdlp Inactive
    profdlp
    @profdlp

    I can understand the BLM types being confused.  They’re not used to seeing black people doing something useful.

    • #37
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