Political correctness

[JezebelinHell]

I prefer Native American... not because it offends me otherwise but because when I say I'm Indian the first response is, "Indian? you mean from India?"

I understand the confusion caused by the use of Indian but I don't think my first choice would have been Native American. It still makes me cringe and I never say "I am 1/4 Native American". It has never sounded right to me. So, I don't even like the PC term they fixed that one with.

 

[FamoFunk]

Your This isn't true. My mother had a real problem with this a while back, because she teaches Primary School teachers, who of course all came to her when the Daily Mail originally broke the story. The Daily Mail not exactly being renowned for its stellar journalism. The Times picked up on the Mail's story and printed it as fact but there is not a single grain of truth to it, children are not being taught 'baa baa rainbow sheep', nor are their teachers being instructed to teach them a new 'politically correct' version.

So while the rest of your story, fine, this is fear mongering from the Mail.

I hate the Daily Fail, hence no source from them.

Please can you provide a source for what you said about your Mum, I'm sure if it's true it would of been reported somewhere.

 

[similar.squirrel]

The phenomenon is just a massive backlash to the centuries of bigotry that preceded. It should settle down eventually. Let them have their fun, as they say.

 

[Jedoro]

I personally find calling black people "African American" is more ignorant than saying black because not all black people came from Africa.

And because not all African Americans are black.

OT: Political correctness is stupid. Call someone what they are, anything else can be thrown into "slander." Call me brown, I won't give a damn because it's my skin color. People need thicker skin nowadays.

 

[JAY_RAD]

Some rules in political correctness are right because some words are generally frowned upon and can really insult someone especially when the word or saying is emotionly endearing to said person. Otherwise, they should leave the English language alone because pestering people with this petty crap is just going to make everyones tolerence go down, and down, and down.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Your snip

I hate the Daily Fail, hence no source from them.

Please can you provide a source for what you said about your Mum, I'm sure if it's true it would of been reported somewhere.

The story as originally reported by the Daily Mail, from which the Times took it as fact.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-379114/Baa-baa-rainbow-sheep.html

Question resolved on Yahoo answers
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090205071959AATdHEg

Source from link on Yahoo answers, including the full story, all the versions they now sing and the real reasons for the change. From the BBC Education section specifically.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4782856.stm

A discussion forum for Foundation Stage teachers, this was where my mother first picked up the information required when asked about it by her students.
http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=14939

A wikipedia article on the phenomenon, which includes this story specifically, and a whole host more links debunking the claim, and showing where it came from in the Daily Mail as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loony_left#Baa_Baa_White_Sheep

Quote from the appropriate section of the Wikipedia article.
'The "Baa Baa White Sheep" story was a wholesale fabrication'

Enough? I do have more.

 

[JezebelinHell]

I'm highly against political correctness, if only because it insults peoples' intelligence, and assumes that they're unhappy with current terminologies. Anybody who really makes that much of a fuss over a firefighter being called a fireman should have their priorities reevaluated.

Let me guess... White male, age 18-35, and likely from the States?

It's easy to argue against political correctness when you're in the group that society favours above all others.

Although I agree that on the list of the world's problems gendered words probably aren't at the top, I believe political correctness as a whole that is something that is important, especially in professional environments, as it makes a person choose their words carefully and regard others as equals.

I haven't seen a single time where calling somebody an African American makes them seem more equal than calling them black. I agree that an air of professionalism does need to be maintained, it just doesn't need to spill out into traditions and the media that haven't been complained about by sane people.

Heck, even with gender related PC titles all you are doing is calling more attention to the fact that as a woman I am different and need to be coddled because otherwise I cannot cope in a "man's world".
It is only offensive if you give it the power to be offensive. Otherwise they are just words that need to be interpreted with context and tone.

 

[Screamarie]

Someone may have already mentioned this but I learned very recently in a linguistics class that Politically Correct speak actually started as a joke! And then it was taken seriously and then it became a storm of stupidity.

I honestly think that it's more offensive to call someone "something"-American because it's setting you apart. You're some kind of hybrid or wannabe American, not the real thing.

As for people that get offended because I don't say the right word well...you can kiss my ass cause I don't care. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and I certainly wouldn't do something to offend on purpose but...I'm white and people are allowed to call me whitey, white trash, cracker, honkey, redneck so on and so on without anyone ever getting in trouble. No one has to call me German-American and I wouldn't want them to.

Instead of setting everybody apart by color maybe we should just be AMERICANS!

 

[FamoFunk]

Your snip

I hate the Daily Fail, hence no source from them.

Please can you provide a source for what you said about your Mum, I'm sure if it's true it would of been reported somewhere.

The story as originally reported by the Daily Mail, from which the Times took it as fact.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-379114/Baa-baa-rainbow-sheep.html

Question resolved on Yahoo answers
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090205071959AATdHEg

Source from link on Yahoo answers, including the full story, all the versions they now sing and the real reasons for the change. From the BBC Education section specifically.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4782856.stm

A discussion forum for Foundation Stage teachers, this was where my mother first picked up the information required when asked about it by her students.
http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=14939

A wikipedia article on the phenomenon, which includes this story specifically, and a whole host more links debunking the claim, and showing where it came from in the Daily Mail as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loony_left#Baa_Baa_White_Sheep

Quote from the appropriate section of the Wikipedia article.
'The "Baa Baa White Sheep" story was a wholesale fabrication'

Enough? I do have more.

Nope, looks like enough
Thank you anyway, will check them out now!

