Slog - Comments on Would You Trust This Dark-Skinned Nanny With Your Perfect White Child? http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this Today's Seattle Times' Life and Arts section has an ad for a background-check company called Intelius. The ad shows a dark-skinned "nanny" with a dark, frizzy pony-tail loading two perfect-looking blond-haired, blue-eyed kids into a white minivan in the suburbs. The back of her tank top reads: "Nanny for Hire. 3 Drunk Driving Convictions." The TV ad, which features the same scary, dark-skinned convict, dispenses with subtlety altogether, showing the woman (who appears to be Hispanic) marching her perfect white charges through the perfect white suburbs and strapping them, doe-eyed, into the back seat of a van. (It also includes... Copyright 2008 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:32:20 -0800 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:25:43 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by trainwreck Hispanic isn't even a racial catagory. Hispanic could be black, could be red-headed and easily sunburned. What about her "appears to be hispanic" versus, say, Italian, Israeli, or German?

Who's the one with the race issue here?

]]> trainwreck http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548087 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548087 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:51:18 -0800 Comment by Andrew Wow, I watched that and didn't notice what you said at all. She didn't seem that dark skinned (certainly not like the typical indigo mexican immigrant), his car didn't seem that sporty (it's an audi a4 maybe?) and I think that little girl actually has green eyes...

I think the hang up is yours, Ms Barnett, not intelius's.

]]> Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548096 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548096 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:09:35 -0800 Comment by Andrew Wow trainwreck beat me to the exact same point...

]]> Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548099 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548099 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:11:07 -0800 Comment by David in Wedgwood For what it's worth, Intellius is owned by Naveen Jain, founder of InfoSpace who is Indian and very darked skinned.

]]> David in Wedgwood http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548103 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548103 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:22:25 -0800 Comment by him I agree with both Trainwreck and Andrew. I think the hangups are Erica's. In her commercial, the man with the toolbox would load the kids in the A4 ("Ask me about my murder convictions"), the not-bright-white woman would drive the pickup truck ("Ask me about being arrested for protesting racial injustices"), and the man would drive the minivan ("Ask me about being arrested on charges of consensual homosexual sodomy in Oklahoma").

]]> him http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548105 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548105 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:24:36 -0800 Comment by Orson The backstory is that childcare workers are desperately low paid. They might well come from a social milieu that leads them into crime and substance abuse. The problem isn't with reference checking, it's with our increasingly Third World society - the rich get richer, and the poor guilty of being poor.

]]> Orson http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548106 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548106 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:24:48 -0800 Comment by DOUG. Looks like a bunch of whiteys in the 'burbs to me. Stick to ragging on the urban cripples.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548114 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548114 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:42:06 -0800 Comment by charles since when did erica have a problem with stereotypes? The line "a dude in a red sports car with a “long history of domestic violence”—speaking of stereotypes" could have been right out of one of her male-bashing posts.

obviously Naveen is still to blame because he's a man. It's the patriarch's fault.

]]> charles http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548118 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548118 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:50:10 -0800 Comment by David Schmader Still, you gotta love that "buy one, get one free" offer...

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548294 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548294 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:17:13 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi Of course, the reality is that only very wealthy (usually white) parents can afford private nannies, and many/most of those nannies are not white.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548420 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548420 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:30:00 -0800 Comment by Not Seeing It... I watched the ad preparing to see egregious racism...ummm...where is it again? I think you're looking to hard at this one, Erica.

]]> Not Seeing It... http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548470 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548470 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:34:12 -0800 Comment by GoodGrief Just more of the usual Erica racial/gender lunacy. ORSON, on the other hand, actually has a cogent point...

]]> GoodGrief http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548536 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548536 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:41:32 -0800 Comment by Sean Oh my god, someone please stop her. She's making the rest of us lefties look bad.

]]> Sean http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548753 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548753 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:55:24 -0800 Comment by Sean P.S. to Orson and Keshmeshi:

You know nothing of nannies. In Seattle, almost all nannies are white or Asian women, mostly 20-somethings from UW Capitol Hill, and they make between $12-$18/hour tax free. That's a net of $40,000 a year at 30 hr/week, and it's 3 times what I made as a 20 something grad student (though I did have health insurance).

]]> Sean http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548929 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548929 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:09:30 -0800 Comment by Angry armenian The woman in the video is obviously Armenian. When will the persecution of Armenians stop?

]]> Angry armenian http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548999 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c548999 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:16:55 -0800 Comment by ANGRY GREEK Come on, she is clearly Greek. End anti-Hellenism now!

]]> ANGRY GREEK http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549009 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549009 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:19:58 -0800 Comment by L This reminds me of that sketch in Amazon Women on the Moon where Rosanna Arquette runs a background check on sweet little Steve Guttenberg and finds out he's too lame to go out on their blind date...

]]> L http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549052 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549052 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:32:42 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA Everyone in the commercial but one is thoroughly WASP. The nanny might have been Hispanic... or perhaps Italian or Greek, or perhaps she just spends part of her hard earned money on tanning booths.

Erica, most of the time I think you're right on, but in this case, I think you're reaching.

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549053 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549053 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:34:29 -0800 Comment by torrentprime Sean, that's nifty, but not all of the country looks like Seattle. In many parts of the US, minorities make up a huge portion of the nanny workforce. Anyway, Erica isn't it possible that Hispanics (or, you know, whatever dark skin that Erica wants to morph into racism-attracting Hispanic hue) are in fact nannies? And why should every "bad guy" in every ad, in every photographic depiction, always have to be white?

]]> torrentprime http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549069 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549069 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:56:06 -0800 Comment by Charles parev, fifteen ;)

]]> Charles http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549076 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549076 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:09:14 -0800 Comment by Papayas I would not have necessarily thought that the nanny was Hispanic (or Latino) but I do appreciate the post. Someimes, I don't notice something until, it is pointed out to me. Also, when someone says something that I don't agree with I don't get all pissy and accuse them on being man-haters. I find it interesting that when ECB points out what she believes is injustice people get their panties in a bunch.

Also, just because someone is Indian (or another person of color) doesn't mean that they cannot have their prejudices.

]]> Papayas http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549738 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c549738 Media Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:01:06 -0800 Comment by Tahn Remember, everyone, you can't trust anybody at all! Make sure you do thorough background checks on all those untrustworthy, dangerous strangers you deal with in life!

The existence of this company is terrifying. Welcome to the culture of fear. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your handgun closest of all.

]]> Tahn http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c554032 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/12/would_you_trust_this#c554032 Media Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:25:43 -0800