. . .
Another response to the Stereotype of the Month entry on the Authentic Indian Name Generator:
While I am sure this whole topic is old news to you, I just ran across the dialogue on your web site regarding the Dead Dog Café and their Authentic Indian Name generator (http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stype0a3.htm).
The primary reason that I chose to reply at this late date is that Thomas King (instigator of the Dead Dog) is being honored this week at the Aboriginal Achievement Awards for "betterment of life in aboriginal communities and the rest of the country" (http://artscanada.cbc.ca/artsNow/index.jsp?label=aboriginal280303&uid=) (though likely not for the radio program). This week (May 25 to 28) is Aboriginal Awareness Week (http://infolane.ec.gc.ca/english/aboriginalawareness.cfm).
I think it is unfortunate that you have been able to see the name generator without enjoying any of the rest of what Dead Dog was. I would have loved to send you a link to the instructions (with pictures) on how to make an genuine bear-claw necklace, the necklace instructions call for the item to be made out of cashews and frozen peas. The audio files on improving conversational Cree are also hilarious, very similar to those on conversational Spanish....
Dead Dog may have been making fun of Native Canadians but I don't really think so, rather it ridiculed Canadians in general who are so presumptuous as to think they know everything about aboriginal culture, heritage and language from what they see in the UBC museum of anthropology (http://www.moa.ubc.ca/). I am sure that a large part of the reason that the show no longer airs is that too many people (of every race) are intellectually lazy and would rather label something as racist/bigoted/hate-mongering and demand it's removal from the public domain, than really listen to it and receive the message intended. Though probably it's just that they ran out of money.
Other stuff on Dead Dog:
Postcard: http://www.chking.com/album/deaddog-1.htm
Buy the tapes:
http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=ERART00090&Variant_ID=905V2&lang=en-CA
A little bit about Thomas:
http://www.trentu.ca/arthur/archive/33/33-06/features.html
And a brief sum-up of what's on the season's tapes:
The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour. 1998, 24 15-minute episodes, high school-up.
So, Jasper Friendly Bear applied for a photography grant, didn't get it, applied for a powwow grant, didn't get it. Got an hour-long radio show (well, actually, 45 minutes short of an hour), which is broadcast live (sort of) from Gracie Heavy Hand's Dead Dog Café and hosted by Tom King (sort of). Each 15-minute episode contains (well, more or less):
* Gracie's Authentic Traditional Aboriginal Recipes (includes puppy stew, fried bologna, and Kraft Dinners)
* Tom's Traditional Aboriginal Decorating Tips (includes using a stuffed moose and building a smoke-hole)
* Trust Tonto
* The Blockade Report (for tourists who want to avoid Indian blockades or maybe find them )
* Friendly Bear's Blackout Bingo (play bingo at home, send in the card, win a nifty prize)
* What Else Do You Do? (interviews with famous Indians, including Louis Riel, maybe)
* Spin the Wheels for Authentic Indian Names
* White Wisdom and What to Do About It
* 10 Reasons Why It's Good to Have Indians in Canada
* Fireside Friendly Bear
* Indians Anonymous (12-step program for Indians who have been living white and are threatening to revert to being Indian)
* The Adventures of Darnell About Time, Band Councilor
Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour, vol. 2. 1999, 24 15-minute episodes, high school-up.
If you liked Dead Dog Cafe, you'll want to join your host Tom King (who thinks he's cerebral) and Jasper Friendly Bear and Gracie Heavy Hand, as they (among other things)
* give detailed instructions for making a genuine bear-claw necklace out of cashew nuts,
* bestow an authentic Indian name on a white person's bicycle, and
* scour Canada trying to find a rich Indian.
Also Jasper changes the bingo number a couple times.
Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour, vol. 3. 2000, 16 15-minute episodes, high school-up.
So you think you've heard the last from Jasper Friendly Bear, Gracie Heavy Hand, and their faithful urban Indian companion, Tom King? So you think there's no life after Indians Anonymous and golf is only for rich white people? So you think powwow music just can't get any better and Captain Dead Dog has had his day? Au contraire (that's French for "on the contrary"). In volume 3,
* Hear how Jasper's clever switch to Blackout Bingo saves Tom's life, what with his cavalier attitude about the difference between fry bread and bannock.
* Hear Tom, still thinking he's cerebral (urban Indians!), say "That's Machiavellian!"
* Listen as Tom comes to terms with existential thought patterns as he learns that the beauty of Native philosophy is that not everything means something.
* Hear Gracie suggest how to turn treaties into wallpaper and used bingo dabbers into objects d'art (that's "art objects" in French).
* Hear Jasper spin the Spirit Wheel for Authentic Spirit Vegetables to go with the Authentic Indian Names for white people.
* Hear Gracie's Conversational Cree for simple but useful phrases, such as "Please ask the chauffeur to bring the car around" and "How long will we be in court?"
So sit back and relax, clear you mind and pretend that you're better off than you really are. Cue the blazing fire....
Well I hope you took the time to read some of the information and found it interesting. If you still think that the show was racist, then you are welcome to your opinion. I just wanted to defend one of the funniest shows I've heard on radio for a long time. It always saddens me to hear people criticizing my culture (as a Canadian and huge fan of old CBC shows like Dead Dog and Morningside) especially these days when as Canadians we seem to be losing our collective sense of humour and giving into ridiculous over sensitivities.
Kristina Friesen
Rob's reply
>> I am sure that a large part of the reason that the show no longer airs is that too many people (of every race) are intellectually lazy and would rather label something as racist/bigoted/hate-mongering and demand it's removal from the public domain, than really listen to it and receive the message intended. <<
Some of the critics called the Name Generator "racist," but you'll note that I didn't say that. Something can be stereotypical without necessarily being racist.
My critique was anything but "intellectually lazy," I'd say. I said one could take the Name Generator as a spoof of ignorant non-Natives or of good-natured Natives. The fact that its intent was ambiguous was itself a problem, I said. The so-called humor was the real source of "laziness" because it wasn't directed at a clear target. Nor was it at all original; people have been making fun of Indian names (e.g., Chief Big Mouth or Running Nose) for decades.
I also commented on "10 Reasons Why It's Good to Have Indians in Canada." Originally it sounded exactly like a redneck's "funny" (i.e., vituperative) message against Natives. Someone must've agreed because they eventually changed it, making the reasons less clearly an attack on Natives.
You yourself weren't sure if the show was making fun of Natives or white people. I wasn't sure either. If people like us weren't sure, who was sure? What's the point of humor if no one knows whom it's mocking?
If you or someone wants to address the arguments I've posted, go ahead. Otherwise, your claim of people's being "intellectually lazy" is lacking. I, for one, have analyzed hundreds of these stereotypes, so I know how they operate. Few people have put as much thought into them as I have.
The other examples of humor you listed seem fine. I focused only on the "Authentic" Name Generator. It's an ill-considered joke because it mocks Indian names without clearly applying that mockery to a target. For those who don't know any better, the names are the target.
It's as if Indians did a phony dance in costumes for tourists and then laughed at the tourists for not getting the "joke." The joke being that Indians really don't do dances like that. Well, there wouldn't be anything for the tourists to "get" because the joke wouldn't be on them. The joke would be on the Indians for stereotyping themselves.
Anyway, I'm glad to post your comments. They'll give people a more balanced understanding of the Dead Dog Cafe, at least.
Rob Schmidt
Publisher
PEACE PARTY
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