The man with blue skin at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

The man with blue skin

by guest contributor Joanna Eng

Not to further sensationalize a kind of silly morning news story, but did anyone else see the NBC special yesterday morning about Paul Karason, the man with permanently blue skin?

At first I thought it was meant to be a joke, or some sort of racial experiment or parody. But no, Karason actually has had a bluish-purple face for about a decade, due to a colloidal silver concoction he’s been taking as a home treatment for a skin condition he had.

The most interesting part of this story, for me, was the way Karason and his girlfriend discuss his feelings about showing his blue skin in public. What they said on TV this morning, and in this earlier Fox News article, was reminiscent of the way some people of color feel about being minorities in very predominantly white towns:

Karason, who recently moved from Oregon to Madera, Calif., said it hasn’t been easy living with blue skin.

“I do tend to avoid public places as much as I can,” he said.

Karason made the move in hopes of fitting in a little better.

“I hope that they just accept me,” he said, “And I think that will happen here. Where I was, I rather doubt it would have. This is different kind of community here.”

Karason’s girlfriend, Jackie Northrup, said she doesn’t even notice his skin color any more.

“The only time now I really think about it or notice it is if we’re out in public and people start staring,” she said.
It’s obviously an extreme example, but does anyone else see the parallels to real life race relations?

I also couldn’t help but laugh when I thought of this previous Racialicious entry: “I don’t care if they’re black, white, green or purple.”

Trackbacks & Pings

Links: Vegetarian, Violence, Samaritan, Purple People, Voting, Green and Corporations at Trying to follow on 14 Feb 2008 at 3:28 am

[…] “I don’t care if they’re black, white, green or purple.” (but what about Blue?) […]

Comments

Jasmine wrote:

He was on my flight from Chicago to New York last Saturday morning. His girlfriend had a video camera, capturing the boarding process and the surreptitious and not-so-surreptitious glances shot his way.

During the flight, he seemed to be taking a lot of questions/comments from his fellow passengers. Lots of curiosity which he seemed to handle with great aplomb. Or is that “a-plum”? Hee hee.

Posted 07 Feb 2008 at 5:27 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Wow. He’s like John Howard Griffin with a twist…

Wonder if he’ll write a memoir…

Posted 07 Feb 2008 at 5:32 pm ¶
angryyoungwoman wrote:

When I was in the hospital awhile back a nurse was telling me about a patient who had overused colloidial silver and turned herself blue. I thought megadoses that high were fatal, though.
My mom also knew a woman once who turned herself orange by eating nothing but carrots. I guess people really do come in all colors.

Posted 07 Feb 2008 at 11:17 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

I remember when I first heard this story - I couldn’t help thinking: “Why in the world did he take all that silver?!?”

Heavy metal poisoning is no joke [and one of the reasons I’m monitored for Ag intake every year], and I couldn’t believe some of the sites I came across as I googled silver metal poisoning. (top links were for some type of colloidal Ag product for a type of skin problem - more than likely, similar to the product this man used)

Ok - now taking a step back from the obvious side of things - it is definitely interesting to parallel his treatment with Others.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 12:35 am ¶
Spencer Jones wrote:

Argyria (skin greying) from taking colloidal silver is an extremely rare condition. I’ve been taking colloidal silver daily for 12 years now, and my skin is still as white as ever. It is all in the dosage. I watched Mr. Karass on television and he was demonstrating how much he takes to stay infection-free. It is WAY too much. I was fortunate enough to find a “safe dosage” report and http://www.TheSilverEdge.com, which explains a simple formula based on EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) dosage figures for determing the right amount of colloidal silver for your body weight, so you can use it to avoid infection without creating any problems.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 1:02 am ¶
Joanna Eng wrote:

@ angryyoungwoman:
Hey, my mom has also told me she knew a woman who turned orange after eating too many carrots! I wonder if it’s actually a common thing or just a good story to pass along.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 10:39 am ¶
dnA wrote:

It makes me sad that Night Elves are still so stigmatized in today’s society.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 10:42 am ¶
Aaminah wrote:

I’m disappointed by the tone of “it’s his own fault” that is present in some comments. It’s really easy to say he is overdosing on his medication, but since you don’t know the exact nature of his infection and how it played out for him, that is pretty assumptive. How do you know he didn’t base his dosage on doctor’s orders? For that matter, how do you know that his particular condition didn’t require a higher-than-usual dosage? Infection acts differently in different people. Heaven forbid we ever just feel an ounce of sympathy for someone.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 11:12 am ¶
shirky wrote:

I don’t think colloidal silver is actually medication in the common sense of the word.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 11:29 am ¶
Angel H. wrote:

Whenever I see him on the news and he’s talking about how people treat him because of the color of his skin, I’m reminded of that South Park episode where Congress made it illegal to call anyone [some word that meant that person is racist against Blacks…can’t remember]. All the Black people were like, “uhh…wut?”

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 11:51 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

The real message is to be wary of the claims of alternative medicine.

I feel sorry he was taken in by a snake doctor.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 12:12 pm ¶
Colin wrote:

Poor, poor Smurf…

Truly, it may be that his body reacted to colloidal silver and that he took too much. He may have taken what the doctor ordered and the doctor was an idiot. He could be lying through his teeth and just taking colloidal silver because he thought the Blue Man Group was super cool and wanted to be a part. The message I get is that we must remember that he’s still a human and deserving of respect.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 3:06 pm ¶
Colin wrote:

NOTE: My last comment was purposefully hypocritical.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 4:42 pm ¶
hadji wrote:

this is a guy who ingested something that turned him into a color that’s so uncommon in any society that it’s just unusual.

there’s no race of blue people; there’s no indigo heritage and culture being maligned here. this is just a white guy who turned blue for biochemical reasons. nothing more; nothing less.

to read more into it and make it a discussion of bias and skin color does a disservice to actual discussions that need to be had.

i’m sorry the guy turned blue, but that’s all it is. He’s got blue skin, white hair (maybe we should talk about bias again people with white hair?)

and being black and from the south, i’m not ready to give the guy a handkerchief because he gets the random odd stare. Call me when he has issues getting loans, jobs, taxis, equal treatment in the court system, etc.

Posted 08 Feb 2008 at 5:36 pm ¶
Blanky wrote:

Somehow, I predict that this fellow will be having quite the odd time with job interviews and taxis.

Posted 09 Feb 2008 at 10:52 pm ¶
healthslc wrote:

My wife has it and you would not believe what people have said. White, black, yellow, brown, red are acceptable but not blue. It is truely sad that people make fun of others because of their physical color, shape, scars, weight, ordeformities. Thank God that you are normal and take compassion on others.

Posted 20 Apr 2008 at 9:31 pm ¶