Political Correctness Gone Mad

[Eskay]

Golliwogs, remember them? If they were white, people would have let them off, but NOOOO, political correctness strikes a blow again.

Ugh, really?

Okay, Golliwogs are stereotypes of black people as inferior, thieving and ugly. Of course its an offensive caricature. You really care that public use of the image is being ended. Its not as though they're coming into your house and stealing your golliwog toys.
You say 'people' would have let them off it it was white?

I never said white people, I was actually showing that people look into things to hard, as in, people who LIKE political correctness too much.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/AreYouReallySellingThat.jpg/450px-AreYouReallySellingThat.jpg That's not racist in my opinion!

Racism is always in the eye of the victim. In the days of slavery it wasn't thought of as racist to enslave Africans and set them to work in the fields. Does that mean it isn't? I'm not saying that your opinion is invalid, just that you should try and look at the situation from other points of view.
Aside from, that the image itself is one thing, the caricature that was depicted using that image is another that adds to the problem.

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

In New Zealand feminist groups got manhole changed to personhole. I feel this is kind of retarded because we still use the word mankind, not personkind.

Lies... I know because I live there

 

[fenixrising]

in some business circles they replaced the word brain storming (so not offend anyone with aquired brain injuries) to mind harvesting.
honestly you can't make this stuff up!

 

[Zorg Machine]

I'm calling bullshit on pretty much every post in this thread.

1. No credible link to prove.
2. Mysterious 'they' instigating changes.
3. This stuffs just to ludicrous.

Please though, prove me wrong.

I have one that is absolutely true (though slightly justified) in Sweden we can't say neger bollar anymore (n*gger balls) we have to say chocolate balls.

 

[Zorg Machine]

Now read it again while mentally undoing the auto-replace feature that was enabled. Change "African American" to "Black"

sry for the double post but this............I honestly can't stop myself from hoping that I have a tumor affecting my eyesight since that would be preferable to what I'm reading here

 

[jebussaves88]

When recently a high school in California changed St. Patrick's day to Potato Day.

I'm actually insulted by that. Assuming everyone in Ireland has potatoes. It's a racial stereotype. Is it just me, or are many political correctness actions actually insulting?

 

[CrazyFikus]

I'll be honest here, I'm not sure if this is for real but...
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/03/us-federal-reserve-funny-money.html

 

[bawkbawkboo1]

When recently a high school in California changed St. Patrick's day to Potato Day.

Jon Stewart played a clip of Fox talking about this on TDS. link:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=223862&title=Baracknophobia---Obey

 

[Svenparty]

Brainstorm becoming Thought Shower is not only something a five year old must have ordered but also makes you wonder if the world has any hope.

 

[manicfoot]

Well, in England some towns have banned Santa's Grotto's from shopping centres because it 'could be offensive to muslims'. Political correctness seriously annoys me, which is why I pride myself on wearing offensive t-shirts

 

[beholdmycape]

Political Correctness in general is retarded.

OIMFG WORDS!?

Not really. It springs from the right impulse, you'd be surprised by the power of words and language.
But yeah, it can get way out of hand. Common sense needs to be applied and that can seem in short supply sometimes.

 

[Fablaam]

Indian Red Crayons.

Well actually, as a Native American I'm kinda insulted by that.
But yeah.

 

[peter-lavalle]

Few years ago, there was this rumour; some office in Harvard decided "coloured people" placed more emphasis on a person's colour than their humanity. So there was a memo, the usual grumbling, and then one student re-labeled a paper drawer "paper of colour."

They expelled him.

 

[Alex_P]

The Taiwanese Olympic team actually represented "Chinese Taipei".

That's because China doesn't like it when other countries formally recognize Taiwan. There is no Taiwanese embassy in D.C., only a "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office". There is no American embassy in Taiwan, only an "American Institute in Taiwan". When a citizen of Taiwan visits China, Chineses authorities issue him a special fake Chinese passport that mirrors his Taiwanese passport because the government notionally doesn't recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state. It's all obscuration and legal fictions.

When recently a high school in California changed St. Patrick's day to Potato Day.

SOURCE ME THIS SHIT. NOW.

I was able to find this follow up article:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/13/breitbart-jon-stewart-and-kumar-go-to-white-house/
Excerpt:
The "joke" was that these right-wing zealots weren't giving the new president enough time, that the previous president did worse things, and that I, in particular, was ridiculous for blaming the president for "St. Patrick's Day" becoming "Potato Day" at my kids' public school. (Yes, the name change took place. No, I did not blame President Obama ? specifically.)

