Poll: PC gone too far, or is it offensive?

[42]

Well if everyone has not heard yet, the co-creator of The Office, Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show, and the upcoming Life's Too Short Ricky Gervais has been in the press because of his use of the word, Mong in his Tweets.

Now up until he went back on twitter his use of the word mong had gone completely unnoticed.

RANT INCOMING (well basically personal opinion.
Personally is it just me or have the British press overreacting and are completely pathetic?

Now people have said Mong is a shortened form of Mongoloid, who the fuck came up with that sort've term to call someone with Down Syndrome? but let's look at how this offensive term is used. In Hong Kong, theres a frisking town called Mong Tu. don't see the PC brigade complaining about the towns insensitivity. Now before i started listening to the Ricky Gervais show, i always thought Mong was a shortened version of Mongolian. call it whatever you like, but since the word has different meanings you can't really complain that it's offensive.

Let's put it this way, you'd never call someone with Down Syndrome a mong. However when someone is stupid or acting it, you'd called them a mong.

i dunno maybe I'm over-analysing the words definition.

but maybe in medieval times the village idiot was a term to describe the towns mentally disabled person? over time things change.

and maybe it's because the press spends so much time condemning something so stupid real issues aren't being addressed because they're too worried about what a comedian is saying.


so has PC gone too far? or is Ricky Gervais out of his boundaries?

 

[Watchmacallit]

I've never even heard the term before. PC has been too far for a long time, white is fine but I can't call a person black?

Also, you should define PC, eg. Political Correctness (PC). Just a tip.

 

[exarkunsith]

i always throught mong was short from Mongolian (a person from Mongolia), so yeah.

OT: Considering that the english newspapers are much more tabloid then what i am useed to I'm not sure if its PC gone wrong or he went to far.

(grammar and point aking no snece due to little sleep.)

 

[Vegetunks9000]

The word has changed it's meaning. Many words have changed their meaning. Or have dual meanings. The word ****** is an offensive word towards Gay people. But its also a type of meatball and gravy i eat here in the UK. He also explained this a while ago on his Science stand up.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I don't think this is a case of PC gone mad, for as long as I can remember using the term mong has been considered offensive especially because of the words association with people with mental disorders. At least thats what it was like where I grew up. Though I think Gervais was very stupid using a word that can spark off offense like this all for the sake of a bad pun, there are times you are better not saying anything.

 

[WolfThomas]

Now people have said Mong is a shortened form of Mongoloid, who the fuck came up with that sort've term to call someone with Down Syndrome?

John Langdon Down, the guy who first characterized it, because he thought they shared characteristics with the Mongol people (the folds around the eyes in particular). That said I've never ever heard any one actually use that word so I don't know.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

The word has lost it's potency over time, I feel. Back in the late 80s/early 90s 'mong' was a very, very offensive term. If you wanted to start a fight with someone in '91, all you had to do was call them a mong. But now the word has become less offensive, with the phrase 'you stupid mong' being viewed as being about as offensive as 'oh you silly person'.

So in other words, whilst I think people are overreacting, I can see how said people could do so.

 

[Savryc]

Not once in the 20 years of my life have I heard or used the word Mong as an insult for people with Down Syndrome. It's along the same line as idiot or moron. Once again I'd like to level a big fuck you to the Older British Generation, stop actively hunting for things to be offended by so you can ***** and moan about it you worthless wastes of skin.

 

[wooty]

Haha, mong, not heard/used that one in years.

To be honest, yes, the world has become faaaar too sensitive. Use of certain words, doing certain activities, showing certain programmes ect. Hell, just look at the mayhem that breaks loose when somebody doesnt like a game someone else does. THE HORROR!

 

[Woodsey]

"but let's look at how this offensive term is used. In Hong Kong, theres a frisking town called Mong Tu. don't see the PC brigade complaining about the towns insensitivity."

Regardless of whether I agree with it or not, if you think that's meant to be a serious argument in your favour, then you need to think again.

"call it whatever you like, but since the word has different meanings you can't really complain that it's offensive."

Of course you can.

 

[orangeban]

You've never heard of the term mong? Huh, I thought it was pretty common.

Anyway, I'd say it is offensive, in the same way saying lame or retard is offensive, since it does refer to a mental illness.

 

[42]

"but let's look at how this offensive term is used. In Hong Kong, theres a frisking town called Mong Tu. don't see the PC brigade complaining about the towns insensitivity."

Regardless of whether I agree with it or not, if you think that's meant to be a serious argument in your favour, then you need to think again.

"call it whatever you like, but since the word has different meanings you can't really complain that it's offensive."

