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Posts Tagged ‘political correctness’

Latest PC euphemism worthy of The Onion

Posted by Richard on January 11, 2019

We’re not even halfway through January and we already have a strong candidate for the politically correct euphemism of the year. Via Twitchy:

Earlier this week, a New Jersey man shot and killed an armed intruder in his home.

Sorry, did we say “armed intruder”? Thanks to NBC New York, we now know that “unwanted house visitor” is the correct term:

Well, the PC crowd has already established that illegal aliens should be called undocumented immigrants. Calling a home invasion an unwanted house visit seems like a logical next step for them. Here are some other PC euphemisms for crimes that they may want to consider:

Murder: involuntary end-of-life services

Carjacking: impromptu ride sharing with extreme prejudice

Mugging: unauthorized wealth redistribution

Rape: unrequested sperm donation

Kidnapping: involuntary relocation

Counterfeiting: freelance fractional-reserve banking

 

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Not the Onion: Lesbians protest against transgenders

Posted by Richard on July 9, 2018

I’m sure this is troubling to advocates of intersectionality theory, but it left me grinning from ear to ear:

In a bizarre scene Saturday, a group of “lesbian activists” disrupted and stalled the London Pride Parade, in what they called a protest against the event’s inclusion of transgender individuals.

Local media reported that the protesters stalled the parade for around ten minutes, and as they were carted off, one could be heard screaming that, “A man who says he’s a lesbian is a rapist” — an apparent reference to male-to-female transgender individuals.

… The lesbian activists who disrupted the parade said they’ve felt left out of Pride events this year, after noting to organizers that lesbians prefer sex with only biological females, not transgender men who might dress and live as women but who have not completed gender reassignment surgery.

“We don’t want any kind of penis in our bedroom,” an activist told media. “I’m really sad I have to reassert this again.”

Men who don’t want a relationship with a “woman” who has a penis are routinely excoriated by the “woke” left as hate-filled cis bigots. How are they going to deal with women who feel the same way?

Grab the popcorn!

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Poking fun at Emory University

Posted by Richard on March 27, 2016

You probably heard about the kerfuffle at Emory University, where some of the special snowflakes attending the exclusive school were upset that someone had written “Trump 2016” in chalk on various surfaces. Snopes calls much of the reporting of the incident false:

WHAT’S FALSE: “Emergency counseling” was offered to or demanded by students; Emory students complained that their “safe spaces” had been violated; students were afraid of or traumatized by the chalk markings.

Snopes’ leftist leanings have made it completely unreliable regarding anything even vaguely political. The “emergency counseling” claim may be false; regarding non-emergency counseling, it depends on whether you draw the same inferences from a student government email as Snopes.

Snopes dismisses the “safe spaces” issue because the phrase “was included as a paraphrase (meaning the purportedly oversensitive students invoking the concept hadn’t actually used the words)” in a student newspaper article. Their parenthetical claim is nonsense, and the rest of their claim is undermined by the very quote they cite, which also makes it clear that suppression of pro-Trump speech is at least one protester’s goal (emphases added):

Grievances were not restricted to shortcomings of the administration. “[Faculty] are supporting this rhetoric by not ending it,” said one student, who went on to say that “people of color are struggling academically because they are so focused on trying to have a safe community and focus on these issues [related to having safe spaces on campus].”

For a deeper, on-the-spot view, see the Weekly Standard column by Emory professor Harvey Klehr. Klehr begins by recounting an earlier “Black Lives Matter” protest on campus (I’m willing to bet many of the same people were involved in both protests). During it, protesters spoke of “the trauma of being on campus every day” and the “micro-aggressions” they endured, which left “some students in need of additional counselors in the Psychological Center specifically trained to work with black students.” Maybe that’s the source of the counseling claim in the more recent Trump incident.

But if you prefer to laugh at these ninnies instead wading through more infuriating details about them, I recommend this Atlanta Banana parody:

Emory Student Pain So Deep Heated Land Rover Seats Can’t Evaporate the Tears 

“Do you know how much it costs to get tears and snot out of a Range Rover leather seat?” bellowed Dusty Pirkins, Gender Indeterminate Non-Factual Research major. “Well, I don’t, but you can bet my Dad does!”

