Political Correctness?

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Frenchy Faith

WMMWM *poke* :)
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Messages
2,541
Location
Edinburgh
So here is a little story... I was walking in Toronto yesterday and I saw a little tiny and cute balck squirrel! I'd never seen a black one before and i thought it was sooo cool... so I was like (quite loudly) Ooooooh, a black squirrel!!!
Now my American friend was with me... and as I said that she looks really embarassed and tell me shhhhhh... so of course I go WHAT?
The thing was.. as I said that a black girl was walking past... and my friend told me it wasn't right to say "black" when there are black ppl around... I laughed quite a lot about that... because it doesn't make sense to me... how can you not say something is black if it's what it is?
So anyway... from now on I decided to call this kind of squirrel African American Squirrel.. cause that's what politically correct right? hehe.. joking course

So I wondered... is it like that with everyone in America or is my friend a bit of a weirdo? Did anyone ever have troubles with the politically correct?
 
E
elmo
Hee hee... that's so "gay"!
Thats not just in America, thats everywhere.

Personally, I feel political correctness started out with the best of intentions but has turned into something so unbelieveably ludicrous its unreal.

Yeah, there are certain words that should not be said, but for the love of Gosh, Black, its a gosh darned colour.

The thing that i find amusing is the person who comments on stuff like this.
Its always a white person.

In Nursery Schools in the UK 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' is no longer politically correct because it is referencing the colour.

Whats amusing though is political correctness is actually a form of discrimination in itself, it doesn't promote unity its serves to show the differences of people by telling the wrong doers that they have done something wrong...when 9 times out of 10 they haven't.

I better go cause i get really annoyed at this subject because its flipping annoying.

FF I will say this to you, if your friend EVER says that again, slap him like the Terence and Phillip scene in the South Park Movie.......
 
E
elmo
LMAO! I love Terrence and Philip... :P
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Frenchy Faith
Actually it's "her" but I may do that... I already made clear I wouldnt stop say black on random thing cause that's the stupidest thing ever :P
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Angel's vision
LOL Al that has made my day!
i dont think people should be called african american or native american anymore than i should be called european american. (which, btw, has never happened to me)
 
I roll my eyes when people tell me stuff like this...

I don't deliberately say stuff that is offensive, but I pretty much say what I want, and if someone takes offense, I'll apologize...but I find that anyone who is conscious realizes black is a(n absence of) colour, and here in Canuckleheadland, we have BLACK squirrels, as well as the usual gray ones, and in Exeter, Ontario we have a white line that are NOT albinos...they are a rarer type of colour morph.

Frenchy, I'm sure anyone just listening to you would know that you and your friend were not from around here...Your French accent is different from a Quebecois one, and any Canucklehead worthy of the name can pick out an American accent a mile away...they would smile to themselves and continue on their way, liking the fact you were seeing new stuff while you were here!
 
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Frenchy Faith
Hey! No talking about my annoying French accent! hehe :P jk.. yeah my accent is pretty obvious & I'm sure the girl who was walking past didnt even pay attention to what I said lol
Frenchy, speaking as an American, not everyone is like that here. But you do have some overly sensitive people here (and all over the world, for that matter) that will take offense at any little insignificant miniscule thing......and then you have the nervous nellies like your friend that hate to cause waves because they fear some form of backlash from said sensitive people.

Your friend may be a little too jumpy, but it's pretty understandable under the circumstances. It's gotten so that you can't even say "Merry Christmas" anymore now, because it is a possible affront to somebody's religious beliefs.

I for one have always ignored the whole PC thing, for the most part. I don't allow the government or large groups to tell me how I can and cannot speak. Why should I add an extra six syllables and say "African-American"? What's so friggin' wrong with saying the word "black" all of a sudden? It's not a racial slur, for corn sakes, and it never was. It's ridiculous.
 
Political correctness has gone mad in this day and age. I swear I once read somewhere that we have to call the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White the Seven "Vertically challenged men"! Madness!
 
Frenchy Faith you are quite right in what you said, it is daft! i mean you never hear of a black person object do you..?

what i also find stupid is you never find any gollywogs anymore because they are concidered racist, yet we have white dolls too ie the barbie doll, what is the difference..? are they going to stop making brown dolls..?
 
