Am i politically correct enough?

[Guest taylorsquare]

Well...........watching television last night,a televised live show called "hey hey its Saturday" ,it seems political correctness has really taken hold of our sense of humour.

 

On this live comedy show,which is compered by a comedian,they had the ameuteur silly acts,where contestants are ding donged out by 3 judges and one of them judges was the very Harry Connick jnr,a American singer who hails from the deep south.

 

Anyway,one of the acts was 5 guys whose faces were painted black pretending to be black 1970s disco dancers.

 

One of the judges being Harry connick,then spat the dummy on live telvision saying this is racist and makes black people feel like "bufoons".

The host,Daryl Somers,apologised to him.

He then scored the act "0"

Now its all over the radio ,youtube etc.

 

How far is this taking political correctness?

 

It seems theres no more joking,no telling any irish jokes,jewish jokes,pretending to be black disco dancers etc etc.

 

It even goes as far as the gay community who upset at the word "poofs" etc.

Even political correctness as gone into the workplace with gays introducing themselves as "hi ,im Steve and im gay".

Really why do they need to tell their work colleagues they are gay,and then start complaining they are being discriminated against?

Even these women are using this political correctness,one of my work colleagues was in trouble for reading the "adult section" (adverts listing escorts)of a newspaper when he was in the tea room,a female colleague walked in and whilst making her coffee she noticed it and was horrified,she had to receive counselling!

Another person at my work was complained about by a short haired pants wearing woman because he said the "sky was becoming black" in reference to the weather becoming overcast.

I was standing in the elevator/lift today which was becoming crowded,a business dressed woman forces her way (short hair)in and then looks back at me and shouts,"excuse me,i really need some space,I really dont appreciate men dont standing so close to me."

She thought i was going to get all embarrassed in this crowded lift and apologise,thats what she used to,so i told her,"you got in after me you stupid bitch,if you dont like it,get off at the next floor"!

I know most of you wouldnt care and just apologise or ignore her but women want it both ways,they complain if you dont stand up in a bus for them,i never bother anymore,i have to be politically correct.

At least Thailand doesnt have all this kind of rubbish.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

The banning of black faced entertainers has been long standing. Most, if not all, black people are offended by it. I do agree that some of this PC'ness has gone too far. The woman in the elevator got what she deserved.

[Rogie]

Anyway,one of the acts was 5 guys whose faces were painted black pretending to be black 1970s disco dancers.

 

One of the judges being Harry connick,then spat the dummy on live telvision saying this is racist and makes black people feel like "bufoons".

The host,Daryl Somers,apologised to him.

He then scored the act "0"

Now its all over the radio ,youtube etc.

 

If that is so that blacking up is now considered to be in poor taste one would presume the five guys in question would know that, also the TV station responsible for screening this show could surely have pulled the plug as soon as this dreadful faux pas became apparent, that is before the act got on stage. It sounds to me like a cynical way to get free publicity. So what, it's on You Tube you say; we've all got better things to do than fall for that one.

[Guest taylorsquare]

Well.....maybe,but when it starts affecting you it will be different.

 

I was once in a well known bar in jomtiem and the owner was doing a Al Jolson performance

only to have a audience member,(actually there were only about 5 people there),anyway this guy was talking out loud ridiculing the performance as racist etc.

 

Anyway the owner stopped doing it.

 

When you are "forced" to be politically correct,when Governments bring laws in to stop you from talking about things,say in my country,its illegal for talkback radio to talk about two things,that being smoking and euthansia.

Another law my Government just brought in ,is that you cannot talk on the computer to anyone overseas under 16yo in relation to sexual chat.

You think your living in a free land when we are forced not to say anything about cultures or race,but its ok for these people to force their beliefs on to us?

[Gaybutton]

but its ok for these people to force their beliefs on to us?

