Some items while beaming with pride that I am “Valued Customer 45522302344” at a local grocery store:
WORD GAMES: Labels, I've discovered with age, are a very effective way to “taint” people who disagree with your way of thinking.
Who can forget George Bush's branding of Michael Dukakis as a “card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union” during the 1988 presidential campaign? I don't know about you, but I never looked at Mr. Dukakis the same way again.
These days, the most effective way to taint something is to call it “politically correct.”
No doubt the label “politically correct” has been used to disparage people who are offended by the Pepe's restaurant logo. They don't see why a big-bellied, dark-skinned man wearing a large sombrero and leaning against a cactus would be offensive to anyone.
In an attempt to get an outsider's perspective of the controversy, I e-mailed the Pepe's logo to a former co-worker in California. I asked Fernando Torres to comment on the logo from two perspectives - as a Latino and a graphic artist.
“I don't find it offensive,” Mr. Torres said. “I think it's just boring - at least the image of the fat Mexican guy with the taco. How original. The colors and lettering are nice, but the artist got lazy with the logo and went for the obvious. I would have focused on the sun or one of the dishes the restaurant is known for. The restaurant sign is no more offensive than the ones they have in East Los Angeles, where I grew up.”
OK, so maybe Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of the Toledo-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee, should back off his criticism of Pepe's. Then again, maybe he shouldn't.
“In time,” Mr. Torres said, “[the logo] will be a reminder of how silly narrow-minded people were - much like the old labels that showed African-Americans eating watermelon.”
Lemmon Drops feedback response to last week's column
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Two years ago, for example, WVKS-FM morning-show host Denny Schaffer used a classic racial stereotype when he left a voice-mail message for NAACP local chapter president WilliAnn Moore. In a mocking tone, he invited Ms. Moore out for “ribs” at Denny's. Ms. Moore received two insults for the price of one - ribs (watermelon's first cousin in black stereotypes) and the fact that Denny's had been embroiled in a controversy over service to African-Americans.
So maybe John Skiadis, the owner of Pepe's, isn't politically correct with his logo. But that doesn't mean he is correct, either. Instead of trying to eliminate a stereotype against Mexicans, which is what Mr. Velasquez is trying to do, Mr. Skiadis is reinforcing one.
Mr. Velasquez should be commended for trying to accelerate what is a generations-long process.
HALF A SIX PACK: Three questions this week. In honor of the high-end ticket prices for Jerry Seinfeld's stop in Toledo, I'm offering 76 points for each correct answer. (Note: Click on the link below and check out reader response to last week's questions.)
1) If restaurants at The Docks are so successful that more parking spaces are needed, shouldn't the restaurants (and not taxpayers) foot the bill - up to $500,000 - for the parking-lot expansion?
2) Given that Ohio's oldest inmate is 90 years old, don't you have some doubts that prison is the right place for him?
3) In weighing time investment vs. reward, didn't Toledo get short-changed by the city council's electricity deal that will save residents only $20 per year?
Russ Lemmon's column appears Sundays. Readers may contact him at 1-419-724-6122, or e-mail rlemmon@theblade.com.
First Published August 19, 2001, 12:40 p.m.
