Going off of the comments about Kenneth Clark's doll experiments and the impact the results had on all of us, I thought I might add some more thought-provoking material to the discussion. This American Life featured a story a little while back that is incredibly interesting:
Elna Baker reads her story about the time she worked at the giant toy story, FAO Schwartz. Her job was to sell these lifelike "newborns" which were displayed in a "nursery" inside the store. When the toys become the hot new present, they begin to fly off the shelves. When the white babies sell out, white parents are faced with a choice: will they go for an Asian, Latino, or African-American baby instead? What happens is so disturbing that Elna has a hard time even telling it.
The story is only 16 minutes long and completely fascinating. A quote from the author: "What it meant was just too depressing... I still didn't want to face what it said if a factory reject monster baby was adopted before a whole nursery of perfectly cute black babies."
Here is the link. It is the last story on the show so if you let it load all the way and then click to 40 minutes in you'll be queued up perfectly. In case that link doesn't work for you for some reason you can try this one.
I am curious to see your opinions and thoughts.
Wow. This was pretty amusing and sad at the same time. While it was told like a story, the "idea" behind it was pretty grim.
ReplyDeleteAll the white babies sell out...then the asians slowly sell, then the latino babies....and then the black babies are left. But instead of picking a black baby, a mother quickly chooses the store sample white baby which has deformed doll hands etc.. Basically, a monster baby. What the heck is wrong with our society?
What happened to variety and the spice of life? Instead moms want dolls that are stereotypical.
Unbelievable.
I agree with you Stef...I thought that that clip was unreal. I was in disbelief for pretty much the whole thing and had no idea that there were so many people in the world that were like that. I don't know why, or how that could happen, but its scary to think that so many people are "racist" to some extent. The most intriguing part about it is sitting back and thinking what I would do in that situation and I can honestly say that I don't know unless I was put into it. Scary, especially because I was raised completely non-biased and was discouraged from racial profiling, prejudice, and racist...
ReplyDeleteI love that story - how interesting.
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