Posted by:
Brother Of Jerry
(
)
Date: May 17, 2019 01:02AM
Hi. I'm back. Did some research on the history of fist bumps.
But first, some more about music and racism and BYU. I was in the dorms, and my floor head resident was also the chair of the BYU central dance committee or whatever it was officially called. Kids were starting to do dances where the partners did not touch, and there was way too much gyration than the Board of Trustees (the Q15) could countenance.
As I recall (and I don't claim to recall it very well. I went on a mission in the middle of all this) dances were tightly controlled in 1965, and dance monitors would ask students to leave if they were too suggestive.
That went over like a lead balloon, and the next year I believe dances were banned on campus altogether, except maybe formal dances. I think Brian Waterman did a book about the history of BYU protests or something. Perhaps that has the details. I believe one of the places created by that ban was called "The Blue Terrace". Anyone remember that place?
I just googled "Ezra Taft Benson jungle music" and got plenty of hits. People like Ezra and Mark E Peterson unselfconsciously referred to rock and roll as "jungle music".
Here, this is from 2011, but it quotes Ezra. This will give you a feel for the mood of the times and the level of dog-whistle racism about savage "jungle music" arousing animalistic passions yada yada yada.
https://www.mormonchronicle.com/satans-music-rock-and-other-babylonian-hymns/But back to fist bumps.
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1812102,00.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_bumpLooks like there are several origins. It was popular and cricket players in India, and later spread to the world cricket community. It was also used in boxing and hockey because of the gloves. Tiger Woods adopted it after botching a high-five on national television, and found a fist bump more manageable.
Jordan made much up-thread about a fist bump being inherently hostile and a symbol of aggression. This seems absurd if you've actually seen a fist bump. The circumstances seem considerably more convivial than the average handshake. Rather than hostile, it looks to me like a sign of congratulation, with a strong overtone of the fist symbolizing "I got your back, bro". In fact, "bro fist" is one of its nicknames.
The most famous fist bump ever was between Barack and Michelle Obama in june 2008, when he was running for president. Fox News host E D Hill called it a "terrorist fist jab". Fox later apologized for the comment.
SLTrib editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley did a semi-famous cartoon about the incident, which he went on to used as the cover cartoon/title of a collection of his cartoons: The Fist Bump Heard 'Round the World.
https://www.amazon.com/Fist-Bump-Heard-Round-World/dp/0980140625Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2019 01:08AM by Brother Of Jerry.