Well, the real joke is that this was done by a few idiots who think that "Potato Day" is somehow more respectful than "St. Patrick's Day", because they recall that Ireland has something to do with potatoes but don't seem to actually remember that the cultural association is the result of a goddamn national tragedy.

Freedom Fries. That was just silly.

This is the politicization of language but it's not "political correctness". The intent here was a political attack.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/AreYouReallySellingThat.jpg/450px-AreYouReallySellingThat.jpg That's not racist in my opinion!

That costume is straight out of a minstrel show.

-- Alex

 

[Agayek]

From TVTropes:

The book The Language Police by Diane Ravitch provides many Real Life examples of absurd politically-correct censorship in children's textbooks and reading tests. Material forbidden by "anti-bias" committees included:

* Women sewing, cooking, or doing other household chores;
* References to mice, rats, insects, reptiles or other animals that might disturb children(also references to owls, because some cultures consider them a bad omen);
* A story about a blind mountain climber(because it implied that blindness makes life more difficult);
* A "silly old lady"(lest this be taken as a stereotype of all old ladies);
* Prehistoric creatures or fossils(because evolution could be controversial);
* Any references to wealth, poverty, or social class distinctions;
* Any references to specific religions or their traditions, or specific secular traditions like birthday parties(lest this alienate children who don't celebrate them);
* Any references to specific geographic regions or their landscapes or climates("regional bias");
* Any portrayal of anyone that could be construed as the least bit stereotypical, such as Asians being intelligent or girls finding math difficult? the board favored using the reverses of these stereotypes.

...

Is it just me, or does that list encompass the entirety of human literature?

 

[Agayek]

Political Correctness in general is retarded.

OIMFG WORDS!?

Not really. It springs from the right impulse, you'd be surprised by the power of words and language.
But yeah, it can get way out of hand. Common sense needs to be applied and that can seem in short supply sometimes.

Words have absolutely 0 meaning, unless you give it to them.

If some fuckwit calls you something, you're well aware he's a fuckwit. His opinion means literally nothing. Words can only do what you allow them to. Ignore the opinions of the stupids of the world and they do nothing.

 

[beholdmycape]

Political Correctness in general is retarded.

OIMFG WORDS!?

Not really. It springs from the right impulse, you'd be surprised by the power of words and language.
But yeah, it can get way out of hand. Common sense needs to be applied and that can seem in short supply sometimes.

Words have absolutely 0 meaning, unless you give it to them.

A language only exists because the words within it are assigned a meaning, often multiple different ones depending on context, tone of voice etc. If they had 0 meaning you wouldn't be able to express your opinion that they have no meaning.

 

[SnowCold]

here in the netherlands, we had some cookies that were called: jodenkoeken (means jewcookies in english), it was an official brand, as it were cookies traditionaly baked by jews, and wich, all over the country, almost everybody liked. now, here it comes, some NON jewish person decided to start a court case against that name, as it was *insulting*. where does it ends? Will the next step be on putting a ban on *itallian pizza*?

Maybe he is a Neo-Nazi and he thinks the cookies are too good to be named after the jews

 

[beholdmycape]

Now read it again while mentally undoing the auto-replace feature that was enabled. Change "African American" to "Black"

sry for the double post but this............I honestly can't stop myself from hoping that I have a tumor affecting my eyesight since that would be preferable to what I'm reading here

That's fucking insane

 

[Agayek]

Political Correctness in general is retarded.

OIMFG WORDS!?

Not really. It springs from the right impulse, you'd be surprised by the power of words and language.
But yeah, it can get way out of hand. Common sense needs to be applied and that can seem in short supply sometimes.

Words have absolutely 0 meaning, unless you give it to them.

A language only exists because the words within it are assigned a meaning, often multiple different ones depending on context, tone of voice etc. If they had 0 meaning you wouldn't be able to express your opinion that they have no meaning.

You're ignoring the rest of what I said. Words have no meaning unless you willingly give it to them. If the source is some random fuckwit that's calling you names because of your race, creed, sexuality, or general appearance, then you know he's a fuckwit and nothing he says will ever be important. Ignore everything he says, and his words no longer have meaning.

What I'm trying laboriously to get at is that people are different, and with those differences some people will put down/oppress/belittle others because they need to feel better than them. Giving these people the power of valid opinions does nothing but help them. Ignore the fuckwads, and if they resort to violence in a desperate attempt to retain their perceived superiority, beat them to death with their own spines. Don't help them splinter humanity into different groups.