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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

DOLITTLE IN THE DOCK

Whilst trying to find an illustration for yesterday's post on Dr Dolittle by Dr S, I found myself wading through a mass of self-congratulatory verbeage bemoaning the `racism` of the early volumes of the series. The tribe of monkeys in the first book were `obviously` a metaphor for African natives, who like the monkeys had no knowledge of sanitary practises and were dying in their hundreds from plague.By showing Bumpo Jollilinki, the African Prince of the first book as gullible enough to believe in the literal truth of the Fairy Tale of Sleeping Beauty, Lofting was apparently demeaning all black people and promoting the worst aspects of Colonialism.

Nonsense!


This conveniently ignores the portrait of Bumpo in the later books as loyal, kind, compassionate and resourceful. Or the only Native American character as being wise, studious and brave, or - most importantly - the portrayal of some of the white characters as being cruel, greedy, stupid and obsessed with blood sports!


Really, this sord of one-sided moralising is both irritating and counter-producetive. There! I have got off my soap box now,

1 comment:

Syd said...

One as to remember that the real racists are the all too vocal minority that see "racism" where it does not and never has existed. These self appointed morons actually stir up racial tensions by loudly proclaiming that this, that and the other piece of literature or art is racist.
You point out how this has happened with Dr. Doolittle and we have recently seen how these same idiots have treated Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which not only is a great story, but is actually anti-racist.