Has PC gone too far?

Aurora said:
If you have no gripe, Jim, I am not sure the point of your post.
Men should be annoyed sometimes. Speaking as a lady.
The media is frquently biased against men or masculinity.
(for example, constant references to testosterone in a flippant way)
Complain if you wish.



Sometimes the truth needs to be known, even if it offends someone somewhere.
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Thanks for your post. It's nice to see a newcomer. You might want to go to "Introductions" and say hi so we all know you are here. Welcome to SF.
 

I also am somewhat confused as to the context of this thread. The type of political correctness referenced is not clear to me. Are we discussing adverts on tv which portray men as twits, obsessed with their testosterone levels? Certainly men of my

aquaintance exhibit far more depth. Or is this closer to home, and an observation of female sf posters who have shared some discomfort with what they perceive as sexist comments which intentionally or not, objectify women? Is this perhaps, to some

extent, a cultural or generational thing? I don't know. Confused.
 
Shalimar said:
I also am somewhat confused as to the context of this thread. The type of political correctness referenced is not clear to me. Are we discussing adverts on tv which portray men as twits, obsessed with their testosterone levels? Certainly men of my

aquaintance exhibit far more depth. Or is this closer to home, and an observation of female sf posters who have shared some discomfort with what they perceive as sexist comments which intentionally or not, objectify women? Is this perhaps, to some

extent, a cultural or generational thing? I don't know. Confused.
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More the subject of the latter than the former. I only used the men in TV as an example of something men could be uptight about, but aren't apparently.
 

Jim, if you will you read my post again, you will see that I have used the words 'My guess' and later on the words 'If so'. I was posting in response to Aurora's post, although there is nothing wrong in trying to interpret what you said, which could be more clear. I'm not deciding you are wrong in your belief, as I'm not even sure what your belief is.
 
This entire thread has made no sense... It's like when someone posts a vague status on facebook... Like.. Need your prayers today.... A plaintive cry for people to ask what's wrong... lol!! WTH Jim.... what's wrong...
 
I'm just glad I didn't jump in here and post what I was going to say as it really had nothing to do with what the rest of you are talking about. I guess I'll go ahead and say it, even though it will sound off topic. To me this is a PC subject. I don't understand why we are suppose to call black people "African American's" when a lot of them aren't from Africa. I once had a beautiful very black daughter in law and she was from an island south of Cuba. Nothing African about her. Should I expect everyone to refer to me as the lovely "Scotch-Irish, English-Welch, German" Linda?
 
Linda said:
I'm just glad I didn't jump in here and post what I was going to say as it really had nothing to do with what the rest of you are talking about. I guess I'll go ahead and say it, even though it will sound off topic. To me this is a PC subject. I don't understand why we are suppose to call black people "African American's" when a lot of them aren't from Africa. I once had a beautiful very black daughter in law and she was from an island south of Cuba. Nothing African about her. Should I expect everyone to refer to me as the lovely "Scotch-Irish, English-Welch, German" Linda?
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IMO we should abandon the concept of race altogether because it makes no sense scientifically. There are genetic variations but race makes no sense. Ethnic and cultural differences are significant but over time these differences fade and are no longer as relevant as they were for first and second generation immigrants.

I often wonder what an Australian is. In most people's mind the stereotype is a tall, lean, sun scorched white man, leaning on a post and rolling a cigarette. This is a total myth because nearly half of our population was born overseas or had an immigrant parent.

I have my own personal test to determine whether to call someone an Australian without any qualification. I listen when they open their mouth. If they sound like an Aussie then they are an Aussie. For the older ones I sometimes ask whether they would like to return to the old country to die. Those that say no because their children and grandchildren are here have made the painful transition from foreigner to Australian. Colour is not a marker. We have descendants of Chinese gold diggers who have been here since the 1850s. They are not Chinese Australians. They are simply Australians like me.

I say ditch the qualifiers before the word American and ignore differences in skin colour and eye shape. They are just variations on a theme.
 
"you certainly would not like anyone making fun of your weight or something like a facial disfigurement"

Been there, had that (at age 14), endured painful remarks from classmates, which ingrained mental scars lasting to this day. Teach kids to be loving, not hateful. imp
 
Linda said:
I'm just glad I didn't jump in here and post what I was going to say as it really had nothing to do with what the rest of you are talking about. I guess I'll go ahead and say it, even though it will sound off topic. To me this is a PC subject. I don't understand why we are suppose to call black people "African American's" when a lot of them aren't from Africa. I once had a beautiful very black daughter in law and she was from an island south of Cuba. Nothing African about her. Should I expect everyone to refer to me as the lovely "Scotch-Irish, English-Welch, German" Linda?
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I have a question for you, where did you hear this was required, I for one nor any of the people I black/AA know have the titles as a requirement, there of course of few we don't like, but, you can call me April, you can call me brown skin woman, you can call me chocolate cutie, you may call me black or African American, please call me for a slice of cake if you so please, but, please stop posting this sort of nonsense as fact of which you might have heard from one or two people.
 
In the US the word 'black' is OK and used in official federal documents. All this concern about names for people in the US is just a waste of time and unnecessary all the time. It is often necessary to describe who you are talking to or about. All this pure marshmallow conversation will do is present some rather confused conversations. Describing who you are talking to takes some good descriptions and that is not being hateful at all.

