# Cecil's Today's Question (Eskimos in museums) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 16, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744 "2005-07-16T01:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lindacohen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@lindacohen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindacohen)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/1 "2005-07-16T01:46:28Z")
Well, I admit I’m a noobie, longtime lurker tho, not sure if this is the right board or not, but I just didn’t care for Cecil’s statement in “Today’s Question” and had to register my complaint. Namely, that The American Museum of Natural History demonstrated that “white people were slime”. I’m sure some white people are “slime,” but sitting here monitoring my 18-month-old white daughter who seems to be an ok person, I just can’t accept such a blanket indictment. Was it supposed to be funny? How can any negative racial generalization be thought funny in 2005? anywho, Linda Cohen * * * Link to column: [Did a New York City museum have Eskimos on display?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050715.html) – CKDH ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/2 "2005-07-16T01:52:46Z")
> [@lindacohen](#): > > Was it supposed to be funny? Yes. > [@](#): > > How can any negative racial generalization be thought funny in 2005? Ever watch the Chapelle Show? Negative racial generalizations can be thought funny when they’re not said in a meanspirited fashion, and sometimes when they’re said in a clearly hyperbolic and not literal fashion. I think Cecil’s white, and I think that if he were confronted with a serious argument along the lines of “White people are blue-eyed devils,” he’d knock that puppy down\*. But this statement was an example of dangerous and plain awful racism, and his statement is an expression of disgust, not an expression to be taken literally. Daniel - Although I admit that cruelty to animals can’t be joked about in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/3 "2005-07-16T01:53:13Z")
[Linkypoo](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050715.html) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/4 "2005-07-16T01:53:48Z")
Oh, and welcome to the straight dope, Linda! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![lindacohen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@lindacohen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindacohen)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/5 "2005-07-16T01:57:40Z")
Thanks! > [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Oh, and welcome to the straight dope, Linda! > Daniel ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/6 "2005-07-16T02:14:25Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope, **Linda**. This would fit better in the **Comments on Cecil’s Columns** forum. I’ll move it over there for you. TVeblen Pit mod ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/7 "2005-07-16T03:02:11Z")
Well, Cecil’s an equal-opportunity offender. If you think he was harsh on whites (well, American whites), take [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_197.html) as antidote. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/8 "2005-07-16T03:39:16Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, Cecil’s an equal-opportunity offender. If you think he was harsh on whites (well, American whites), take [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_197.html) as antidote. Yes, but has the Perfect Master ever gotten around to insulting the[left handed anabaptists](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_275.html) like he promised? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/9 "2005-07-16T04:27:12Z")
> [@dogbutler](#): > > Yes, but has the Perfect Master ever gotten around to insulting the[left handed anabaptists](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_275.html) like he promised? He left them hanging, the worst insult of all. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/10 "2005-07-16T05:15:48Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Ever watch the Chapelle Show? No, but I just finished watching him in _Undercover Brother_ and now I need to rent his entire series. > [@](#): > > Negative racial generalizations can be thought funny when they’re not said in a meanspirited fashion, and sometimes when they’re said in a clearly hyperbolic and not literal fashion. I’d say “ **especially** when they’re said in a clearly hyperbolic and not literal fashion,” but I’m a middle-class, white male and have no undertanding of what it’s like to be oppressed. A tasteless and insensitive one, at that. In fact, one who is so tasteless and insensitive that I don’t care that I’m tasteless and insensitive. > [@](#): > > I think Cecil’s white… That guin–I mean gentleman\*–is even whiter than me. > [@](#): > > …his statement is an expression of disgust, not an expression to be taken literally. It can be really, REALLY embarassing to see what slime white folk can be. > [@](#): > > Although I admit that cruelty to animals can’t be joked about in 2005. Too bad, too. Saw an interview with Salvador Dali in which he claimed the thing that gave him the greatest pleasure was “soofering aneemaals,” and how he enjoyed taping walnuts to the bottom of cats’ feet and letting them loose on linoleum. Good times! - - Dollars to donuts ya never been called that in real life, Cece! One of those rumors of offenses handed down by your grandpa. Love ya! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/11 "2005-07-16T05:25:39Z")
