Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
I was brought up on a recipe of Enid Blyton and Gollywogs by my Polak father and Irish mother,my Dutch grandmother and ended up marrying an Asian Filipino.It has done me no harm..I sometimes think we are over sensitive at times and that political correctness has lost the plot.
We oh why can't we just love each other and treat everybody in the same manner that we would like to be treated.Respectfulness,polite and helping ....maybe then our society might progress out of the caves and dark ages.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
The words we use are powerful, and I think sometimes that rather than try to ban or limit them we should just reclaim them........blacks have reclaimed the N word (I still can't say or print it as I'm too namby pamby Lefty), lesbians and straight women reclaimed the Dyke word, and the hate-words lost their power because of that. It's the old way - make fun of or claim something and it loses its heat and ablity to hurt.
Guest 677- Registered: 8 Jul 2008
- Posts: 150
That's true, alot of bullying comes down to that too, if you refuse to let words have an adverse effect on you then eventually they are just sounds with no real meaning. Thats definately something people should think about. But how is this reclaiming words going to help with actions, for example my original point of a father being unable to take photographs of his own children without an adverse reaction. It's time we all looked at ourselves, vigilance of people who pray on our children is good but not to the extent that we have become paranoid and a photograph in a play park is completely different from a photograph in a studio, it's time we learnt to tell the difference.
It's not the man in my life, its the life in my man!!
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Bern, you are absolutely right about re-claiming words....
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i could never use the the word gay, i prefer the orginal descriptions.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Quite right, howard.. You simply cannot use the word in its true context any more!
Guest 677- Registered: 8 Jul 2008
- Posts: 150
Maybe if enough people did use it, it could be reclaimed. Although I am reliably informed that the term gay has been used to described homosexuals since at least the 1930's
It's not the man in my life, its the life in my man!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i thought that the acronym was invented in the lates sixties in san fransisco.
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Actually the late great Cary Grant used it, in reference to effeminate men, in 'Bringing up Baby' while wearing Katherine Hepburns bathrobe.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
I visit primary schools, and there children from all walks of life get together, and get on realy well, and there are a number of different nationalities in the schools.
It's such a joy watching them all working together.
WHY do adults have to spoil things!!
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
There are 25 nationalities represented at Nataschas' school but sorry Keith they don't always get on ..3 days ago I found Natascha crying in her bedroom(very unusual for her) I thought she had hurt herself climbing on the bunks we had erected for the boys visit.Whats the matter I asked and she replied that at lunch that day at school some young boy had shouted at her in the cafeteria that all filipinos smell like pooh.She said she just moved table but didn't reply.
I told her she should just ignore kids like that and not get upset or shout back.I am not sure that it was the right advice but I gave her hug and we went to the kitchen where she helped me prepare dinner....now that was a mistake...lol.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Children are feral animals who need the example of their elders and the boundaries set by people they trust to inform their behaviour. Marek - I am sorry your girl had this experience. I recall being spat at as a child for being Irish and going to a convent......not nice, but kids bounce back.
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
Most of these things come straight from the mouths of their parents. Kids do generally notice differences, but it is about encouraging the fact that these don't really matter! It's funny when you hear 11 year olds saying things like "yeah, coming over here stealing our jobs" to other. It's funny that many of these parents perpetuating this mentality come from a time less 'politcally correct' ...but remember it never did them any harm, or did it?
The intent with which words are used are more harmful than the words themselves. This far harder to reform and the reclaiming of words such as 'nigga' popularised gangsta rappers, the term is now a term of inclusion for reclaimer and yet exclusion for the group that originally used it a derogatory term. It makes it impossibly hard to use in any context and so it is a case of applying sensibility. I think Shakespeare's line from Romeo and Julliet "would a rose by any other name smell as sweet" comes to mind here and the words we use are ever changing, as are we.
Some politcal correctness, as I have said is misplaced, attempting to be liberally minded, but in actual fact just being silly. However so much objection put forward to the notion of 'PC' is by traditionalists that would like things to just stay the same, or replicate Victorian England. Our circumstances are always changing and it about reacting to this, as opposed to objecting to it. Thomas Paine made the point about the world being for the living not the governing of the dead and customs outliving their origins.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
Marek
I.m sorry to hear about your daughter, just shows we have a long way to go to educate people.
Its just where i go I havn't witnessed that, and pupils appear to get on.
I have challenged many individuals(making myself unpopular at times) when these type of views come out,
And I think thats what needs to happen.
Whilst there is to much politically correct rubbish
on the other side of the coin theres a lot of misguided adults spouted off rubbish, totally incorrect, and the more you research there view the more you see how out of touch they are, and more importantly how wrong they are.
Its a serious Issue, not helped by the Govt fiasco in Priory all those years ago, but it tok a lot of public pressure to change that, and did, and although it will take a long time, we need to change peoples opinions, and show them facts
I have been stopped by so called WHITE people moaning about immigrants (they were actually polish, working, so putting back into the system) nver a problem to society, but because they were not English they were not welcome,
I did point out to this so called WHITE family about so called WHITES who abuse the benefits system costing us £2billion
the reply? "thats ok they are ours!!!!!"
very misguided, is going to be a long stretch, won't go away, we need to adapt and challenge,
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
I fully agree that this is prejudice learned from parents and that we have a long way to go to change these attitudes. Hopefully we will change before we sink into the American lunacy and start refering to ourselves as, Celtic British, Saxon British, Norman British, Gaulish British or anything else you care to add. However it will have to be a two way street. When the citizenship test was first proposed the daughter of an immigrant family attacked it on the basis that it was unfair to her mother who, despite having lived here for twenty plus years, could still not speak any English. A common language and a common cultural background helps to break down divisions but these days we seem to be lacking both.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 677- Registered: 8 Jul 2008
- Posts: 150
Variety is the spice of life and life without spice is very tasteless indeed. I have nothing against anyone maintaining their culture whilst living in a different county, they shouldn't have to give it up, in a civilised world we should embrace differences. However, having said that, I believe that people should also respect the culture of the county they are living in and that includes learning their language and their laws. This can then lead to a sharing (and I do mean sharing not thrusting your views down others throats) of cultural ideas which in turn leads to a better understanding.
It's not the man in my life, its the life in my man!!
When I lived in London, just after Jack the Ripper I think it was, there were so many diverse communities all rubbing along together fine. It was a fabulous experience and an opportunity to meet so many different people....and it was civilised mainly because the incoming people respected the host nation and culture and didn't try to impose themselves but focussed on integrating and giving back to the community while discreetly maintaining personal identities. Very few people appeared to feel the need to try to convert or dogmatise and there was very little hostility between communities - partly because the potentially hostile communities had the sense to live further away from each other!! There were, as I remember it, not many Catholic Irish living next door to proddy Irish!! Ditto Jews and Palestinians. And in fact, the need to co-exist in a host community appeared to have a braking effect if anything.
