Originally Posted by
victoryword
Actually, if anyone ever read Harriet Beecher Stow's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" they would stop referring to subservient people as UNcle Tom. Uncle Tom was anything but subservient. When one of his white owners ordered Tom to beat another slave he refused and was severely beaten for the refusal. Tom was actually a strong conservative Bible believing Christian.
I am starting to think that it might be alright if people start calling me an "Uncle Tom."
What do ya know...
From Wikipedia...
...Epithet
In short terms, Uncle Tom is labeled to persons, similar to "snitch", "betrayer" and "whistle-blower", whose motive is under the impression "That's [practice of slavery] just how the society works", whether the impression is spontaneous or coerced.
The term "Uncle Tom" is used as a derogatory epithet for an excessively subservient person, particularly when that person perceives their own lower-class status based on race. It is similarly used to negatively describe a person who betrays their own group by participating in its oppression, whether or not they do so willingly.[1][10] The term has also, with more intended neutrality, been applied in psychology in the form "Uncle Tom syndrome", a term for the use of subservience, appeasement and passivity to cope with intimidation and threats.
The popular negative connotations of "Uncle Tom" have largely been attributed to the numerous derivative works inspired by Uncle Tom's Cabin in the decade after its release, rather than the original novel itself, whose title character is a more positive figure.[2] These works lampooned and distorted the portrayal of Uncle Tom with politically loaded overtones.[4]