Political Correctness Going Too Far?

[Magpie]

If everyone would just convert to Christianity, we could end this ugly PC debate once and for all.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

I know you mean this ironically, but Bill Donohue actually said exactly this (except he specified Catholic) on Fox News last week....

[corey123]

You come to a fork in the road, and the signpost indicates that both roads lead to your destination... In fact both roads are the same distance, roughness and so on.

You peer up the road and see a group of people hanging around on each road.

Road A has a group of sweet looking elderly ladies, chatting, drinking tea and exchanging knitting patterns.

Road B however has a group of youths doing what some youths do... pushing each other around, texting constantly, swearing their heads off and so on...

Which road do you take?

Hey, I don't constantly push others aside, nor do I text constantly, nor do I swear my hear off.

[mariab]

Corey123 wrote:
I don't constantly push others aside
I SOOO feel tempted to do this, particularly with the Xmas crowds.

Originally Posted by Tom_Wescott
If everyone would just convert to Christianity, we could end this ugly PC debate once and for all.
Magpie wrote:
I know you mean this ironically, but Bill Donohue actually said exactly this (except he specified Catholic) on Fox News last week....
Most Americans I know think Fox News is the Devil...and they might not be wrong...

[Magpie]

[B]Most Americans I know think Fox News is the Devil...and they might not be wrong...

Fox News is the funniest thing on the TV...until you stop and realize that there are people out there that that take their schtick 100% seriously--now THAT is scary....

[AmmanValleyJack]

interesting read. I will also state that in the UK most of the younger generation, say under 60 seem to be agnostics and will only ever enter a church's ground for occasions rather than personal time. by which i mean organised events like weddings, funerals and christenings rather than attending on a sunday morning on their own initiative.

for the record I belive in God just not devoutly. I feel he/her/it is there, yet i continue to live my life.

As for Fox News...

[Tom_Wescott]

I've never seen Fox News, think Catholicism is blasphemous, and have never seen the "younger generation" referred to as 'under 60'. That's my thoughts for the day!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

I've been inside of churches all the time, mostly for concerts and for admiring the architecture. As a kid I've attended church on Eastern Friday (as an atheist) because the Greek orthodox church features a cool Byzantine hymn (in d minor, but more modal than tonal) and a procession of supposedly Christ's shrine covered in nice smelling lilacs, and as a kid I enjoyed experiencing that, just for the hell of it.
I have to confess I like Protestants more than Catholics, as at least they didn't generate the Spanich inquisition and the Night of Saint Bartholomew. Although I think that it's very fortunate that Catholics went for allowing music in their church. Otherwise, where would we be without Palestrina, Josquin, Pergolesi? And of course the Protestants had Bach, Haendel, and Schütz. No more needs to be said.
It's funny that during our conference 2 weeks ago at the Catholic Academy in Schwerte they had lots of abstract art objects on the walls and for some reason I (as an atheist) was the only one to identify them as abstract crosses. Plus they had a huge tomb “sculpture“ made of earth that to me looked exactly like a French chocolate dessert, I was almost keen on eating it. The Catholic lady colleague who was organizing the conference was very cool. (She was hardly 10 years older than me.) There was a huge abstract cross sculpture outside in the snow and some traces of steps in the snow were leading directly to it, and I wanted to make a joke about “someone's leading the way to God in the snow“ but thought better of it and kept mum. Two minutes later, the Catholic lady made the exact same joke.
This Catholic Academy was also particularly RICH. The infrastructure they featured for conferences would make any German University (which are sponsored solely by the state, nothing else) green with envy, and the showers in our quarters were bigger than some dorm rooms I've stayed in my life, and made of grey tile. They looked kinda like a huge chimney.
I'm afraid I've never watched the Fox channel. When I'm in Chicago it's for 2-5 months max, so I don't pay for a TV.
The "younger generation" referred to as “under 60“ gives me hope – for another 30 years...

[Errata]

did you guys see this? the irony of it cracked me up.

http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/dinosaur-skull-found-in-church.html

[johns]

Hey, I don't constantly push others aside, nor do I text constantly, nor do I swear my hear off.

That's why I used the word "some" in my wee story....

"Road B however has a group of youths doing what some youths do... pushing each other around, texting constantly, swearing their heads off and so on..."


However, as a further thought on this situation, if I myself were faced with either meeting a group of bikers or a group of estate agents/politicians/solicitors.... I'd head for the bikers...

[johns]

did you guys see this? the irony of it cracked me up.

http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/...in-church.html

Clearly the remains of a sandal..

[Fleetwood Mac]

Assuming the bedrock of totalitarianism is censorship then it ain't looking good.

It's a strange old world when consumer choice (promoted and manipulated by the same television companies) can be seen as freedom while shutting someone down for a personal perspective is seen as acceptable.

I value tolerance....but I certainly believe freedom of individual expression takes precedence.

I think you may have inherited this conflict from us....CD......in England we've always had a battle of wills going on between the established wisdom and the non-conformist conscience......the interventionists versus the 'harm principle' advocates etc.

The more I read of the various societies.....marxist ones and so called liberal ones....I'd say the packaging may look different....but the substance is strikingly similar.....only different control tools are used....and different labels applied to marching into someone else's country and rearranging the furniture....

[TomTomKent]

In any issue of "Political Correctness" use the following formula (yeah sorry I can't remember who I am filching this off, but I found it amusing and it generally tends to point me in the right direction):

1) Do they mean "Political Correctness" or "Common human decency". If the latter (which it normally is), ignore the issue with a shrug.
2) Is it Richard LittleJohn doing the moaning? If it is there probably isn't a problem as he is still going on about "Winterval" (only a decade late and blown out of proportion) and "elf'n'safety" with out letting meer facts or reality get in the way of a moan.
3) If it is Political Correctness, are you absolutely sure they don't have a point? After all, William Wilberforth would have been considered "Politically Correct" back in the day. But he did make some good points about animal cruelty, freedom of speech, ending slavery...
4) Is it really "mad" not to want to upset folks? You might think the reaction is over zealous, or going too far, but what about the motive?

[c.d.]

I was watching a documentary on The Battle of the Little Big Horn, a.k.a. Custer's Last Stand on the History channel last night. They quoted General Phil Sheridan as saying that it was absurd to expect the U.S. to live up to any of the treaties that it had made with the Indians (oops, I mean Native Americans). Sheridan is also famous for saying that the only good Indian is a dead Indian.

Sheridan led Union cavalry during the Civil War and was considered a hero. His horse is in the Smithsonian's American History Museum.

Can you imagine if he had made those statements today?

c.d.

[c.d.]

I remember hearing a Conservative radio host talking about Native Americans. He said that yes it is true that there land was taken from them as well as their language, customs and religion. And yes they were murdered and their women raped. But he concluded that in the end it worked out well for them because they are now American citizens. Hard to argue with that sort of logic.

c.d.

[Steven Russell]

You used to be able to call it the nuthouse, funny farm, or loony bin. Then it was the mental hospital and now a psychiatric unit. It's madness gone politically correct.