73 Thoughts to “New Americans Okay with Legalization of Undocumented”

  1. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I’m sorry, Elena, but “Greedy Goldberg” isn’t NEARLY as cool as Slowpoke Rodriguez!

  2. Moon-howler

    I can remember my brother watching a cartoon called Speedy Gonzalas. Speedy was a cool dude, as I recall. I thought that is where Slowpoke got his name. I am going to piss everyone off by saying I don’t think any of the names are offensive. Would we all be happier if Slow renamed himself as Zorro? Zorro was a cool dude also.

    I am also going to defend SA and Slowpoke. Most of the time they have been courteous to everyone and have simply given their opinions. I am glad, as I have said many times, that they are here to offer another point of view. There is some middle ground here. Rather than us calling everyone who disagrees with us racist, lets look for some common ground. That is far more productive.

  3. Moon-howler

    Catch a glimpse of Speedy Gonzales. Daffy is the small minded, vengeful ass, not Speedy. He and his Mexican mice friends were friendly and considerate and in this example, remembered their friend’s birthday. This was some 40 years ago, and I am sure there are things in the cartoon (not necessarily THIS one) that might not be considered politically correct but I think we could say that about most media. The Ricardos also slept in twin beds and did June and Warren Cleaver or whatever his name was.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmrIO9PkMHQ

  4. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I’m a looney tunes NUT. I think cartoons today are terrible. Slowpoke was Speedy’s cousin. Sylvester assumed he’d be an easy meal, but nobody messed with Slowpoke, because even though he was the slowest mouse in all Mexico, he had a gun.

  5. Moon-howler

    I knew it! I don’t remember Slowpoke but I figured he was some sort of foil to Speedy who I do remember. Oddly enough, as kid, Speedy made me want to take Spanish instead of prissy old French.

    Slow, I think your namesake also had a penchant for weed, since I have now done my research.

  6. GainesvilleResident

    Yes, I am dating myself but I remember Speedy, Slowpoke, and Sylvester too. I always assumed that’s where Slowpoke got his id from.

  7. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I feel like an old fuddy-duddy, but my best friend from college visited us with his two sons, and the 7-year-old couldn’t stop watching these cartoons on the cartoon network, and I found myself saying “no wonder kids have ADD today!” Cartoon characters were belching, farting, and there was no plot to any cartoon that I could tell. Heck, looney tunes even had little gags in them for adults (what about the Bugs Bunny cartoons based on Operas?) I didn’t see what any kid could learn from these very recent cartoons except violence and short attention spans. Yes, there were characterizations that are considered “insensitive” today, but I’ll take my looney tunes over the garbage on the cartoon network any day of the week, thank you very much. I’ll gladly give up 100% Political Correctness to avoid the belching and farting.

  8. Elena

    Now, I don’t want to be accused of not being a looney tunes fan. Apparently, Seth Green, whom I love, used the character of Slowpoke in a recent animated series. Maybe I won’t take the name sooo offensively, only a little now.

  9. TWINAD

    When my son was a baby, his Dad and I chose a border for his room that has all the Looney Tunes characters on it. I realize now that I don’t think our son has much of an idea about any of those characters! Tom and Jerry is one “old school” cartoon I know he has watched and liked, but as for Tweety, Sylvester and all the other aforementioned characters, I doubt he can name them even though they have been in his room for 7 years now. Perhaps it’s time for a change?!

  10. ShellyB

    M-H, I am also glad that Alamo and Slowpoke are on this blog. I do welcome them even though I vex them so. They represent the most reasonable voices from BVBL.

    But I still hold to my point about Slowpoke’s name choice. Even with the revelation that it is a cartoon character.

    Slowpoke chose a name that is Latino, and then went about taking extremist positions that are either hateful or supportive of those who are hateful towards Latinos.

    It would be as if someone named themselves “Sambo” or “Aunt Jemima” and then went about disparaging African Americans.

    Even M-H, who is very kind to all people of all frames of mind, would have to take a step back from that. Right M-H? So then what exactly is the difference? Is prejudice toward Latinos somehow more acceptable than prejudice toward African Americans? Perhaps. But it ought not be.

  11. ShellyB

    Whether Slowpoke made up the name or not, my only point was that it demonstrates VERY PLAINLY FOR THE WORLD TO SEE, that the immigration issue is a race issue for him.

    I didn’t say he shouldn’t be allowed to have that name. I just reminded him that it is useless for him to argue the issue based on anything other than race. Many Americans are concerned about the racial percentage breakdown being altered by immigration. It’s always been that way, even when Germans and Irish people were immigrating here. I understand that perspective. But it is just not the right way to look at America’s future. “Higher crime and economic failure is fine as long as we stay mostly white????” I just find that really short sighted.

    With the name he chose, it’s clear that it is not an issue of legal processes and legal status for him. I’m glad that he makes that so obvious for me and everyone who reads this blog. It makes my point for me. Every day. Even when I don’t have time to post. The anti-immigrant side of this argument is INFECTED WITH RACISM, so much so that the anti-illegal arm of the movement is also infected. It’s just something we all have to deal with. Poor Michael is always trying to address this problem, but to no avail. Robb Pearson also tried to deal with it, but then he realized that it’s useless and left the group he had founded.

  12. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I chose a name that is latino. I picture some dude from Jalisco whose actual name is Slowpoke Rodriguez. But let me concede the point, and in the interest of full disclosure, I’d by lying if I said that needling the ultra-sensitive wasn’t a large part of the name choice. I’m BattleCat on the other blog (of He-Man extraction). Is that better? Maybe I should be Kringer over here and BattleCat over there?

