2. Cards on the table: born in india, family of immigrants (to Canada but also England, Fiji, USA & all over), parent's ran a small convenience store, fan of classics Simpsons (by which I mean the Tracey Ullman shorts)
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3. I've been pretty indulgent towards Apu because I saw him as an affectionately intended character (as against, say, Peter Sellers in The Party,which I loathed when I saw it as a kid).
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4. I think the big difference between me and many Desi who dislike Apu is generational. I was already an adult when Simpson appeared. They are more likely to have been kids in school.
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5. As an adult, The Simpsons was something in background to me. For younger Desi in school, Apu was a taunt they heard in school. Big difference.
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6. If I wanted to, I could easily write one of those anti-PC articles: "Hey, I was born in India, I don't mind Apu." But I won't because I'm not an asshole and I'm willing to listen to people younger than me.
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7. There's a larger lesson in this: in these PC controversies it's important not to be knee-jerk and to listen to people who have different experience of a work of art than you -- to figure out where it comes from.
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End of conversation
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And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge: "The old order changeth yielding place to the new, and God fulfills himself in many ways lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
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I've always kinda felt Apu was a version of Y. Yunioshi from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or Long Duk Dong from "Sixteen Candles." Kids are cruel anyway but Apu gave them a bullying template. Besides, some of the richest kids in my county were Desi. No one sounded like Apu.
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What was inoffensive and/or tolerated by one generation of immigrants can become highly offensive to their children. This was true of how the Irish were depicted on vaudeville in the 1800s. After the turn of the century the Irish said enough is enough. https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3QsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT197&lpg=PT197&dq=irish+stereotypes+in+vaudeville+protests+objections&source=bl&ots=AyClWvf1_d&sig=QGsynXrlsiKb2aUPNZzKfXXb00g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiF-_ikiLXaAhXD4IMKHRe8C3gQ6AEwAHoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=irish%20stereotypes%20in%20vaudeville%20protests%20objections&f=false …
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