As an american living in an area where all political correctness has been forsaken (yes in the last 2 weeks I have heard the "n" word in reference to black individuals and the "s" word in reference to Latino individuals...which btw are apparently only from Mexico now) I am aching for a little over the top correctness. At my job the staff are completely ignorant of the incredible inappropriateness of what they are saying, especially around youth.
Don't get me wrong, I think Black is perfectly acceptable, and is beginning to be used again in scientific literature (indicating that African-American is no longer the only acceptable option). Additionally I find African American to be a misleading term, especially as just with calling a Latino or even a Spanish person, Mexican, without asking if they are in fact from Mexico or of Mexican descent...ones identity tends to be quite subjective as many individuals coming from say the east coast of Central and South America have very dark skin...are they African American...perhaps, if they choose to go that far back, but most likely they would identify themselves as Honduran, or Honduran-American if Living in the States...or Latino.
So no that I have senslessly rambled for some time, I will close in saying...if you know so little about an individual that you must identify them by some external characteristic...how bout saying that guy to your left with the blue shirt on and the most beautiful smile...but whatever really. I mean we take ourselves far to seriously, don't we...kthanks.

oh...and with the squirrel...COME ON...its a dang squirrel...its a black squirrel...for the love of Bob.
 
My people have informed me that the Squirrel was quite offended. Earl, as is his name, and others of his kind prefer to be referred to as Night Squirrels..lol

As for political correctness, here is my opinion.

If I say something, and somebody is offended with it.. the problem lies with them, they took offense, not me..lol


I suspect my opinion might be flawed. 🙄
 
A
arabella
but again, as it is your opinion, its cool. :D
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Frenchy Faith
Awww thanky for doing research and finding out about Earl... if you get in touch with him let him know he is a cuty! And night squirrel.. ok I'll remember next time :)
S
spuffylvr
that was what Jesus said the whole mote in thine eye thing.
I remember as a kid, going to my grandparents place in Reedsburg, WI. There was a park near downtown that was famous for its black squirrels. Always thought that was kinda cool.

"Biologists estimate that the black squirrel is unusually rare with only one squirrel in 10,000 wearing the dusky coat.

This mutant of the gray squirrel resides primarily in northern climates. Biologists surmise that the black fur more readily absorbs the rays of the sun, thereby keeping its owner warmer during cold winters. Selective genetics has given the black squirrel this survival advantage.

One of the reasons they seem to be more abundant in cities is that their black coloration is more readily spotted in rural areas by predators, primarily birds of prey
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http://www.reedsburg.com/blacksquirrel.htm


White squirrel towns
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/squirrels.html


Can't we all just get along, fluffy woodland creatures?
 
Hm. I agree that it's silly, and even though you should aways be nice and like, respect people etc etc etc, you shouldn't have to think about that stuff all the time when you speak!

Aside from all of that, Faith, you tend to sometimes say things that are a bit unsuitable 😉
 
eponinethen said:
Hm. I agree that it's silly, and even though you should aways be nice and like, respect people etc etc etc, you shouldn't have to think about that stuff all the time when you speak!

Aside from all of that, Faith, you tend to sometimes say things that are a bit unsuitable 😉
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ME? Really? hehehe 😛 .... oh well I always have the excuse that I'm French 😉
 
Yeah, some people take political correctness too far.

I heard that they're trying to change the lyrics to Baa Baa Black Sheep...
 
I have to agree I think political correctness has gone too far to. Speaking as a teacher over the last 4 years it has become unacceptable to say certain things because of political correctness.

We are no longer allowed to refer to a Blackboard as that we have to say Chalk board, yet we still call whiteboards, whiteboards.

Brainstorming is also not allowed in schools anymore because it might upset a kid with Epilepsy. We have to say that we are going to Thought Shower!

I just think it is going mad in the world! I mean where is it going to stop.
 
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg
Thought Shower?! What's the world coming too! 'lol'
Summers Blood, that sounds crazy.. I mean, gah, you can't have to think about every single small thing you say!
How can you even speak without being allowed to say the word "black" ?

Frenchy Faith said:
ME? Really? hehehe 😛 .... oh well I always have the excuse that I'm French 😉
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And it's fun/cute so I doubt many people mind 🙂
 
Bored of the Dead said:
I don't think that this has relevance to Political Correct attitudes, but i've always wondered why people in the UK, when they swear say 'pardon my French'.
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Yessssssss! I know!! It's so weird, isn't it? I think we have a reputation of being rude and tell a lot of swear words... look at the Holy Grail.. hehe.. that's hilarious... but for real.. I think I don't swear as much in French as I do in English.. cause it doesn't sound bad "to me" when I swear in English cause I wasnt born aware of the language.. know what I mean?
In French it sounds a lot more rude and offensive.. for certain words at least


Dzhugashvili agrees: So swearing in another language=ok? Cool, what are some French swear words? 😛
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LMAO.. I'm not saying it's ok... I'm saying that to me it doesnt sound so bad.. therefore I got used to say some words (like sh*t or the f word) that I'm not supposed to say in front of kids for instance... but since I don't have that bad conotation I don't realise it's so bad... I've been working on it though and I made a lot of progress since last summer mhm 🙂

But for the record (and if the mods think it's not ok just delete it I'm not sure if that's right or not to write)
merde = sh*t
I'm not going further than that I don't like French swear words
 
S
Schillaci
So swearing in another language=ok? Cool, what are some French swear words? :P
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