DM

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I'm highly against political correctness, if only because it insults peoples' intelligence, and assumes that they're unhappy with current terminologies. Anybody who really makes that much of a fuss over a firefighter being called a fireman should have their priorities reevaluated.

Let me guess... White male, age 18-35, and likely from the States?

It's easy to argue against political correctness when you're in the group that society favours above all others.

Although I agree that on the list of the world's problems gendered words probably aren't at the top, I believe political correctness as a whole that is something that is important, especially in professional environments, as it makes a person choose their words carefully and regard others as equals.

I haven't seen a single time where calling somebody an African American makes them seem more equal than calling them black. I agree that an air of professionalism does need to be maintained, it just doesn't need to spill out into traditions and the media that haven't been complained about by sane people.

Heck, even with gender related PC titles all you are doing is calling more attention to the fact that as a woman I am different and need to be coddled because otherwise I cannot cope in a "man's world".
It is only offensive if you give it the power to be offensive. Otherwise they are just words that need to be interpreted with context and tone.

Exactly. I honestly make an effort to use a gender neutral title instead of man or woman, but that's only because it's more encompassing terminology. I don't see how it spares anybody's feelings to do so, or keeps them from being offended.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Political correctness has always been a monumental achievement in repression and stupidity.

Here here!

If I want to call a guy an asshole, i'll say it, not "you dear sir are a buttox cavity".

 

[nolongerhere]

Your This isn't true. My mother had a real problem with this a while back, because she teaches Primary School teachers, who of course all came to her when the Daily Mail originally broke the story. The Daily Mail not exactly being renowned for its stellar journalism. The Times picked up on the Mail's story and printed it as fact but there is not a single grain of truth to it, children are not being taught 'baa baa rainbow sheep', nor are their teachers being instructed to teach them a new 'politically correct' version.

So while the rest of your story, fine, this is fear mongering from the Mail.

I hate the Daily Fail, hence no source from them.

Please can you provide a source for what you said about your Mum, I'm sure if it's true it would of been reported somewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baa_baa_black_sheep#Modern_controversies

Two private nurseries in Oxford did change the words, though not to rainbow. It's never been council or government policy of any kind, it was just blown out of proportion.

Edit: Ninjas. Damn.

 

[Blaster395]

Its better to just call them People or Humans instead of labeling them either African-American or Black or any other term for any ethnic group.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm with Stewart Lee, he calls it 'institutionised politeness', and sure some idiots take it too far, but in the vast majority, political correctness is just trying to stop people using offensive terms when there's others that work just fine.


I think if you asked 1000 people who said they were 'pro PC', over 99% of them would have no problem with 'black','gay' or 'disabled'. However, they probably would have a problem with the terms '******' '******' and 'spaz'.

I think nowadays, many of these 'stories' are flatly made up by the papers, and the ones that aren't are people reacting to fears that they'll appear in the next one.

I grew up in the 80s and remember seeing so much graffiti along the lines of 'wogs out' 'pakis go home' 'die niggers' and crudely drawn swastikas. I'm not going to claim political correctness cleaned that off the walls, but it's certainly less socially acceptable to scrawl racist shit on a wall any more.

As Mr Lee states in that audio clip, if occasionally someone gets in trouble for using offensive language, or someone errs on the side of caution and avoids using the word black for something, isn't that a small price weighed against how much improved life is for the minorities compared with even 20 years ago?

I should be able to have an opinion, because I was cautioned for workplace sexism in my last job. I don't know who reported me, but I bet it was 'Juggs' in accounting.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

I agree with the 'Native American' and 'Mentally Challenged' titles, but the 'African American' one infuriates me. There is nothing at all African about them, and it actually reduces African identity to skin colour, which is in and of itself racist.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

To mess with my own argument however, I remember when Cheryl Cole punched a female bathroom attendant who was working in the nightclub she was in one night.

However, a violent assault wasn't the main part of the story, the headlines and bold print was all about her using the words 'black *****' as she drove her fist into another woman's face.

Now I can't help but feel a violent attack should always be seen as worse than a verbal one. Isn't punching someone in the face worse than calling them black, even if it was meant in anger?

Yet the papers mainly got excited about the chance to label a 'celebrity' as racist.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

OP snip

I was playing Fallout NV, and my cousin walked in while i was talking to a Ghoul lady.

He screamed "OH God, what is that thing?!"
"SHE is a Ghoul" I answered.
"Why are you talking to it?"
"Why am i talking to HER!"

Am I PC-crazy? You tell me.

OT: Just don't use those words as insults, is all i say. "Dude that's Retarded" is fine, "Get outta here, Retards aren't welcome" (to an actual handicapped person) is not fine. That's how i see it.

 

[FMAylward]

To quote my nan (grandmother)

?I'm not black I'm brown?

While that will be the most correct colour to describe my nan I would be willing to bet no offical will ever call her that.

 

[flangleelgnalf]

hmm... i live in Salem, OR and except for the "everyone is different, respect those differences" posters at my school i don't really encounter too much over-the-top political correctness.
however i have met one person who didn't like me using the word gay to mean lame...so i started saying "blatantly homosexual" instead, just to annoy him.

 

[robot slipper]

I think some terms are better the way they are now, for example "retard" which has become more of an insult rather than a description of someone's actual condition (Special Needs is the PC alternative). In the UK it is ok to call black people black, it is the word "coloured" that is considered offensive. In fact on any form you fill in for the doctor, electoral roll etc., the etnic category is "Black British".

The thing I hate is scaremongering by the tabloids, especially around Christmas when they claim that NO ONE will be able to put up Christmas decorations because it will offend non-Christians! Ugh.