“We had no idea we’d be exposed to facts when we came to college,” screamed Summer Frock-Waters, basket blanket artisan. She then collapsed onto her AMG Mercedes, spilling a delicious mocha latte onto a smartphone the size of a baking sheet and howling, “My pain is so real and it’s my pain!”

RTWT. Then watch this from Comedy Central’s Nightly Show. It includes a fake student interview, the end of which reveals why this kind of nonsense tends to occur on campuses at specific times of the year.

 

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Brussels bombings and liberal insanity

Posted by Richard on March 23, 2016

In the wake of the terrible terrorist bombings in Brussels, elements of the mainstream media and left (but I repeat myself) are doubling down on their commitment to the postmodernist belief that there are no objective facts, only their socially-constructed subjective narrative. Case in point (emphasis in original):

The knowledge that the attacks were bombings didn’t stop Atlantic Washington editor Steve Clemons, who phoned into MSNBC and was inside the country, from criticizing Belgium for their “ease of getting guns here.

See there? If, according to your subjective narrative, guns are evil and cause violence, mayhem, and murder, then you can blame guns for jihadist bombings.

Never mind that Belgium has extremely tough gun control laws (which, surprisingly, jihadists and criminals don’t always comply with).

And if, according to your subjective narrative, the real problem facing the West isn’t supremacist radical Islam’s desire to impose its 7th-century religio-political system globally, the real problem is Islamophobia, then you’ll fret not about the possibility of more terrorist attacks, but about how less enlightened people react to such things (emphasis in original):

Appearing on a special extended edition of NBC’s Today on Tuesday, Daily Beast world news editor Christopher Dickey fretted that “rampant Islamophobia” in Europe would intensify following the terrorist attacks in Belgium.

Talking to co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer early in the 11 a.m. ET hour, Dickey warned: “It’s a huge political issue because there already was rampant Islamophobia in this part of the world. And now, you have a situation where people who were not inclined to look suspiciously at Arabs and Muslims, now they’re terrified.”

Meanwhile, our postmodernist, socialist, anti-colonial President schmoozed with totalitarian racist murderers, “welcomed” Castro’s criticisms of the U.S., and praised Cuba’s “human rights advances” in health care and education. But he did devote 51 seconds to the Brussels bombings, mouthing the usual platitudes about “thoughts and prayers,” “solidarity,” etc. And he stuck to “the Obama doctrine” on Islamofascist terrorism:

Obama explained why he attended the game as planned: “It’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage, you wanna be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation but the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives.”

Heaven forbid that anything should disrupt President Barack Hussein Obama’s “ordinary” life.

One of the illuminating passages in Jeffrey Goldberg’s compilation of the wit and wisdom of Barack Obama addresses the subject of terrorism. When it comes to terrorism, this is “the Obama doctrine.” Cool out and learn to live with it. His attitude is complacent. His take on ISIS to Valerie Jarrett represents it: “They’re not coming here to chop our heads off.”

Well, one of them did exactly that in Oklahoma.

Today, we got more of the Obama doctrine (emphasis added):

Speaking to reporters in Argentina Wednesday, President Obama downplayed the gravity of Tuesday’s terror attacks in Brussels by saying ISIS does not pose “an existential threat” to national security.

Earlier in the press conference, Obama showed displeasure when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the Brussels attacks “changed anything.”

I’ve got a lot of things on my plate,” he responded before assuring reporters his top priority is “to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that’s been taking place around the world.”
Given utterances such as these from our “thought leaders” — pundits, journalists, and politicians — it’s understandable (but extremely unfortunate) that many non-postmodern Americans (i.e., the real reality-based community) find the broad-brush, over-the-top, no-nonsense rhetoric of Donald Trump increasingly attractive.

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Look, mom, that woman has a pee-pee!

Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016

Leon Wolf reports at Red State (emphases in original):

The Washington State Human Rights Commission, a regulatory agency, has been empowered by the Washington State legislature to draft legally binding rules for businesses to prevent “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender expression[.]” The commission has released its final rule, and boy is it a doozy.

Among other things, the rule makes it illegal to ask “unwelcome personal questions about an individual’s sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity, or transgender status.” In other words, not only can women not prevent a person with full male equipment from entering their restroom or locker room, they can’t even ask what he is doing there.

Given that the rule applies to schools as well as businesses, your child can now run afoul of this law if they encounter one of the increasing number of prepubescent kids who are victims of the particular species of child abuse where parents tell their 8 year old kid they are transgendered.

As to what constitutes an “unwelcome” personal question about a person’s gender expression, the rule does not say; presumably, the person who is being questioned has sole discretion over whether to make someone into a lawbreaker or not.

The rule also makes it illegal for a business (including a school) to deliberately misuse the pronoun any person would prefer, thus meaning that Washington State has joined the city of New York in fining people who call human males “he” if they decide they want to be called “she.”

Our society has collectively lost its damn mind. It’s difficult to imagine a society so full of rot that it would allow a rule like this to be promulgated in a major political subdivision can expect to last for very long.

It is to laugh. Or to cry. Or maybe to engage in guerilla theater. What do you say, guys? Go to Seattle, join a gym, strut into the women’s locker room, and declare yourself a lesbian trapped in a man’s body!

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Sharia-compliant emoticons

Posted by Richard on March 28, 2014

Yes, it sounds a joke, but Weasel Zippers assures us it’s true. And has an adorable picture to prove it.

Apparently, Apple is going to expand its offering of emoji (little cartoon emoticons) in the interest of diversity. In addition to emoji resembling different ethnicities, there will be some wearing religious headgear such as the hijab.

Apparently, diversity advocates have complained about the “staggering lack of minority representation” among emoji. Good. If the political correctness police are down to complaining about emoticons, they must finally be running out of things to become outraged about.

I guess I’ve never spent much time exploring the wide world of emoticons. I’m old school, and my simple needs are generally met by just a few ASCII-character ones: :-), ;-), and 🙁 are really all I need. I’ve encountered emoji libraries in some apps/contexts. Based on those few casual glances, I thought they were pretty much all yellow circles or blobs with different expressions whose distinctions in meaning were far too subtle for me.

UPDATE: Weird. The WP editor translated my sad ASCII emoticon, but not the other two, into the corresponding emoji graphic. Never noticed that before (I don’t use sad much).

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Dire Straits censored in Canada

Posted by Richard on January 18, 2011

Dire Straits was one of the greatest rock bands of the 80s and 90s, and 1985's Grammy-winner "Money for Nothing" was their biggest hit. Mark Knopfler wrote it in an appliance store, capturing in its lyrics some of the phrases he heard an employee there utter while watching MTV. I prefer "Sultans of Swing," "Lady Writer," and "Skateaway," but there's no question that "Money for Nothing" is a great song.

Now, the Canadian government is censoring it for violating Canada's "human rights standards." Because someone complained. Because of this verse:

The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

At least one Canadian radio station has defied the ban, playing the song repeatedly for an hour. 

IMHO, anyone who's offended by "Money for Nothing" hasn't really listened to it or understood it. And is either an idiot or one of those "offense thieves" who takes offense where none was given. Here it is. Turn it up and enjoy. 


[YouTube link]

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School bans American flag

Posted by Richard on November 13, 2010

This sort of nonsense has been happening in our leftist education establishment for some time, but it seems to be more frequent now that we have a president who bows before foreign leaders, apologizes repeatedly for his country not being more like other nations, and scoffs at those who think America is special:

13-year-old Cody Alicea rides with an American flag on the back of his bike. He says he does this to be patriotic and to honor veterans, like his own grandfather, Robert. He's had the flag on his bike for two months but Monday, was told to take it down. 

A school official at Denair Middle School told Cody some students had been complaining about the flag and it was no longer allowed on school property.