  13. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Say, I just learned this a little while ago…did y’all know that Sambo actually had nothing to do with African-Americans? It was an Indian (a la British Empire) thing originally. I remember in Gandhi (one of my favorite movies), they called the Indians “Sammys”. Apparently, something along those lines. I found that fascinating!

  14. Moon-howler

    Greetings Battlecat. I still want to call you Slowpoke. I do agree with you totally about today’s cartoons. They are vulgar and pointless. I will even take the violence as opposed to the bodily sounds that are pointless. There is nothing like a good stick of dynamite when things go wrong.

    ShellyB, since you asked, I would probably not care what anyone named themselves as long as it wasn’t nasty. I honestly think you are obsessing with racism. Everyone is racist in one way or another–some more than others. Me coming on here as Zorro will not make me racist. Names I use will not make me racist. How I behave and the word I spread is what will determine if I am racist or not.

    Are you one of those people who think Robert E Lee was racist? How about Stonewall Jackson?

    I forgot to say thank you about me being kind to people. However, I am not kind to everyone and I do lose it periodically. I try to hear all sides but I also have my explode mode, but thanks for the thought.

  15. Moon-howler

    Slowpoke, I have heard that also. It makes no sense to think otherwise because there are no native tigers in Africa. Didn’t little black Sambo make the tiger run around the tree until he turned into butter? The story changed to be called Brave Little Sambo. If Sambo is a racial slur, that would have probably been the word I got rid of.

    When I was a kid and some racially insensitive person gave me the book and read it to me, I loved the story. The kid out-smarted the thug tigers who were extorting poor Sambo. Actually, the story, written and illustrated by a Scots woman, was a tribute to a smart kid. I never saw why it was insulting. Of course, I never saw why the ‘Redskins’ name for the football team was insulting either.

  16. Moon-howler

    And here’s Speedy! (cousin of Slowpoke)

    http://www.nonstick.com/characters/speedy.html

  17. Lucky Duck

    Here is a description of “Slowpoke” from Wikipedia. Slow afoot (that’s everyone over 30) but as he describes himself, not mentally slow.

    Slowpoke Rodríguez is a fictional animated cartoon mouse, part of the Looney Tunes’ cast. His voice was provided by an uncredited Tom Holland and by Frank Welker. He is described as “the slowest mouse in all Mexico” from the country side of Mexico, and is a cousin to Speedy Gonzales, who is known as the fastest. However, he mentions to his cousin that while he may be slow in the feet, which he is best known for, he’s not slow in “la cabeza” (the head).

  18. DB

    I actually found a 1931 version of The Story of Little Black Sambo at an estate auction and I purchased it. I too enjoyed the story (Golden book version) as a young child. There is an introduction by George C. Harvey at the beginning of my book. It explains the story this way:

    “The tale of the adventures of Little Black Sambo so well beloved by children everywhere, was told by a lady in India to her two little girls to help them pass the time while on a long railway journey. The little girls were used to seeing many Little Black Sambos every day in India, and they knew that tigers might be met at any moment in the jungle of that country. So the story was very real to them.”

    My version of the story is “pictured by” the author Helen Bannerman. I must say that the illustrations would be considered unflattering stereotypes in today’s society, but in 1931, and when the book was first printed in the early 1920’s, the illustrations were considered status quo. The last part of the introduction reads:
    “These amusing illustrations show how Little Black Sambo lost and regained the fine clothes that his mother, Black Mumbo, made for him, an how, after all, he got the best of the cruel tigers.” I suppose that you all can guess that since his mother’s name was Black Mumbo, his father was named….

  19. Moon-howler

    Not going there….I have spent all my ‘Not PC’ capital today…

  20. ShellyB

    So we are reaching a middle ground here. Slow-slow has admitted what I have long suspected: he intended his name choice to offend minorities, and also offend others who are not minorities but aren’t particularly fond of prejudice.

    It is difficult to know if Slow-slow has achieved his goal of offending anyone. I don’t know how many minorities read this blog.

    But my point to Slow-slow is a simple one: If you view the immigration issue as a race issue, and your attitude is one of prejudice and/or intended offense of those who are Latino, then your argument holds less weight with the majority of Americans. We don’t like prejudice. We don’t like political views that are fueled by prejudice. When you openly admit to making choices in the way you communicate because you enjoy expressing prejudice and/or offending minorities, then you run the risk of being discounted by the majority of Americans.

    Slow-slow can continue with that name or switch to Battlecat. I would suggest he switch to Battlecat. That way, he can make his points and it will be less obvious that his views are poisend by prejudice.

    Racism is the trap that ensnares the anti-illegal immigrant crowd again and again, as Michael and Robb Pearson can attest. It’s such a big elephant in the room that it can’t be ignored, even if one is hiding behind a mouse.

  21. A PW County Resident

    I think all he was saying was that he was needling the “ultrasensitive”. Sorry but I can’t just assume someone’s motivation for a screenname any more than I can assume that someone who is a particular nationality, race, or creed will react a way I anticipate until I get to know the person. I have too many scars from the 60’s to make any assumption.

    The way we get to know someone on a discussion page is by their words, not their names. To make that assumption is racism as much as anything else. But people obviously reacted to Slow’s name more than his/her words–and that is the real shame. He/she has a point of view that should be considered regardless of the name.

    Hard to swallow when you are called out for the things you want to complain about, isn’t it? I will accept it and hope that people will call me out if I cross the line and I will apologize, but many don’t seem to want to.

  22. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I’d respond to you, Shelly, but what could I say that you haven’t already said again and again!

  23. Moon-howler

    APWR, I have to agree with you.

    ShellyB, I think you are throwing up an awful lot of road blocks to common ground. Is it possible to not like multiple families living in single family houses and not be prejudiced?

    People do not like having their neighborhoods crapped up regardless of who is doing it.

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