In my opinion it isn't. I don't mind changing a little about the way I phrase things if I know the way I had been phrasing it is now considered insulting, but I also pay attention to who it is that is feeling insulted. It is starting to get ridiculous.

 

For example, in the USA it is considered politically correct to refer to Indians as Native Americans. I don't know who came up with that, but for years I lived right next to a Seminole Indian reservation. You know what they want to be called? Indians. They dislike being called Native Americans. So who is this so-called political correctness for?

 

So many words and phrases have changed because of this nonsense:

 

Before - After

trailer - mobile home

toilet paper - bathroom tissue

dump - landfill

doctor - health care professional

old - senior citizen

used car - pre-owned personal transportation

deaf - hearing impaired

crippled - handicapped

problems - issues

midgets - little people

shell shock - post traumatic stress disorder

nervous breakdown - exhaustion

 

The list goes on and on.

 

Not long ago the feminist movement wanted a gazillion words that contained "man" changed to "person." I had no problem with much of that. It doesn't bother me to say "chairperson" instead of "chairman." However, I'll draw the line when CBS starts introducing their late night host as David Letterperson.

[Rogie]

When you are "forced" to be politically correct,when Governments bring laws in to stop you from talking about things,say in my country,its illegal for talkback radio to talk about two things,that being smoking and euthansia.

 

You are joking aren't you? If it is true discussion of these things is banned, welcome back 1984! Euthanasia is one topic I am genuinely sitting on the fence about - it's a hot topic and deserves a full airing to enable people like me to come to an informed and personal decision as to its desirability.

[Rogie]

So who is this so-called political correctness for?

 

Exactly.

 

Does it make the supposed target of an undesirable term feel any better or actually help them to overcome their situation? I would say no, or marginal at best.

 

Many years ago on the London Underground (The Tube) the escalators were inundated with posters and this is what they said: "You say mongol, we say Down's Syndrome". Needless to say, what must have been a very expensive campaign worked. Now very few people still use the term mongol. However, as an adult, I do not like to be told what to do or say; perhaps it reflects badly on me that, at the time, I resented that blitzkrieg.

 

Another tale of PC-madness from The Tube: station announcers were told not to use the word 'due', as in the expression "a train is due in 5 minutes on platform 2", in case it could be confused with a certain ethnic minority.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

What ethnic minority is referred to as "due"?

[Rogie]

Jew

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I have never heard that one.

[Bob]

Another tale of PC-madness from The Tube: station announcers were told not to use the word 'due', as in the expression "a train is due in 5 minutes on platform 2", in case it could be confused with a certain ethnic minority.

 

That's not political correctness in my view, it's just plain idiotic. The words, while they may rhyme, hardly sound alike.

 

As GB intimated, I only pay attention to "political correct" words when I fear I might be offending some group. GB mentioned the Seminoles and use of the word "Indian" in Florida. In my neck of the woods (mid-west US), they specifically dislike use of the word "Indian" and strongly prefer "Native American." That all changed 20-30 years ago, at least around here.

[Rogie]

That's not political correctness in my view, it's just plain idiotic. The words, while they may rhyme, hardly sound alike.

 

Some Londoners pronunciation of the word 'due' is more like Jew than dew, but nobody else was bothered by that. Every accent has its peculiarities. In fact if you wanted to be reverse-PC you could argue it was discrimination against those London station announcers with a local accent.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Some of this gets to be too stupid for words.

[Rogie]

Yes, it does. I can't help feeling that some of these PC fanatics rely on the blurred edges of sense and stupidity to bulldoze their objectives. Once it's entrenched it's very difficult to reverse.

 

The example below falls into one of the more sensible changes of recent years, but I still keep it at arms length because once it becomes part of your everyday speech or thinking you can't go back.

 

I may well be the only person on this Board who still likes to distinguish between Miss and Mrs. I meet a lot of older folk and always establish their title. All the older women I meet would greatly dislike being addressed as Ms.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Here in Thailand it is easier, you just say Khun.