From the "Never Say it Can't Happen in America" file, B. Indigo offers the following insight:

Tweety Bird's defining trade mark alert, "I tawt I taw a putty tat." has gone the way of much classic nostalgic humor we seniors enjoyed in our childhoods. Hysterically pants-wetting funny to countless kids since his cartoon creation (late 40s/early50s?), Tweety apparently is yet another PC victim. Anyone notice the new cartoons have him saying "I thought I saw a kitty cat."? Thereby killing two offensive birds (forgive me, Tweety!) with one censorship stone: elimination of reference to a speech impediment (even baby talk) and a now-unacceptable nursery rhyme word.

Agreed that physical or mental handicaps (sorry, "challenges") should not be mocked. Admittedly rap music has debased Mother Gooses's innocent pussy cat. But Tweety is a baby, for God's sake! Where will it end? I recommend a nationwide email campaign to Walt Disney Studios requesting that they refrain from bowing to the will of Hollywood Political Correctness and give Tweety back his natural personna. Or, how about "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"?

Now THAT would be interesting! I do remember a few years back when Turner Broadcasting had bought the rights to the old Tom and Jerry cartoons, and there was one being rerun on TBS one day which came from the early '40s. It had the proto-Tom called "Jasper" in an episode with Mammy Two Shoes, a stereotypical Negro housekeeper askeert by dem mouses. Now I remember back B.C. (Before Cable) that Mammy had a stereotypical dialect voice to go along wif her fine sef (like the crows in Dumbo), which was either really funny or horribly insensitive.

Insensitive it may be, but when TBS showed it, it had been magically erased and redubbed with the voice of some very professional-sounding white girl. It was certainly the body of Mammy Two Shoes up on the kitchen stool with little Jerry mugging and shaking the bejabbers out of it, but the voice said, "Eek. It is a mouse. Help. Jasper. Come and get this mouse." Might as well have been asking me if I wanted aluminum siding for my house.

Now I'm very sorry, but the scene lost all its integrity without the loud "AAAGGGGGGGHHH!!!!! JASssssssPUH!!!!!!!! DEZ A MOUSE IN HYEH! YOU COME IN HYEH AN GIT DAT MOUSE! AAAAAAAAAAGHGHGHGH!" Of course, equally funny would be "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
posted by Terry at 11:31:00 AM