Of course you can.

hey i said it was a rant, evidence and points made aren't necessarily backable by anything because it's something thats bugging the shit out of me. and trust me that wasn't a serious argument but it points out the word is used everywhere. not in context though. again it wasn't a serious point. see the disclaimer of RANT.

you do have a point though. but i can't make a complete perfect argument as the whole thing is a minefield.

 

[LilithSlave]

I dislike that people have started saying that Mongoloid shouldn't be used to refer to anyone because of associations with Down's Syndrome. Instead, Down's Syndrome should have never been associated with a historical definition of race in anthropometry. Not to mention as a term inspired by Mongolians, a people who had an even greater empire in antiquity than "Alexander the Great" whom Westerners revere, should never have been associated with Down's Syndrome. The Mongol's Empire was so great that even many Polish people have Mongolian descent. The Mongols were just that great. They're probably the only ethnicity, before Western colonialism, that came anywhere close to conquering the world. And if they didn't fall, we all might be speaking Mongolian right now instead of English.

Furthermore, people may be offended by the term "Mongoloid" and this it is a stupid and racist sounding old, outdated term for race, and that the Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid races do not exist. However, they aren't any worse than referring to people with long noses with big nose-bridges as "white", a color, for not reason. And referring to people that have an epicanthic eyefold and a generally flatter or less angular face as "Asian" or "Yellow", a location and colour. I may not like the term "Mongoloid" either. But it seems to at least make a slight bit more sense than referring to the facial features of someone as a colour or location. There are plenty of people in Asia who don't look any different from Europeans, even some East Asians. I've seen some Ainu who could pass for a native Italian. And calling someone, based upon their shape of their face, a location, implies that a "black" or "brown" person can't be Asian. Like that black people can't be Korean, or that Korean people can't be Scottish(ha! reference), and so on and so forth.

Instead of stopping people from using terms like "Mongoloid" to refer to a race of people, shouldn't people be more focused on promoting not using something stupid like using Mongoloid to refer to people with Down's Syndrome, who don't look anything like typical East Asians?

All terms for race are stupid to begin with. There's no point in collecting facial features slightly more common in certain regions of the world together. Especially not in an increasingly global and mixing society.

"These terms are still used because of cultural necessity" you say? "They still exist because racism still exists", you say? Eliminate it. Racism doesn't need to exist. And the implication here is that racism and many of the cultural constructs around race that hold people back are based around specific definitions of race we still have today. And if they're gone, racism will be gone. It's time we reach for an age where we forget these stupid terms. If that means eliminating racism, great. I'm tired of people even disagreeing with me on this by saying "no, they don't need to go, racism still exists. This is naive." Sure, they serve a purpose, but not any good purpose. And it seems pretty ridiculous to think that it would promote and worsen racism in the world if we forget racial distinctions between people.

 

[Dags90]

"call it whatever you like, but since the word has different meanings you can't really complain that it's offensive."

Of course you can.

I think he even admits that the word has offensive connotations when he says you "wouldn't call someone with Down's Syndrome" a mong.

That's so...backwards. The word itself refers to the epicanthal folds and flat nasal bridge common in people with Down's Syndrome, giving them a mild "Asiatic" appearance.

Not to mention that Down's Syndrome encompasses so much more than intellectual disability. It's an insulting glossing over of Down's Syndrome to characterize it solely based on actual or perceived intellectual shortcomings. It ignores the serious reality that most people with Down's Syndrome rarely see their 60's due to the other complications.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

I think there is an excess in over reaction here...
Bets on the fact that maybe even the news networks and the general press did not know what this meant when first heard.
While it is slang, it's also akin to the word "Guido", which has changed to a new meaning.

 

[Liberaliter]

There will always be some people who are offended by something. If we criticise Gervais for using mong then maybe we should start having a go at everything else which offends people, which happens to be next to everything.

 

[vivster]

i had no idea that such a word existed
thus proves that a word is only a word until your own mind gives it a meaning

also how can you answer an "X or Y" question with yes or no?

 

[oktalist]

PC has been too far for a long time, white is fine but I can't call a person black?

Of course you can. Please show me one instance of someone in the public eye within the last ten years expressing the opinion that you shouldn't call a person black.

It's "it's political correctness gone mad" gone mad!

EDIT: Oh, you're in Australia, forget I said anything.

 

[6unn3r]

Ricky Gervias isnt as funny as he thinks he is imo. I didnt find the office funny and his stand up show Animals was the only one i laughed at. He can say what he likes, i dont have to listen to him.

And dont even get me started on James Cordon.