Oh, and **Linda**? Welcome (finally) aboard! Like some of us, Cecil works at being offensive but, as a longtime lurker, you know we’re really not as bad as we pretend to be. Well, the rest of them. I’m actually restrain myself when online so you don’t find out just how big a jerk I really am. (big, but unrepentant, 😃 ) It’s nice to have somebody pop out of lurk mode because she wants to complain about one of Cecil’s many trips down Political Incorrectness Lane. I, for one, didn’t lurk a second because somebody said something stupid about _The Simpsons_. I’m glad not everybody is as shallow as I, but I recommend you stay out of The Pit for a while. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/12 "2005-07-16T16:43:57Z")
> [@lindacohen](#): > > Namely, that The American Museum of Natural History demonstrated that “white people were slime”. I’m sure some white people are “slime,” but sitting here monitoring my 18-month-old white daughter who seems to be an ok person, I just can’t accept such a blanket indictment. Was it supposed to be funny? How can any negative racial generalization be thought funny in 2005? I fail to find that particular phrase in the column. Unless the on-line version has been changed, I’m not sure what you are actually talking about. In case I am missing something, can you please point out what paragraph the phrase occurs in? In any case, I fail to see any blanket indictment of white people in the column. The column does discuss institutional racism and insensitivity on the part of AMNH, and stupidity on the part of particular scientists, but doesn’t insult white people in general. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/13 "2005-07-16T17:35:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I fail to find that particular phrase in the column. Unless the on-line version has been changed, I’m not sure what you are actually talking about. It’s been changed… when I linked to it, the phrase was something like “and then to show that white people were scum…” Or something of the sort. But yeah, the powers that be edited it. Now if only I could do that with my posts… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/14 "2005-07-16T17:36:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Unless the on-line version has been changed, I’m not sure what you are actually talking about. It was changed. I remember seeing the “slime” reference there yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/15 "2005-07-16T17:44:27Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > It was changed. I remember seeing the “slime” reference there yesterday. Anybody know it that appeared in the hard-copy versions of the column? ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/16 "2005-07-16T18:22:37Z")
Tangential to this thread: In the 1980’s an American Indian Sioux friend was deeply offended by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in D.C. – behind glass were mounted Buffalo, Tigers, lions etc. Many shot by Teddy Roosevelt himself for the museum. In another part of the museum, also behind some glass were wax mannequin figured of Indians and Inuit (not real skeletons - I hope). In their natural habitat and in the costumes they might have worn before white “civilization” might have met them. He was really offended by this – saying any display in a Natural History Museum equating them with Wild Animals and Dinosaurs not people - was offensive. Made me a bit more sensitive ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/17 "2005-07-17T00:06:52Z")
> [@](#): > > It was changed. I remember seeing the “slime” reference there yesterday. I remember it too. Can’t think of a good reason to edit it out. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/18 "2005-07-17T01:07:28Z")
> [@lindacohen](#): > > Well, I admit I’m a noobie, longtime lurker tho, not sure if this is the right board or not, but I just didn’t care for Cecil’s statement in “Today’s Question” and had to register my complaint. > > Namely, that The American Museum of Natural History demonstrated that “white people were slime”. I’m sure some white people are “slime,” but sitting here monitoring my 18-month-old white daughter who seems to be an ok person, I just can’t accept such a blanket indictment. Was it supposed to be funny? How can any negative racial generalization be thought funny in 2005? > > anywho, > Linda Cohen > > * * * > > Link to column: [Did a New York City museum have Eskimos on display?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050715.html) – CKDH Dunno who edited the column after it was put on the site – the list is Little Ed or someone at the Reader – but I have asked for clarification. your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/19 "2005-07-17T01:19:49Z")
Welcome **linda**! And stay on your toes around this place. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744/20 "2005-07-18T07:56:22Z")
> [@jimmmy](#): > > Tangential to this thread: In the 1980’s an American Indian Sioux friend was deeply offended by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in D.C. – behind glass were mounted Buffalo, Tigers, lions etc. Many shot by Teddy Roosevelt himself for the museum. > > In another part of the museum, also behind some glass were wax mannequin figured of Indians and Inuit (not real skeletons - I hope). In their natural habitat and in the costumes they might have worn before white “civilization” might have met them. He was really offended by this – saying any display in a Natural History Museum equating them with Wild Animals and Dinosaurs not people - was offensive. Made me a bit more sensitive Now you see, I would have taken it as meaning both the animals and peoples were valuable and important to know about. **Dropzone** , did Dali tape entire walnuts on the cats’ feet or empty half-shells like little slippers? What? Oh… no, no reason why I need to know… uuuummm, just _curious_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-todays-question-eskimos-in-museums/312744.md?page=2)