[Sca-cooks] Witch Finger/Almond Shortbread cookies

[El Hermoso Dormido]

On Monday 04 November 2002 04:17 pm, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
[...]
> I fail to see how acknowledging the fact that humans come in a
> variety of skin tones is "politically correct".
[...]
> Sorry (or not so sorry), but that really seemed to me to be a
> gratuitous use of "politically correct". If you make these cookies
> for an office, classroom, or party that included a variety of human
> colors, why is this anything other than perfectly reasonable? (and
> what about some saffron-colored and -flavored cookies?)
>
> Anahita
> who just naturally has witch's fingers

It's "politically correct" because "everyone knows" that "witches" (and lest
the non-mainstream non-Christian religious folk get upset, I should point
out that I'm talking about the "Halloween Witches" - e.g. the silly
caricature of the old hag on a broomstick, not the practitioners of various
flavors of neo-paganism in the real world) are always "white".  Multiple
skin colors on cookies intended to represent (Halloween) "Witches' fingers" is
as silly as insisting that sheets made into ghost costumes also come in
"black", "brown", and "yellow"...(never mind the fact that I've never met
any living person who was really "black", and the only "yellow" people out
there either have liver diseases or have been eating WAY too many carrots, and
even albinos are more "pink" than "white"...)

On the opposite point, though, it might similarly be argued that including
dark-colored fingers could be considered politically INcorrect, as either
some sort of "voodoo" stereotype reference or in extreme cases as a basis for
silly accusations that one is advocating the mutilation and cannibalisation
of dark-skinned people.

(Hey, a decade of living in California has warped my fragile little mind, what
can I say?...)

I'll restrain my usual rant about the ridiculous fiction known as "race" here,
except to mention that to my great delight (to get back to the topic of
"period" history), I noticed that, FINALLY, volume III of Larry Gonick's
"Cartoon History of the Universe" has come out (and it goes up through the
Renaissance)...and his brief commentary on human phylogeny at the introduction
to the History of Africa portion is right on the mark...


Signed,
El Hermoso Dormido - Nerd-American "Beige person", who shares a house with a
Female Nerd-American, three Feline-Americans, and a Canine-American...