Look to your next tax form and see how the government identifies the different people that live in the US.
 
Linda said:
I'm just glad I didn't jump in here and post what I was going to say as it really had nothing to do with what the rest of you are talking about. I guess I'll go ahead and say it, even though it will sound off topic. To me this is a PC subject. I don't understand why we are suppose to call black people "African American's" when a lot of them aren't from Africa. I once had a beautiful very black daughter in law and she was from an island south of Cuba. Nothing African about her. Should I expect everyone to refer to me as the lovely "Scotch-Irish, English-Welch, German" Linda?
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Linda, I can see how you might be confused. I suspect some Caucasian people have said black and then been firmly corrected by someone saying “Hey, don’t call me black, I’m African American.”

I don’t know if you’ve seen my picture or my mother’s and other relatives pics in this forum. NO ONE - not one, of my relatives or friends prefers the AA term (granted, there are many bi and tri racial people in my family)…however, they aren’t offended by it. We say black, and if someone says AA we just kind of let it go. But some people do prefer the term African American. (In the 80s and even 90s I recall a few older relatives still saying "colored")

Interesting point, because just last night I was listening to a discussion on Dr. Drew about this very issue. Audience members participated and there were some interesting comments. Most people of color in the audience indicated they do not like the term “African American”.

It’s strange, because I can remember when the term “colored” was used almost exclusively. Then in the late 1960s/early 1970s the term “black” became the term to use, but Caucasians often whispered it. I recall at a job interview at a large corporation in the early 70s the Personnel Mgr (that was before “HR”) said to me “We don’t have many blacks here, (he whispered “blacks”) …..he continued by saying “but once you prove yourself, you’ll be fine.” :rolleyes: I got the job, but suffice it to say there were occasional challenges from a racial standpoint.

FWIW #!, I know of several black forum members who haven't said anything yet in this thread. Hope they do, but maybe they prefer to just 'listen in'. :shrug:

FWIW #2 there are a couple of wonderful Seinfeld episodes about the "What should we call someone of another race or should we even say anything at all" issue. I crack up everytime I see the reruns. :laugh:
 
AprilT said:
I have a question for you, where did you hear this was required, I for one nor any of the people I black/AA know have the titles as a requirement, there of course of few we don't like, but, you can call me April, you can call me brown skin woman, you can call me chocolate cutie, you may call me black or African American, please call me for a slice of cake if you so please, but, please stop posting this sort of nonsense as fact of which you might have heard from one or two people.
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AprilT I certainly am not going to call you a chocolate cutie or a slice of cake. (And I bet if I did you would get mad as all get out). I am assuming by what you are saying here that you are black, I don't know what color anyone is on here except for the ones who post a photo of themselves. I have known of several people, not personally, who have gotten extremely angry if they were not referred to as "African American". Do you ever watch the news? That's where I get a lot of my information. When I talk to people I don't refer to them as being any color or nationality. When I worked at the county there was one gal who got fired for not doing her job right and screamed it was cause she was "African-American". I am not the one who fired her and she did not work in my department but that is the closest I've ever came to a situation like this. So to answer your question, Where did I hear this was required? From MANY black people. And MANY MANY more than one or two people. I do not think it is nonsense for me to bring up an honest subject I was wondering about for a long time. I have a right to state my opinion or questions on this forum as much as anyone else.
 
Linda said:
AprilT I certainly am not going to call you a chocolate cutie or a slice of cake. (And I bet if I did you would get mad as all get out). I am assuming by what you are saying here that you are black, I don't know what color anyone is on here except for the ones who post a photo of themselves. I have known of several people, not personally, who have gotten extremely angry if they were not referred to as "African American". Do you ever watch the news? That's where I get a lot of my information. When I talk to people I don't refer to them as being any color or nationality. When I worked at the county there was one gal who got fired for not doing her job right and screamed it was cause she was "African-American". I am not the one who fired her and she did not work in my department but that is the closest I've ever came to a situation like this. So to answer your question, Where did I hear this was required? From MANY black people. And MANY MANY more than one or two people. I do not think it is nonsense for me to bring up an honest subject I was wondering about for a long time. I have a right to state my opinion or questions on this forum as much as anyone else.
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You are indeed right, you do have a right to state your opinion, but, I still say, it is a wrong assumption saying you are supposed to refer to black people as African American, I'm very up on news topics and though you do see the titles bandied about here and there, I've not seen it stated anywhere as a requirement. The other part about you calling me various titles, I'm sorry you didn't see the playfulness in it, my humor doesn't always appeals. I did think to change how I phrased the last part of what I said, the part calling what you said nonsense, somehow, I got caught up on something and didn't make the change, for that I do apologize. Oh and I didn't say call me a slice of cake, I said you could call me for a slice of cake, I'm still open to that idea. :)
 
Throughout my life, none of my black friends or coworkers have ever preferred or used the term African American to describe themselves. I would respect the wishes of anyone when it came to the way they'd like to be described or addressed. As Linda said, I rarely talk to anyone where I'm referring to their race or nationality. Whether it's 'politically correct' or just respectful, I would use whatever term is chosen by the individual, I don't think much about it, or have a problem with it either way.
 

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