Question about pygmies/African natives

[Cartman]

In many classic cartoons, Pygmies are shown as circus attractions (INKI AT THE CIRCUS, SPARE THE ROD). Did people really go out and capture pygmies?

[Bugsmer]

Are you referring to "Inki At The Circus"? (I was wondering what Inki was doing there.)

[Treadwell]

Not capture. To my knowledge traveling circuses did not have slaves.

But sure, they'd hire "exotic" peoples to put in their "freak shows" and whatnot.

[J Lee]

But there were displays dating into the first half of the 20th Century inviting people to view the "African Wild Man" or whatever, based on the natives who were brought back from foreign lands, mainly to Europe, but also to the United States during the 19th Century and earlier.

The Our Gang comedy "The Kid From Borneo" was based on that, while Jones, Maltese and Pierce were lampooning/ridiculing the concept in "Inki at the Circus", with the come-ons for the "wild man" and the adult shilouette of an African native disolving into a bored Inki in a cage with a yo-yo.

[Treadwell]

That's why it's called show business. It was all part of the act. No one was "captured" and no one was "wild" (although they may indeed have been foreign). Performers.

[doctoon]

I'd suggest Phillips Verner Bradford and Harvey Blume's book Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo, published by St. Martin's Press. In 1903 missioary Samuel Phillips Verner came to the Congo and brought pygmy Ota Benga to the United States as part of a "specimen-gathering mission" for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, in which Benga was an exhibit.Tourists and scientists poked, prodded, ogled and examined him. He sat on a stool in a cage. The author of the book is the grandson of the missionary.

[Sogturtle]

Hmmmmm... Pity that they didn't know THEN what they know now, that long ago real-life pygmies inhabited part of Tennessee (NO I'm NOT talking about Al Gore:p:D ).
There have indeed been pygmy skulls found there and they APPEAR to be of ummmm "Africanoid" pygmies:eek: . IF I recall correctly the early Indians had tales of such little people. Now how "Africanoid" pygmies got to early Tennessee is the question (they certainly were NOT brought there for a fair or circus).
There has even been a theory advanced that Celts bumping into pygmy peoples (somewhere) is the root of the Celtic (Irish) myth of leprechauns and clurichauns...:eek:

[J. J. Hunsecker]

long ago real-life pygmies inhabited part of Tennessee (NO I'm NOT talking about Al Gore:p:D ).
In order for your joke to work, Al Gore would have to be short. He's 6'1".

[cpdavison]

In order for your joke to work, Al Gore would have to be short. He's 6'1".

Well, perhaps Al counts as two pygmies..?

Craig D.

[Sogturtle]

Laughing to self... I WASN'T joking about Al Gore's physical height...;). I WAS talking about his goofy claims to "inventing the internet":rolleyes: :p and his lame-brained global warming hysterics thus making him lacking in stature and thus pygmy-esque.:p And the fact that his energy-guzzling mansion happens to be in Tennessee adds to the comedy.

Thirty years ago we were being told by magazines and "scientists" that global cooling and a new ice-age were imminent...:rolleyes: It turns out that "scientists" had been alternately cooking up these goofball theories since the 1890's, and first one and then the other would become the accepted view. In the cold reality of things the earth has warmed and cooled several KNOWN times, all without mankind being responsible. Not that long ago the Viking settlers were GROWING CROPS in Greenland. Furthermore there is an ANCIENT MAP of Antarctica:eek: showing it as ICEFREE and showing mountains and valleys and I believe a river system. Sooooo those were demonstrably WARMER times than even now and that was WITHOUT industrialization or carbon-dioxide emissions.

It always AMUSES and AMAZES me how it is the chance joke or comment that I come up with that gets attention.;)

[samtheq]

Isn't it also true that there were a couple of pygmies living at the London Zoo for several years? I find that mind-blowing, personally.

It must be true; Vivian Stanshall wrote a song about it ("Blind Date")...

brant

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Laughing to self... I WASN'T joking about Al Gore's physical height...;). I WAS talking about his goofy claims to "inventing the internet":rolleyes: :p and his lame-brained global warming hysterics thus making him lacking in stature and thus pygmy-esque.:p And the fact that his energy-guzzling mansion happens to be in Tennessee adds to the comedy.
Actually, Gore never claimed to have invented the internet. A quote of his was taken out of context. He said, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." You can read it in this link (http://sethf.com/gore/) or at the snopes (http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp) website.

Is Global Warming real? Why not ask the experts? (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/02/66651) They seem to think it's real. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4c7db6de-81b7-11d9-9e19-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=d4f2ab60-c98e-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html)

About Gore's supposed huge energy consumption, there are countercharges (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/02/charges_counter.html) refuting that.

I think the things you've mentioned about Gore aren't necessarily true, and therefore I don't think the former VP is "pigmy-esque" (and this is from someone who didn't vote for the guy).

