Thank you'Mike Ashley (Hale McKay)' for providing today's discussion. Please email suggestions for next week's MONDAY MEME! Okay, here we go...
One of my pet peeves is "political correctness" and "PC Police." I am not alone when I say it is getting out of hand. It is "Big Brother" gone awry. I call these people the "GPC" - the Gestapo Political Commies."
...The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in The Boston Herald of 3/23, and was on a wire service from London, England.
Teachers at nursery schools in Oxfordshire have asked children to change the words of "Baa, Baa Black Sheep" to "Baa, Baa Rainbow Sheep" to avoid the possibility of offending ... anyone.
...."This type of thing is definitely happening in all parts of the country," Laura Midgley, co-founder of Britain's Campaign Against Political Correctness, told the Cox News Service. "This makes an issue about the color black when there should not be one. It's just a color at the end of the day," she added.
....Nonetheless, as in the United States, the removal of alienating or potentially offensive words is part of a political-correctness drive that has gained momentum across British society.
....This isn't the first time nursery rhymes have fallen victim to Britain's PC campaign. In 2003, the Mothercare chain began selling music featuring a new version of "Humpty Dumpty" in which the ovoid oddball "got up again."
...."Baa, Baa Black Sheep" has nothing to do with race. The nursery rhyme dates back to the mid-1700's and is related to a tax imposed on wool by the King. Black wool was apparently taxed at a lower rate than white wool," said Midgley.
....Verdict: Ewe gotta be kidding!
Kudo's 'to jc's designs'
14 comments:
some people really need to get a life, eh?
I would venture to guess that any syndicated re-runs of the WWII series, Baa-Baa Black Sheep," would be retitled before airing in England.
...Just what Jack and Jill did up on that hill will be called to question.
...Little Jack Horner .. who knows where that thumb had been?
We used to have a restaurant chain here called Sambos. It was taken from the nickname of the founder whose last name was Samborini. This was before the PC Syndrome, but a group of blacks started a boycott of the place because of the old story "Little Black Sambo."
Under duress, he changed the chain's name to "Flying Tiger," but the publicity had its toll. He went out of business within six months, if I remember right.
Do you know, that I have been trying for years to obtain a copy of the Disney film "The Song of the South." Well, apparently because Uncle Remus was a slave, the film is either feared to be or will be considered offensive. This is despite the fact that the film makes no mention of Remus being a slave. It's a wonderful story and I can still hear that song: Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah...
...There's nothing wrong with these people that an AK-47 couldn't cure!
kyahgirl~ you can say that again.
cd~ don't know, is that something like... She is not "EASY" - She is "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE."
mike~ it's gotten to the point of ridiculous here in Michigan. The Eastern MI Hurons were forced to change their name to Eagles. And, I believe some of the other Indian names are also being challenged.
remember when they changed Aunt Jemima's photo in 1989?
Isn't it amazing how things can spiral out of control? Was it Satchel Paige who said, "Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it"?
For more such PC nonsense.
A new set of initials, GPC? Will they wear special arm bands? I liked the MP arm bands I was allowed to wear while in the Army. There is something about positional power.
kyahgirl, I do agree, they need to get a life.
Well, isn't a rainbow sheep for gay rights? Rainbow? You could read anything out of anything if you try hard enough. I say just leave things how they are! There really are black sheep!! There are no rainbow sheep! Keep it real, people!
Hi, I am a karen also.
I have yet to meet someone that is for all this Political Correctness. Maybe because it tends to be some sort of Groupthink phenomena.
OOPS! guess I was *politically incorrect* referring to Native Americans as Indians... Mea Culpa!
jack~ I did get "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE" from your site, too funny!
karen~ Welcome from one great karen to another!
phoenix~ Groupthink phenomena describes it! Next thing you know they'll try to change the name of Michigan, in fact, maybe that could be next Monday's Meme... coming up with new names for my state!
The thought just occurred, are rainbow sheep a part of the Rainbow Coalition? Hmmm!
Great post, Mike, excellent for a spirited dialog as Karen introduced. As far as being PC goes, I think one of the most important and sadly necessary acts of being politically correct in our nation was deeming Ni**er an offensive reference to blacks. But to change the words of a classic nursery rhyme out of context and all of a sudden is beyond absurd and I'd imagine actually insulting to blacks. Oh, btw, it is considered PC to refer to blacks as such because in fact not all "African" Americans are black nor did all blacks herald from Africa.
Sorry, as a brawling belle, I love me a good rant. Thanks for the opportunity, Karen!
(BTW, CD, I got a big kick out of your comment!)
with every passing day, this whole idea of being "politically correct" becomes more and more absurd.
i do agree with the concept of being sensitive to others, but at what point does it become utterly ridiculous? even joking about the "rainbow" colored sheep has probably upset someone's gay-sensitive sensibilities somewhere. yeesh.
in working so hard to maintain the appearances of equality, people are bending over backwards hi-lighting differences. honestly, one of the things i adore about the show south park is the lengths they go to absolutely kick political corectness in the balls (no offense to you readers with balls)...
of course, no one should be defined strictly by what color his/her skin/eyes/hair is, (or, whether or not they have balls) but, by that same token, aren't those the things make us unique? and beautiful in our own right? i have this fear that all these efforts to "sanitize" and/or "decolorize" society will eventually result in turning the whole world taupe. and i don't know about you, but i'm not sure that's actually a color!
i'd like to think it's possible to preserve the cultural differences in society enough to honor them... not create a vocabulary that forces 'em into extinction.
My alma mater changed their name from the "Indians" to the "Redhawks." This seems to be a sweeping new phenomena.
I have heard that the mascot's actions and the tomahawk salute thing was demeaning to Native Americans...I'm not exactly sure how, as I can't recall.
So that really is understandable...but I'm not so sure it was so necessary. Warriors, Blackhawks, Indians, etc...these are just a few mascots in sports, and they've always accentuated the positive aspect of these mascots.
Now, take the "Redskins"...that is more obvious to me.
jack~ have to explore that one.
sar~ I can't keep up with what is the PC way to refer to African Americans. It used to be Negroes, then Blacks, now, I think it's African Americans, but not sure.
puppytoes~ "in working so hard to maintain the appearances of equality, people are bending over backwards hi-lighting differences." Yep, and therefore drawing more attention to it. Remember at Christmas, it was polically incorrect to refer to it as *Christmas*. It's gotten waaaayyyy out of control.
phoenix~ hubby and i were talking about that today... think the tomahawk salute offended because of the whole wild, wild, west thing back in the days when the Native American Indians used them as weapons against people.
Regarding the mascot thing: the Florida State Seminoles (so far) have refused to bend to pressure from the NCAA to change their team name. In fact, the Seminole people in Florida are protesting having the name changed. They are proud of their heritage and are honored that FSU uses their name.
...The NCAA is threatening to ban any school that does not comply by declaring them inelligible to participate in post season events -tournaments, bowl games, etc.
...If other schools took the same stand, the NCAA would have to re-evaluate this move. Imagine if the best teams in the country were the Seminoles, or the Fighting Sioux, or how about the Fighting Irish (next?)and they weren't allowed to play in nationally televised Bowl Games.
...Trust me if the major bowls can't have the best teams, it will have a trickle down effect - people won't watch - TV revenues alone are staggering - if no one is watching, Coca Cola and GM and even Viagara will pull back their checkbooks.
...If this were to happen, who do you think would win: The PC jerks or Schools/TV/Corporate sponsors?
...If is the operative word here. This is a chance to maybe deal a mortal blow to this PC crap once and for all.
Thanks Mike for generating the great discussion today. Looks like it's one of those *hot button issues* that won't go away anytime soon.
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