Uncle Sugar Rorschach

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'm not sure how "Uncle Sugar" could be construed as "racist" except that
sugar is very white and "Uncle Sugar" is handing out prescriptions to ...
well, to whom?


JL


On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Uncle Sugar Rorschach
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 1/25/2014 10:15 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Mike Huckabee has employed the phrase "Uncle Sugar" in a speech lambasting
> >(wait for it) Democrats for "making [women]  believe that they are
> helpless
> >without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each
> >month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their
> >reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it...."
> >...
> >The point is that people were speculating about 1. what "Uncle Sugar"
> might
> >possibly mean, and 2. (wait for it) whether it's racist. or 3. (wait for
> >it) sexist.
> >
> >Somebody ventured the opinion that it was a sexist reference to a "sugar
> >daddy." Anchor Victor Blackwell said he'd thought Mike was comparing the
> >federal government "to a pimp."
>
> Of course it was -- both of the above -- in Huckabee's intent.  He's
> using it to add these negative associations to "(present) United
> States government", and thus tar the Democrats.
>
>
> >  Conservatives since McCarthy days have used "Uncle Sugar" derisively  to
> >refer to liberal fiscal and welfare policies.
> >
> >That's because "sugar," in the '40s, was still a familiar synonym for
> >"money." Get it? "Uncle Sugar." How clever!
> >
> >Anyway, Cain of CNN lamented Huckabee's use of "an obsolete slang term for
> >the federal government" as the GOP is trying to "improve its brand."  Such
> >usage, he said, "reeks of old man."
>
> And "libidinous old man".
>
> Also, I have not heard any commentator -- and I would expect feminist
> commentators to -- ask why women's libidos need controlling but men's
> do not.  Huckabee I can understand -- after all, to a fundamentalist
> women's lust is what lures men into sin.
>
> Joel
>
>
> >JL
>
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