[Studio Toledo]

Made me think of an old Simpsons episode where an Al Gore doll muttered this famous line...

"You are hearing me talk!" :D

[Sogturtle]

Made me think of an old Simpsons episode where an Al Gore doll muttered this famous line...

"You are hearing me talk!" :D

Laughing... ;) Actually there IS an audio recording (which I've heard several times) of Al Gore actually clearly saying the "I invented the internet" line... :eek:

What I wrote before stands (quoting little ol' moi:p )... "Thirty years ago we were being told by magazines and "scientists" that global cooling and a new ice-age were imminent...:rolleyes: It turns out that "scientists" had been alternately cooking up these goofball theories since the 1890's, and first one and then the other would become the accepted view. In the cold reality of things the earth has warmed and cooled several KNOWN times, all without mankind being responsible. Not that long ago the Viking settlers were GROWING CROPS in Greenland. Furthermore there is an ANCIENT MAP of Antarctica:eek: showing it as ICE-FREE and showing mountains and valleys and I believe a river system. Sooooo those were demonstrably WARMER times than even now and that was WITHOUT industrialization or carbon-dioxide emissions."

Those scientists thirty and more years ago were the "experts" at that time and they were flat-out wrong about global-cooling and a "new" ice-age:eek: . These modern alleged "experts" will (unfortunately for them) be proven in time to be just as wrong and will come out looking foolish.

What's more is that planetary warming has been detected on the other planets of our solar-system... BOY we must have some mighty-effective "greenhouse gases" if they're causing warming on the other planets!:p

The thing that gets me is not simply the man's politics but that as a former vice-president (and former presidential hopeful) he is needlessly making himself LOOK foolish. And I don't like ANY former presidents or vice-presidents to look foolish both now and then in the later glare of history.

Chuckling... Maybe to protect their reputations, Presidents and Vice-Presidents should be put under a gag-order when they leave office:p.

And now back to those Tennessee pygmies, hey! maybe that explains my mother's shortness!!:D

[J. J. Hunsecker]

...I don't like ANY former presidents or vice-presidents to look foolish both now and then in the later glare of history.
If you don't like foolishness, then what do you make of this guy, (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1059340916022503805) Tim? I'm guessing that you really don't like him, based on your past statements.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I don't want to derail this into a political debate, but here (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/global-warming-faq.html) is some information on global warming by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

[Sogturtle]

I'd suggest Phillips Verner Bradford and Harvey Blume's book Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo, published by St. Martin's Press. In 1903 missioary Samuel Phillips Verner came to the Congo and brought pygmy Ota Benga to the United States as part of a "specimen-gathering mission" for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, in which Benga was an exhibit.Tourists and scientists poked, prodded, ogled and examined him. He sat on a stool in a cage. The author of the book is the grandson of the missionary.

Doctoon~

Thank you for that information on the real subject of this thread!!:cool:
The things ya learn on a cartoon message board.:)

[doctoon]

Doctoons~

Thank you for that information on the real subject of this thread!!:cool:
The things ya learn on a cartoon message board.:)

You're welcome. I bought the book at the St. Louis Zoo gift shop about ten years ago. It kinda made a downer out of my trip to the zoo, :( but the information I learned from it was priceless. :)

[Treadwell]

It always AMUSES and AMAZES me how it is the chance joke or comment that I come up with that gets attention.;)

Oh, like you didn't throw it out there knowing your intended meaning was so obscure that someone would ask about it, enabling you to go on an off-topic political rant. Well trolled, sir, well trolled.

Can we stay on topic, please (if there is indeed anything left to say about pygmies in the circus)?

[Sogturtle]

Oh, like you didn't throw it out there knowing your intended meaning was so obscure that someone would ask about it, enabling you to go on an off-topic political rant. Well trolled, sir, well trolled.

Can we stay on topic, please (if there is indeed anything left to say about pygmies in the circus)?

Nooooo Treadwell that was most decidedly NOT at all my intent (despite what you might erroneously think). It was JUST a joke that came to me on the spur of the moment because of my mentioning pygmies and the state of Tennessee. I don't always self-censor my sense of humor as much as I should. But it is a pity you think so low of me.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Nooooo Treadwell that was most decidedly NOT at all my intent (despite what you might erroneously think). It was JUST a joke that came to me on the spur of the moment because of my mentioning pygmies and the state of Tennessee. I don't always self-censor my sense of humor as much as I should. But it is a pity you think so low of me.
Why use Gore for your joke? Why not someone like Lamar Alexander (http://www.realchange.org/alexandr.htm) who is also from Tennessee?

[Chow Hound]

Why use Gore for your joke? Why not someone like Lamar Alexander (http://www.realchange.org/alexandr.htm) who is also from Tennessee?Because Gore's a MUCH BIGGER target (have you seen him lately?):eek: