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TONGUE TIED ARCHIVE
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October 22, 2005Doll Incorrectness
The busybodies of this world have always hated Barbie dolls but now even the language you use to talk about dolls has come under fire -- using some very far-fetched reasoning (if you can call it reasoning). Apparently you can't "adopt" dolls. As the following excerpt notes:
"A popular toy-marketing campaign, in which girls browse through hospital-style nurseries to choose a lifelike doll to "adopt," has come under fire from prominent adoption advocates who say the program - featured at scores of stores nationwide - conveys a harmful notion that adopted children are salable commodities".So something that appeals to the natural motherly instinct of little girls is now incorrect. Why am I not surprised? Could it be that all political correctness is primarily aimed at upsetting ordinary people rather than helping anybody?
Can you Refer to a Sports Team without Using its Name?
It seems you can in Kansas City -- particularly if the team concerned is the Washington Redskins. The Kansas City "Chiefs" recently had a win over the "Redskins" but the Kansas City Star referred to the losing side only as "the Washington team". That there are all sorts of teams for all sorts of things in Washington did not bother them apparently. The excerpt below explains the reason behind this insulting behavior.
"In a story about the protest, the paper said, "The Star's policy is not to use Washington's team name because it is a racial slur."And what about the "Chiefs"? The paper wrote that, "the Chiefs were actually named for former Mayor H. Roe Bartle -- known as The Chief -- who was key in getting the team to come to Kansas City in the 1960s."
A racial slur? I thought "Redskins" conveyed an heroic image! Why else would a sports team have adopted it? I don't think they meant to portray themselves as primitive morons, do you? Or is it a slur to portray someone as heroic these days? I guess it is in certain loony Left circles.
I get pretty red in the face myself at times so maybe the Redskins will have to come up with a story that their original coach got red in the face a lot when he was coaching them and so they are really named after him. It would be no sillier than the present farce.
Update
A reader has emailed me with the following sarcastic comment on the explanation given for the name "The Chiefs":
"So I guess the former Mayor was a participant in the sport of primitive archery since that's the arrowhead that's been on the side of the helmet forever".
Freedom From Offense
Diversity stormtroopers at Ole Miss are asking students to stop using the phrase "the South will rise again" when the band plays Dixie at football games because they say it's hurting the school's reputation, says The Daily Mississippian.
Opponents of the phrase say it represents a piece of Ole Miss' history that offends many groups on campus, including blacks. It also encourages stereotyping, they say.
"We are not saying don't say this, but we are saying please don't say it at this time," says Eruke Ohwofasa, executive director of Diversity Affairs at the school. "Yes, everyone has a right to free speech, but everyone also has the right to go to a football game without being offended by what the person next to them says," she said. "After all, it was the South's battle cry towards the end of the Civil War."
'Lady' Sings the Blues
Local government officials in a town in England have been informed that use of the words "lady," "ethnic" and "elderly" should all be avoided when referring to constituents lest they offend someone, says the Yorkshire Post.
The Corporate Equalities Unit of the Hull Council in York sent out an email to employees containing a long list of potentially offensive terms. Terms such as "foreigner" and "darling" were lumped in with words like "dyke" and "spastic."
Conservative councillor John Fareham said he was insulted by the list.
"My employees have just told me I can't call a lady a lady," he said. "To me, not calling a lady a lady is an insult, and to further say it is as unacceptable as genuinely derogatory terms for ethnic minorities is appalling.
Ignorance is Bliss
Northwest Indiana's Times reports that a group of parents at an elementary school are upset because the school allowed a local Muslim family to give a presentation about their traditions during Ramadan.
The second- and third-graders heard from the family of some Muslim students who are new to the school about Islamic traditions and were read the book "Ramadan" by Carol Gnojewski.
Some parents complained that religion has no role in the public school setting and said they would take their complaints to the school board.
School officials say the presentation was merely an effort to teach students about a variety of cultures and widen their world views. It does similar presentations about Chanukah and Christmas, they said.
Racist NBA
Players in the National Basketball Association say a new dress code imposed by league officials is racist because it bans players from wearing gaudy gold chains outside their clothing while making public appearances on behalf of the NBA, reports the Associated Press.
The dress code will go into effect at the start of next season, and requires players to dress in "business casual" attire when on league business. Items such as sleeveless shirts, shorts, sunglasses while indoors, headphones, visible chains, pendants or medallions over their clothes are forbidden.
Jason Richardson of the Golden State Warriors says the rules are racist, and Philadelphia's Allen Iverson says that the if the league wants players to dress in a certain way it should pay for their clothes.
Supporting Enforcement = Racist
Latino activists in California say the Escondido city council's vote to support the creation of a state police agency to monitor the border for illegal activity is divisive and racist, reports the North County Times.
Literally dozens of protestors packed into a city council meeting in Escondido to protest it's vote to support for a ballot initiative that would create a new police force to target illegal immigration.
Protestors held up signs stating in Spanish that the city councilwoman who sponsored the measure, Marie Waldron, was violating the civil rights of Mexicans. They called for her resignation.
Ogling English
The Daily Post in Wales says a councillor there has been called racist for suggesting that unemployed Englishmen are hanging around a Welsh town ogling single moms.
Plaid Cymru councillor Alan Speake said people in the town of Carmarthen have expressed concern about the rising number of jobless English people streaming into town. The party is now under pressure to censure the councillor for his comments.
A local representative of the Labour party, Christine Gwyther, called the comment reflective of a "misguided and bigoted view that will do nothing to help Carmarthen town."
Ummmmm...
Writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, guest columnist Akiva Kenny Segan criticizes the University of Washington's decision to allow what she calls a "hateful, racist and demeaning to non-Christians" pastor to speak on campus.
Demanding that the school "keep intolerance out of public places," laments the fact that a "religious supremacist" is able to speak on a campus whose students, faculty and staff have never been as diverse in background and faith as they are today.
"Rallies on public campuses are un-American and run counter to the spirit of tolerance that our nation's founders and generations of public school teachers and political leaders have led us to believe is our right," she writes.
Indianettes
A 15-year-old wanna-be dancer in Florida is threatening to form a breakaway troupe at his high school unless it changes the name of its dance team to something less sexist than "Indianettes," reporters the Lakeland Ledger. Galen Smith says the name of Choctawhatchee High School dance team also discourages boys from joining, and he wants a more gender-neutral one.
Dopey
A local theater troupe in the UK that wanted to perform Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for its annual Christmas pantomime found the show rewritten to exclude the dwarfs, according to the BBC.
The Coxheath Players in Kent say the publisher of the play, Jasper Publishing, had changed the dwarfs to gnomes in order to avoid offending short people.
In Monday's editions, The Sun newspaper quoted someone from the Restricted Growth Association as saying that the term dwarf has long been out of favor and is "unpleasant" to some of its members.
Mailbag:
Michael B. makes us wonder for the sanity of any college-bound kids these days:
At the University of Georgia, copies of the conservative Georgia GuardDawg were trashed and fliers it posted around campus advertising a Conservative Coming Out Day were ripped down, reports the student newspaper there, the Red and Black. The paper was accused of "intolerance, bigotry and oppression" for its efforts.
Mark M. reminds us that not all the lunacy comes from the left:
The manufacturers of the American Girl line of dolls and books is under fire from conservative activists because it contributes to a youth organization that supports abortion rights and acceptance of lesbians, according to the AP. The ire is directed at a current American Girl campaign in which proceeds from sales of a special "I Can" wristband go to a group called Girls Inc., a national nonprofit organization which describes its mission as "inspiring girls to be strong, smart and bold."
Amy K. sent us this note that went home with all the kiddies at an elementary school in Colorado last week:
"FALL FESTIVAL - OCTOBER 31ST
"Teachers will be contacting you if they are planning to have Fall Festival activities on Monday, October 31st. As you know, October 31st will be a regular school day. Students should not wear costumes to school and we would appreciate your support in this matter. If it is your custom, we would like families to celebrate together in the evening, in their own way. Happy Fall!!"
Greg G. alerts us to reports of the brave new world of companion animals:A student at a University in Texas has filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department alleging that the school is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act because it wont allow her to keep a ferret in her dorm room, reports the San Antonio Express-News. Our Lady of the Lake University student Sarah Sevick says her companion rodent prevents panic attacks.
Dewayne H. was wondering what's missing from this item in the Indianapolis Star:
October 14, 2005
Police looking for liquor store bandits
By Kevin O'Neal
Indianapolis police are trying to find two men who robbed a Northwestside liquor store on Oct. 4. A surveillance video showed one of the men was armed with a rifle.
The robbery of the Liquorland store, 3950 North High School Road, happened when there were three other people inside at 9:15 p.m. on a Tuesday. The robbers ordered all three to the floor. Two workers were ordered to open the store's cash register and safe.
The armed man was described by police as a muscular man in his mid-40's, 6-feet-5 tall, weighing 250 pounds, wearing a black baseball cap that said "Sox," a white T-shirt with green sleeves and blue jean shorts. That man dropped a green article of clothing in the store.
The man who was not armed wore a black baseball cap that said "Nike," a green jacket with a blue shirt underneath and blue jeans.
Police are asking anyone with information on the holdup to contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or the Indianapolis police robbery office at 317-327-3475.
The Assault Begins
The UK's Observer began this weekend what is sure to be a long and tedious campaign against the coming Narnia movies by Britain's lefty chatterers. The paper found a mediocre children's author to call C.S. Lewis' classics racist and "thinly veiled religious propoganda."
Atheist author Philip Pullman says the Chronicles of Narnia, which are being made into movies by Disney, contain "...a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice" and portray a version of Christianity that relies on martial combat and outdated fears of sexuality and women.
The paper warns that American evangelicals are planning to "use the films as a preaching tool."
Speaking of the Devil
A high school marching band has been forbidden from playing a Charlie Daniels song at an upcoming bowl game because of fears that it might cross the line between church and state, according to the Washington Post.
The band at C.D. Hylton High School in Prince Williams County wanted to play Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" during an upcoming appearance at the Peach Bowl.
A local resident, however, complained in a letter to the Potomac News, that a song about the devil was an inappropriate insertion of faith into the repertoire of a public school band. The band's director, Dennis Brown, pulled the song from the playlist.
Do I See a Name-Change Coming up?
I don't know exactly where the place above is but apparently it is for realUpdate
Here is an actual map to Satan's Kingdom!
Black or Colored?
Further to my speculation yesterday about how long the term "black" would remain politically correct, a reader sent in the following interesting comment:"When I was a kid in Alabama, in the 1950's, my housekeeper (we called her a maid) who was the woman who basically raised me and is likely responsible for the few people skills I have, hated being called "black" more than "n*****". She said that she was brown or colored or a Negro but not black. At that time it was a major pejorative term. There is a reason that the NAACP is not the NAABP.Comments? Email John Ray
You Can't Mention the Devil Either Now
This is a really curly one. Being myself an atheist, any mention of the Devil merely amuses me. So why are Leftist unbelievers bothered by mention of the Devil? Do they secretly fear that he is real and that he will come and get them if he hears his name mentioned? That's the only way I can explain the story below, anyway. Excerpt:"When C.D. Hylton High School's marching band performs during Friday night's football game, they will be playing a different tune. This year, the marching band is performing a Georgia-themed halftime show, to celebrate their upcoming trip to perform at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta in December, band director Dennis Brown said. Until recently, the Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" was in the marching band's line up of Georgia-themed music. The lyrics of the song describe the devil's attempt to steal the soul of a fiddle player in Georgia by challenging him to a fiddling duel. On Oct. 2, The Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger published a letter to the editor arguing that while no one objected to that song about the devil, there would be objections if the band were to play a song about God or other spiritual beings. After that letter ran in the paper, Brown dropped the song from the marching band's program".So it looks like the objector really does believe that the Devil is a spiritual being and that all mention of spiritual beings is taboo -- unless of course it is the Dalai Lama or some primitive tribe explaining their beliefs. In which case the whole thing is treated as great wisdom, of course.
Since most of the world has always believed in spiritual beings, we seem to be required to cut out a vast area of discussion and debate if we are not allowed to mention them.
No Freedom for Circuses any more
Circuses are a form of entertainment and entertainment has to be varied or people will lose interest in it. That seems to be lost on the regulation-loving Europeans. As the following excerpt shows:"The European parliament is set to vote on a report calling for standardised rules for circuses performing across the continent. MEPs suggest circuses should be referred to as part of Europe's cultural heritage, but they disagree on whether they should include presentation of animals or not. The report contemplating the "new challenges for the circus as part of European culture" is to be voted on ThursdayAnd this is not pie in the sky. European circuses are already regulated. But even more regulations are needed, apparently.
