Current Events > Author tries to cancel apple pie by linking it to genocide of indigenous people

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://nypost.com/2021/06/09/author-tries-to-cancel-apple-pie-by-linking-it-to-genocide/

A UK newspaper is being accused of trying to cancel apple pie by linking it to slavery and the ongoing genocide of indigenous people. In a lengthy examination in the Guardian, author and scholar Raj Patel lists the ways that people are wrong in assuming that nothing could be more American with even the recipe a ripoff of a British pumpkin pie. He then lists at length the sometimes bloody origins of almost every part of the beloved dish from apples, sugar, and even the gingham cloth it is traditionally served with. In the drama of nationalist culture, the bloody and international origins of the apple pie are subject to a collective amnesia, Patel wrote. The apple pie is as American as stolen land, wealth and labor. We live its consequences today, concluded the author, a research professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. The article Food injustice has deep roots: lets start with Americas apple pie details how apples came to the West in the 1500s with colonists and their vast and ongoing genocide of Indigenous people. English colonizers then used apple trees as markers of civilization, which is to say property, he wrote. John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, took these markers of colonized property to the frontiers of US expansion where his trees stood as symbols that Indigenous communities had been extirpated, he wrote.

While the article was published last month, it started going viral this week outraging conservative commentators. I remember when we used to use the phrase the flag, motherhood, and apple pie to signify things about which Americans were unified. It is now an offensive symbol of white supremacy and birthing people,' Ben Shapiro tweeted Tuesday, adding, So I guess were still good with apple pie. Another commentator named John Black wrote, The woke #CancelCulture mob seeks to destroy everything that is American and/or good. Its so absurd it sounds like a parody of #CancelCulture. No such luck, he tweeted. Others joked about imaginary complaints people could have with the sweet treat. And what about people with gluten sensitivity? Apple pie is glutenist AF! one person joked.



---

that's fine, apple pie sucks anyway
i was already not eating it for that reason so cancel away, raj!

---

World, why are you like this?

---

apple pie is gross cancel it

---

these people are nuts

Idk how oxygen hasn't been canceled yet.

---

I'm not reading anything from the Post
---

Damn near everything has some originating tie to racism. That does not mean it is still racist.

Christ, there's an increase in this type of nutjob lately.

---

Lebronwon posted...

A UK

---

Ghosts

...probably drives a Volkswagen.

A UK newspaper

why am i not surprised

---

The point isn't to make people stop eating apple pie...

The point is to show how deeply ingrained racism, violence, and oppression are ingrained into our culture.

---

action52 posted...

The point is to show how deeply ingrained racism, violence, and oppression are ingrained into our culture.

...and then what? Being sad for a few seconds before gorging on pie?

just now realizing my post was very vague, to clarify: People talking about racist origins does not mean they want to cancel apple pie. The historian at no point says we should stop eating pie.

---

So is it still okay to fuck apple pies or not?

---

Questionmarktarius posted...

...and then what? Being sad for a few seconds before gorging on pie?

Right? Why does anyone examine anything? Why not just eat pie?

You're not this basic.

---

__aCEr__ posted...

So is it still okay to fuck apple pies or not?

No. That was never okay.

You should be fucking pumpkin pies instead.

__aCEr__ posted...

So is it still okay to fuck apple pies or not?

Generally you want to wait for them to cool down first
---

Crono99 posted...

There is so much absolutely outrageous stuff being published these days. It's always an attempt to go viral by being as controversial as possible.

It's simpler than that. It's all just getting everyone else to do the clickbaiting for you.

Questionmarktarius posted...

...and then what? Being sad for a few seconds before gorging on pie?

You become a little more aware and possibly educated about the world, that's what. So do you think it's just better to not think about things like that, ever?

---

__aCEr__ posted...

So is it still okay to fuck apple pies or not?

Jason Biggs did it so you can

---

Guide posted...

just now realizing my post was very vague, to clarify: People talking about racist origins does not mean they want to cancel apple pie. The historian at no point says we should stop eating pie.

Clickbait isn't clickbait unless you work the word "cancel" into the article or topic title somehow.

Like, it's perfectly possible to remind people of the historical fact that sugar -- the cocaine of the 18th century -- is a product that was intimately tied up with African slavery in the Caribbean, without insisting that everyone has a moral obligation to switch to Canderel. But then there's this knee-jerk reflex, the automatic, outraged assumption that if the history is being analysed, it means the present is being cancelled.

---

No one said Apple Pie was racist. Some just pointed out how something as nice as apples have been used in racist ways. The people who are upset about this the most are the people who claim CRT talks to much about race. But literally even got dang pie is linked to racism in America.

---

action52 posted...

You become a little more aware and possibly educated about the world, that's what. So do you think it's just better to not think about things like that, ever?

Just seems like all it's worth is some Cliff Claven trivia.
"You do know that Johnny Appleseed just spread smallpox around more than apples, right?"

First I have to ask how is pumpkin pie British when pumpkins come from the America's?

I have to add that if author is correct, this makes apple pie more symbolic of our culture.

https://rajpatel.org/2021/05/04/food-injustice-as-american-as-apple-pie/

---

i see what they mean. planting apple trees everywhere was a sign of "hey we own this land now so now im going to plant apples cuz i can now. lmao bye native americans" basically.

i believe it. when Japan colonized Korea in 1910 or whatever, they literally destroyed forests, and planted Japanese-native plants in an effort to strip the soul of the land away.

its so strange that thats part of the colonizer playbook, but i mean i guess so!

---

Well they're going after food. There we go.

Y'all need to learn to colonial better, fuckin losers

---

Great. More random crazy takes for the conservative outrage machine to talk about for 2 weeks. Good thing they focus on the real news, like plastic potato heads and someone calling a pie racist

---

_BIueMonk posted...

its so strange that thats part of the colonizer playbook, but i mean i guess so!

That's just part of the "I am here now" playbook. When you move into a new house, that bizarre purple carpet is getting replaced as soon as possible.

Cancel water. It's been used to kill people before. And even Hitler drank it!

---

Shocker: no one read the actual text

---

Dreepapult posted...

Cancel water. It's been used to kill people before. And even Hitler drank it!

And Hitler was a human (hard as it's to believe). Therefore, we should cancel humans and uh... go back to monke?
Fuck if I know.

---

_BIueMonk posted...

Shocker: no one read the actual text

I read it. It's still pretty fucking stupid

---

Thompson posted...

And Hitler was a human (hard as it's to believe). Therefore, we should cancel humans and uh... go back to monke?
Fuck if I know.

Think we have to cancel monkeys too. They've seen Hitler at the zoo before and didn't protest.

---

Here's the actual article that discusses it

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/01/food-injustice-has-deep-roots-lets-start-with-americas-apple-pie

It's reasonings are pretty accurate. The British Empire setting down apple trees everywhere as markers that "your shit is now ours. Now enjoy our food and fuck yours" is pretty much a founding part of spreading racism. There's a lot more to it than that, but it's much better to read what is actually the "issue" instead of using The New York Post for anything other than wiping your arse.

---

Funkydog posted...

Here's the actual article that discusses it

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/01/food-injustice-has-deep-roots-lets-start-with-americas-apple-pie

Exterminating the bison herds was vastly more effective at "food imperialism" than planting apple trees everywhere.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Exterminating the bison herds was vastly more effective at "food imperialism" than planting apple trees everywhere.

Sure. But the article is discussing Apple Pie.

---

Funkydog posted...

Sure. But the article is discussing Apple Pie.

Fair