Post #679 by kahukini on Sun, Apr 14, 2002 10:03 AM

Well I'm not trying to describe the participants of 50's cocktail culture as racist or white trash, from what I have seen they were rather cosmopolitan.
We'll just have to agree to disagree about the level of "innocence" however. I agree with your characterization of lightheartedness, humor, whimsical attitude, lack of concern, etc. - but all of this did not occur in a vacuum from what was going on in the wider world. These are still the same americans that were enjoying the greatest boom time in the history of man, fully cognizant of their place as the leader of the free world. The purpose of polynesian pop was as you state not to satirize or patronize polynesian cultures, the purpose was entertainment. We agree on that. But polynesian popsters were aware that they were not being accurate, they were aware that they were using what native peoples considered serious stuff for lighthearted purposes (you can see this in the magazine articles of the times, in the belittling language used to describe the cute polynesians and their darling customs and rituals). And they didn't care. Nor should we. Sure native peoples all over the globe have been ravaged in the wake western society's expansion. But just because your people have experienced the Holocaust in the past doesn't give you the right to quash freedoms for unresponsible people in the future.