Political correctness on CelticsBlog...

[saltlover]

And apparently Celtics blog knows about gypsy, as four posts mentioned it while I was typing mine.  Just goes to show how ignorant I was!

[Eja117]

Outside of CelticsBlog, the only time when "political correctness" gets under my skin is when common, innocuous words are then deemed to be offensive.

For instance, "midget" or "handicapped".  To me, those words were just descriptors, rather than anything implying hatred on non-acceptance.  I think that asking people to eliminate words like those from their vocabularies is a bridge too far.

That's my personal line, though.  I understand some people are a lot stricter, and others are more loose.  To each their own, though, and at least on CelticsBlog if somebody told me they were truly and deeply offended by those words, I'd try to respect their opinion.

My personal favorite was when I was in RA training at college and was told I shouldn't say the word "gyped" as in, "man you paid 10 bucks for that, thats a piece of garbage, you got Gyped." 

This is because it is offensive to gypsies

I've also been told that "spaz out" is an inappropriate phrase because it's a reference to people with cerebral palsy.

I've heard the term "mod" can be highly offensive to a very disadvantaged class of Americans with a complex and rich history.

People sometimes use the term in a derogatory way as in "You are so mod" or "that looks mod on you" or to just blurt out "mod".

I have no idea who those people are and don't see the big deal so I use it all the time for things related to the Lakers, Yankees, Jets, and sometimes Canadians and nobody has ever said anything to me about it. It's probably just an urban myth from PCland. Whatever.

[wdleehi]

As an Irish American, I get very offended by the Irish Mascots.



Little drunk smoking green men looking for fights.



 

[Eja117]

As an Irish American, I get very offended by the Irish Mascots.



Little drunk smoking green men looking for fights.



 

How dare you! I love those guys! Let's fight! (glug glug)

[wdleehi]

As an Irish American, I get very offended by the Irish Mascots.



Little drunk smoking green men looking for fights.



 

How dare you! I love those guys! Let's fight! (glug glug)

It is unfair.



I never smoke. 

[Roy H.]

The other day, I was on another forum and somebody pointed out that the term "fan boy" was filtered out on that forum.  My initial thought was, "Really?  People take offense to the term fan boy?"

Less than 48 hours later, somebody used that same phrase as an insult directed toward the staff.  I thought it was pretty coincidental and got a chuckle out of it.

[BballTim]

Outside of CelticsBlog, the only time when "political correctness" gets under my skin is when common, innocuous words are then deemed to be offensive.

For instance, "midget" or "handicapped".  To me, those words were just descriptors, rather than anything implying hatred on non-acceptance.  I think that asking people to eliminate words like those from their vocabularies is a bridge too far.

That's my personal line, though.  I understand some people are a lot stricter, and others are more loose.  To each their own, though, and at least on CelticsBlog if somebody told me they were truly and deeply offended by those words, I'd try to respect their opinion.

My personal favorite was when I was in RA training at college and was told I shouldn't say the word "gyped" as in, "man you paid 10 bucks for that, thats a piece of garbage, you got Gyped." 

This is because it is offensive to gypsies

Yeah its all fun and games until they cast a charm on you and your hair falls out and you get itchy in unfortunate places. Then, maybe you'll respect gypsies.

  Or at least fear them...

[Eja117]

As an Irish American, I get very offended by the Irish Mascots.



Little drunk smoking green men looking for fights.



 

How dare you! I love those guys! Let's fight! (glug glug)

It is unfair.



I never smoke. 

[dang] right. Mod.

[StartOrien]

"Usually the day we talk about sexual harassment is the day that everyone harasses me as a joke."

[Eja117]

I just got the biggest spike in TPs I ever got in a single minute, which is amazing for me. It must've been something I said. Or did.

[indeedproceed]

"Usually the day we talk about sexual harassment is the day that everyone harasses me as a joke."

You shut your pretty mouth.

[StartOrien]

"Usually the day we talk about sexual harassment is the day that everyone harasses me as a joke."

You shut your pretty mouth.

Sorry, I watched that episode last night and had to use it. What's the point of message boards if you can't use slightly obscure, slightly dated references in an attempt to impress people you'll never meet, ya know?

