Finland is quite deeply racist, albeit in a very casual way.
I remember my dad buying me a mask of a person that this term would have been used for, I feel like. Like cartoonishly exaggerated racist features, full head rubber mask. Think “Disney-in-the-30s” racist.
I was so young it took me a few years to realise just how racist it was.
I’ve heard that, and it’s similar here in the UK - the “polite” racism that is so deeply ingrained in the culture that pointing it out is what’s seen as outrageous, not the racism. I’d say a parallel to your mask could easily be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwog which were still used in advertising in to the 21st century, though thankfully have lost popularity and acceptance (though still cherished and displayed by racists). It really is so deeply upsetting how we so casually get socialised from birth to have certain views of the world that we have to work for the rest of our lives to unlearn.
In Finland, the name originated from Germany, and they were named “Negro’s Kisses” (neekerinsuukot) in 1951. In 2001 the name was changed to “Brunberg’s Kisses”, after the manufacturer Brunberg from Porvoo,[43] for largely the same reasons as in Denmark, Germany, and elsewhere.
The name went, but the package stayed for a while after.
This article discusses whether the older ones should be completely replaced with neutral onea. In 2019.
One positive thing about me having had to move so often as a kid was that I started seeing that small town xenophobia from the outside, so… objectively. After that it was easier to understand. Not accept, mind you.
There are ways to quickly unlearn all that shit tho. Good therapy with a psychedelic session should do the trick. Preload the trip with a lot of civil rights documentaries and moral philosophy in general.
And yeah, I think being exposed to lots of different people and situations from a young age, as well as being on the margins yourself, helps in opening one’s world view up, but not always, there are unfortunately so many examples of people who either witness or are even directly impacted by bigotry, who go the other way and almost barricade themselves in it because acceptance is easier for them than fighting. It goes to show how pervasive it all is.
As for psychedelics, they’re just not for me (I’m autistic, and other than weed I’m not comfortable with any other drugs, even alcohol and caffeine), but I can absolutely see how they can help some people with opening their mind, and think it would be great if they were more available in a therapeutic and supervised setting exactly for things like this (and working through trauma and other issues) but it’s also important to remember that things like ant-racism are a constant things we have to continue to do every day, not something we unlearn once and are “fixed”.
Wow, that sucks
Finland is quite deeply racist, albeit in a very casual way.
I remember my dad buying me a mask of a person that this term would have been used for, I feel like. Like cartoonishly exaggerated racist features, full head rubber mask. Think “Disney-in-the-30s” racist.
I was so young it took me a few years to realise just how racist it was.
I’ve heard that, and it’s similar here in the UK - the “polite” racism that is so deeply ingrained in the culture that pointing it out is what’s seen as outrageous, not the racism. I’d say a parallel to your mask could easily be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwog which were still used in advertising in to the 21st century, though thankfully have lost popularity and acceptance (though still cherished and displayed by racists). It really is so deeply upsetting how we so casually get socialised from birth to have certain views of the world that we have to work for the rest of our lives to unlearn.
I’ve genuinely no idea how many fights/arguments I’ve gotten into over that exact thing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-coated_marshmallow_treats
If you scroll down to Finland, you’ll find:
The name went, but the package stayed for a while after.
This article discusses whether the older ones should be completely replaced with neutral onea. In 2019.
One positive thing about me having had to move so often as a kid was that I started seeing that small town xenophobia from the outside, so… objectively. After that it was easier to understand. Not accept, mind you.
There are ways to quickly unlearn all that shit tho. Good therapy with a psychedelic session should do the trick. Preload the trip with a lot of civil rights documentaries and moral philosophy in general.
Oof, that’s horrible but sadly not surprising.
And yeah, I think being exposed to lots of different people and situations from a young age, as well as being on the margins yourself, helps in opening one’s world view up, but not always, there are unfortunately so many examples of people who either witness or are even directly impacted by bigotry, who go the other way and almost barricade themselves in it because acceptance is easier for them than fighting. It goes to show how pervasive it all is.
As for psychedelics, they’re just not for me (I’m autistic, and other than weed I’m not comfortable with any other drugs, even alcohol and caffeine), but I can absolutely see how they can help some people with opening their mind, and think it would be great if they were more available in a therapeutic and supervised setting exactly for things like this (and working through trauma and other issues) but it’s also important to remember that things like ant-racism are a constant things we have to continue to do every day, not something we unlearn once and are “fixed”.