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All the respect in the world to her, but Toni Morrison was an average writer that rode special consideration into fame. Let's stop pretending things are better than they are in order to project some kind of signaling.
Completely unfounded, ridiculous, and racist suggestion. Toni Morrison is one of the most revered writers in human history.
She was great at what she did, and in all certainty, a literary giant. But "one of the most revered writers in human history" ?
Nope.
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>Toni Morrison is one of the most revered writers in human history. I've never even heard of her and none of their works sound remotely familiar nor have I heard of the film her award winning book was adapted from... I'm not sure how accurate that statement is.
Perhaps you need to grow your bubble a bit. I would say her Nobel (or many other awards[0]) is a greater indication of the reverence given to her than the fact that you have not heard of her. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison#Awards_and_nomin...
It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk show hosts that have an intended audience of middle-aged women, largely house wives/stay at home mothers.
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Completely unfounded, ridiculous, and racist suggestion. Toni Morrison is one of the most revered writers in human history.
Ummm... She was great at what she did, and in all certainty, a literary giant. But "one of the most revered writers in human history" ? Nope.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps you need to grow your bubble a bit. I would say her Nobel (or many other awards[0]) is a greater indication of the reverence given to her than the fact that you have not heard of her. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison#Awards_and_nomin...
It looks like there have been 113 individuals that have won a Nobel Prize in Literature. While I'm sure it's an impressive accomplishment I don't think that necessarily means "everyone should know about this person or they are uncultured swine!" It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk…
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My grandmother cries when describing the poverty they lived in when she was a child (1930s) in Newcastle (Northern England). Nobody had it easy in the past. Well done for falling for the propaganda that racially divides people and is frequently sold by activists to people like yourself who seem to have bought it. People of all colours and creeds will try to garner sympathy from the other group by claiming how disadva…
??? What does that have anything to do with the comment you replied to? > The reality is that there are plenty of people from all races that have made it to the top of society. And yet the people at the "top of society" disproportionately come from a just a few of those groups. :thinking-emoji: > ... what is currently happening in Qatar ... Classic whataboutism. We can care about multiple things at the same time. > w…
Absolutely everything. This myth there hasn't been representation of minorities or women completely neglecting the fact that there has been plenty going back to mid 20th century.
> Classic whataboutism. We can care about multiple things at the same time.
Not at all. Slavery in Qatar is happening today, not in the past. The past can't be changed, but we can try to improve the future.
> Minorities have much better access and representation in media today than they did in the past but it's still far from equal, particularly on the business side which has major influence over our media because that's where decisions are made about which projects get funded and which don't.
Do white people have equal representation in Thai Cinema? What about rich white people always playing the bad guys there? This is a lie that is constantly sold to constantly sow racial division and people like you trot it out over and over again. All it does is divide people and allow both Black and White racist to whip up hatred.
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It looks like there have been 113 individuals that have won a Nobel Prize in Literature. While I'm sure it's an impressive accomplishment I don't think that necessarily means "everyone should know about this person or they are uncultured swine!" It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk…
I hate to ask, since this should go without saying, but have you read any of her novels?
Right in my original comment...
I majored in English lit at university and one of my early requirements was a single author course. Having little general knowledge of famous authors, I chose the Toni Morrison class at random. I remember on the first day being surprised to find our that Toni Morrison was a woman and that her writing had such a strong focus on race and slavery. I was rather intimidated. Turned out to be one of the best classes I had…
Jazz is so cool. "Look. Look where your hands are. Now."
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> FWIW: Several of my role models - if you include people who are not alive, people I've only read about - are not white males. But you didn't and don't lack for options. I'm a straight white man from America. No matter what personal, family, and economic difficulties I've faced: - I have literal decades of seeing other white men in a variety of roles. I can pick and choose from the stereotypes I want to put in high…
My grandmother cries when describing the poverty they lived in when she was a child (1930s) in Newcastle (Northern England). Nobody had it easy in the past. Well done for falling for the propaganda that racially divides people and is frequently sold by activists to people like yourself who seem to have bought it. People of all colours and creeds will try to garner sympathy from the other group by claiming how disadva…
Clearly everyone has had it equally difficult and there is no grouping of peoples that get systemic mistreatment, evidence and statistics be damned.
Yes, people can have it hard. And people can have it hard out of proportion with their peers. This doesn't alter provable facts about sweeping populations.
> The reality is that there are plenty of people from all races that have made it to the top of society.
And just like your grandmother disproves any systemic problem by difficulty, any success by any individual does the same, proving that they cannot be an exception to the rule.
> while being broadcast on the very media they claim to have no representation in
I think if you dig a bit you'll find a lot of things you aren't seeing. And surely just one case will prove the whole, right?
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In this comment ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20316831 ) you used the formal term "mother" . Why did you switch to "momma" when talking about Black families?
Just for fun, going with the scenario. Why not? Edit: rate limited by HN, so here is my reply to the question below: Racist - seriously? So "momma" is not a word that is ever used? Is it a word from the AAVE - so why would it be mocking the AAVE? I'm not a native speaker of English. But honestly, I don't care about that level of political correctness. I doubt that using "momma" is as big of a deal as you make it soun…
I have no bias against you. I’m just trying to explain to you why some people find your original statement offensive. Instead of defending it, just try to consider how it may make your audience feel in the future.
I majored in English lit at university and one of my early requirements was a single author course. Having little general knowledge of famous authors, I chose the Toni Morrison class at random. I remember on the first day being surprised to find our that Toni Morrison was a woman and that her writing had such a strong focus on race and slavery. I was rather intimidated. Turned out to be one of the best classes I had…
I had a similar experience growing up in the mostly white suburbs of Baltimore. We read Beloved junior year and it was absolutely devastating. It opened my eyes to the deep, unhealed wounds of slavery and that sort of tumultuous, all-consuming pain. It was a difficult book to read at that age—I can't imagine any age when it would be easy to read—and I appreciate that we were asked to sit with it. Another book that ha…