WTF?

Richard Hershberger

Richard Hershberger is a paralegal working in Maryland. When he isn't doing whatever it is that paralegals do, or taking his daughters to Girl Scouts, he is dedicated to the collection and analysis of useless and unremunerative information.

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9 Responses

  1. Kolohe says:

    Fm Wikipedia, the Clipper would eventually be incorporated into Variety. Is it just about the makeup effects used for blackface?Report

    • Richard Hershberger in reply to Kolohe says:

      The Clipper covered both sports and “amusements” (theater, vaudeville, circuses, etc.) The combination was not uncommon in those days. Another similar paper, the New York Sunday Mercury, after two iterations ended up merging with the Daily Racing Form. In the case of the Clipper, it moved away from sports in the 1890s and concentrated on theater (and, interestingly, film; it is a major source for the study of very early film). Hence its merging into Variety.

      So as a matter of is blackface topical to the publication, it absolutely is. But this doesn’t look like that.Report

    • Vikram Bath in reply to Kolohe says:

      Given…well, everything, I want this quote to be meaningful and be about something more than just makeup. But Kolohe’s explanation seems the most plausible to me.Report

  2. LeeEsq says:

    I have no idea of this talking about an actual physical change or just passing in a really oblique manner. This should just be seen as dumb stuff some people in past generations believed because reasons.Report

  3. DensityDuck says:

    Seems like the 19th-century equivalent of “you can’t get pregnant unless you enjoyed it”.Report

  4. Doctor Jay says:

    While this is likely to be, as @densityduck says above, “the 19th-century equivalent of ‘you can’t get pregnant unless you enjoyed it'”, there’s something about it that touches me in quite another way.

    Something having to do with Rachel Dolezal. Something having to do with Anatole Broyard.

    Here’s some more.

    Race is a social construct.Report

    • Damon in reply to Doctor Jay says:

      “Race is ‘partial’ a social construct.” Fixed that for ya, ‘case there do seem to be difference not solely attributable that construct.Report

      • Kim in reply to Damon says:

        But there are so many other ways we could divide people into groups.
        More logical, certainly, than by “color and facial features”!
        (Try dividing people by immune system compatibility… to name one that we do intuitively… ahh, what’s the word for it? “chemistry”)Report