[ScoobyDoo]

Wow, some great replies and great debate. I'll just leave it at this -

1. I grew up with a Mom who used to have me go find my own "switch" from a tree in the back yard when I had it coming to me and three sisters who all knocked me out at one point or another.
* The last thing I think is that women are "soft" - they are tougher than us in so many ways, it's hard to count.

2. I even stated this sentiment before going on my rant in my original post about the Celtics. But apparently that isn't enough in order to stay politically correct. No, no, no...even if you preface your statement saying what I'm about to say isn't meant to imply that I think women are weak, it's just figurative, this doesn't suffice. Because, God Forbid, someone wearing a diaper somewhere will STILL take offense because they are so pathetically tied to the draconian protection of their own insecurities.

3. I don't buy the argument that choosing to express yourself with figurative metaphors means you have the inability to express yourself in a more dignified manner - I went through college writing essays about Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer. It has nothing to do with that...

4. What I do believe is that people should just be able to say what they what they want, within reason, without being worried about some particular segment of the human population they "might offend" with one word or one metaphoric expression.

5. Is it too much to ask that we can assume that most people are all grown up, so much in fact, that they actually have the ability to discern the difference between a figurative metaphor and a literal attack on a segment of the population. Or should we be so arrogant as to insult the intelligence of the entire human population by trying to protect and coddle them from all the big, bad, mean, nasty words out there. If so, let's just turn the clock back to 1984, turn the  thermostat up to 451 and send out the language paratroopers.

6. I just think there is so much harm being done in the name of political correctness and that it has disastrous consequences on our ability to actually communicate easily and think analytically; because if you are always hyper consumed with monitoring every minutia of language that comes out of your pie hole, how can that not hinder your ability for true expression?

7. Ever been on a playground? Kids are brutal to each other. Why? Because they just say what's on their mind; "you're fat, you're ugly, you're pretty, you're cute, you're stupid, you're smart...whatever. Guess what, seems like most of the kids make it through just fine. Not only that, you learn some of your greatest life lessons by getting punched in the nose, figuratively and literally, while growing up on the playground. Why? Because it's reflective of the real, grown up world - or the grown up world before PC entered into it.

8. Now if there is a bully who obviously crossing some very clear lines - which would be equivalent to me having gone on a scathing, misogynistic rant against the female gender - that is an entirely different animal.   

9. My comments were figurative and I apologize if they offended anyone.

10. I also completely repect the wishes of the Moderators who have put together a great site. This is their business and as such they have the right to "refuse service to anyone" - or, in other words, to monitor it however they see fit. I have the right to either play by their rules continue posting or to disengage.
* i love the site, think it's great and will obviously choose to continue engaging.

11. But I'll say one thing, I've played basketball my entire life and talked a lot of trash on the court. If I ever told someone they were playing like a jelly fish, they would have no idea what I was talkign about and they'd probably punch me in the head.

12. However, if I told them they needed to grow a set and stop playing like a chic(which would imply playing like a female) they would know exactly what I was talking about and they wouldn't take it as a reflection of my opinion of women as a whole. Two possible things would happen after I made a comment like this:

A) if they were on my team, someone on the other team would get nailed under the glass or on a roll to the rim.
B) If they were on the other team, I'd probably get hammered

What wouldn't happen? They wouldn't say this to their girls, because most of them would know who's really in charge in their relationship and no man wants to have their ass handed to them on a daily basis by an p---ed off "chic"!. That's a recipe for disaster and a battle you will not win. Why? Because most of them have a lot more fight in them then we do...

In the future, I'll refrain from using language that may have multiple interpretations that require people to think analytically about what the real intent of the statement is.         
 

[dark_lord]

my advise......b4 you post something, double check to make sure that it is worded in a way that isn't disrespectful (especially if it is in disagreement with someone).  its ok to disagree with someone, just dont be a jerk about it.

My other advise.....don't overanalyse.  sometimes people see things or interpret things that arent true to their meaning.

in summary....dont be a jerk and don't be overly sensitive.  happy medium people

[Celtics17]

Being politically correct is all well and good. For those of you who run the site, you might try it a little more often yourselves. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was just plain wrong when I expressed my opinion on a certain player. This was done by one of the people who run the site. Now, while that may no be political in nature it sure lacks etiquette. Then, this same person told me he should have been more 'wishy washy' in his remarks concerning my comments implying that I was being wish washy. If you want to have a sight and tell others how to use it then you might want abide by your own rules.