Moomin character removed from Brooklyn library exhibition after racism concern
A Moomin scholar finds the move “absurd”, arguing that the character Stinky is far from racist and the decision likely reflects a lack of familiarity with the Moomin stories.
Yle News 1.8. 16:34 A Moomin character has been dropped from a major exhibition at Brooklyn Public Library in New York after one of the institution’s supporters raised concerns that the character might be perceived as racist.
“One of their supporters had thought Stinky could be seen as a racist symbol,” said Roleff Kråkström, CEO of Moomin Characters, the company that manages the rights to Tove Jansson’s beloved Moomin universe.
The exhibition, which has drawn a young audience over the summer, features illustrations of Moominvalley characters and details about Jansson’s life and work. But Stinky — known in Finnish as Haisuli — was removed from some of the large mural-style displays in the library, although he still appears in the original books on show.
Kråkström told Yle he was informed of the decision via a short email from the library and responded with understanding.
“We replied in a few lines and said it’s fine. We see this as a healthy societal discussion. If such a change is requested, we have no objection,” he said.
He noted this is the first time in 80 years that the character has drawn such criticism.
“Tove Jansson is widely seen as a champion of tolerance, radical acceptance, and inclusivity. But I greatly respect the American sensitivity around these types of conversations,” he said.
The decision was first reported by Finland’s Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper.
Did anyone notice how this story doesn’t involve a single person calling this character a racist caricature?
Wokeness is fine, correcting things is fine.
But Stinky just has zero racist connotations. Especially when you take into account the author’s general intent.
Yeah. Who said otherwise? I feel like I’m going crazy here, because the article you posted makes no mention of anyone that did.
The person who complained to the Brooklyn Library, obviously? Just like the article mentions, I too doubt that they’ve ever actually looked into the work. They link to this in the article, maybe look at that for more info?
They literally didn’t.
This is a hypothetical. Nobody mentioned in the article holds that position. This person did not complain about the character. They raised concerns that they thought someone else hypothetically might complain in the future.
But I think you are aware of that since you put first the lady’s that made the same incorrect assumption that someone must have complained and called the character a racist caricature.
Well if one of the had thought it, and we’re yet to discover telepathy, it’d make sense to assume she had told someone about her thoughts.
What’s your assumption? That this is entirely made up? Based on nothing?
I fail to see your motivation.
What? I literally don’t get what you’re trying to say about telepathy.
I’m not assuming anything, I’m directly citing the article you posted. Your point rests entirely on an assumption however.
You know I didn’t write the article, right?
There is no issue with the article.
The issue is people here in the comments making false assumptions, jumping at the chance to fight a quixotic bullshit reactionary culture war against a woke mob that doesn’t exist.
And yet the concern that it might be seen as racist was taken seriously enough for the removal to go through.
So why is everyone discussing this as if there was an external complaint?
The issue here seems to be solely how this was handled by the organization. But almost every comment here is jumping to conclusions and fighting windmills instead.
Imagine being this tediously pedantic.
This isn’t about a technicality.
The widespread narrative about “the left” or “woke mobs” going around calling everything racist under the sun is one of the most successful bits of right-wing culture war propaganda. Which people in this thread are unintentionally spreading as they jump on the chance to dunk on those ignorant fools (that in many cases such as this one don’t even exist).