"In this country we're supposed to be free," said Cody. "And I should be able to wave my flag wherever I want to. And they're telling me I can't." Cody had to take the flag off his bike and put it in his backpack, where he kept it all week.

Cody's grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag. He feels if there was really a problem it should have been brought up two months ago, not during Veterans week. And if it was an issue of safety, parents should have been contacted.

The school superintendent backed down after being contacted by KTXL Fox40, assuring the TV station that "he and the school are patriotic." Yeah, right. They just think the way to deal with potential anti-American thuggery is to avoid provoking it. Or maybe apologize to the thugs. 

But Denair residents have already planned a patriotic march from downtown to the school in support of Cody Alicea.

BTW, since the fear of "racial tensions or uprisings" seemed to be a factor in the central California school's flag ban, two questions occur to me: (1) What ethnic group did school officials fear would react violently to an American flag? (2) What ethnic heritage do you suppose the surname Alicea is from?

I'm betting that, ironically, the answer to both questions is the same. 

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Atheists defend Catholic professor

Posted by Richard on July 19, 2010

The University of Illinois has fired a Catholic professor of religion for letting it be known that he agrees with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Among those coming to his defense is an atheist and agnostic student group:

Faculty and students are rallying behind a University of Illinois professor whom they say was fired simply because of his religious beliefs.

Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism, was told recently that he could no longer teach in the university's Department of Religion. A student at the university accused Howell of engaging in hate speech when he stated in a class review session that he agreed with the Church's teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.

According to The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the complaining student wasn't enrolled in Howell's class.

But Howell refused to leave without a fight, and now he has over 3,100 supporters fighting with him — via a Facebook group called "Save Dr. Ken."

"It's turning into a whole movement for freedom of speech in the classroom," said senior Tim Fox, a member of the group and former resident at the university's Catholic student Newman Center.

… 

Students at the center are not the only ones protesting. The campus secularist group, Atheists, Agnostics & Freethinkers, has taken up Howell's cause. Howell had worked with the group in the past, helping organize a public debate between an atheist and a Catholic on "Does the Christian God Exist?" last February. Its president wrote a letter to the university chancellor, Robert Easter, saying, "[Howell] has shown a commitment to the questioning of all ideas. His loss is a profound blow to the University of Illinois and its purpose… Who will next be silenced?" 

Other students said Howell's dismissal was not just an issue of freedom of speech, but revealed a double standard at the university.

"Professor Howell didn't mean to insult homosexuals; he was just stating the Catholic position," said Mike Hamoy, a senior chemistry major who took Howell's class in fall 2009. "I've had multiple professors who have mocked how much Catholic families reproduce or who have implied to the class that God is a joke. Why aren't these professors fired for their open insults?"

The FIRE is intervening in the case, as it does countless times every year in defense of free speech on campus. It has a great record of success, but speech suppression and political correctness run amok are rampant on America's campuses, and there is no shortage of outrageous cases for them to address. The FIRE deserves your support.  

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Jasser condemns Ft. Hood report

Posted by Richard on February 10, 2010

The founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Dr. Zudhi Jasser, thinks the Pentagon's report on the Ft. Hood massacre embodies the paralyzing culture of political correctness and utterly fails to confront the threat that political Islam presents:

As a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, I know the culture of the U.S. military. While I served my 11 years pre-9/11, the culture of political correctness was pervasive. This travesty of a report is front and center evidence of that paralyzing culture.

As a Naval physician and former chief resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I can also speak to the inadequacies in the counterterrorism, counter-radicalism and insurgency training of commanders like those being held to blame for Hasan’s promotion and movement up the chain of command. … As we have all heard, his commanders were seriously concerned about his actions and the role his faith played in his everyday interactions with patients. Had they brought those concerns to his review process, they would have been vilified as Islamaphobes. …

As a Muslim, I am most fearful that our entrenched mindset of victimization and political correctness is precluding a vitally necessary open discussion of faith-based issues both inside and outside of the military. The current military and governmental culture precluded Hasan’s superiors from questioning anything relating to his faith.

… 

How can we hold these soldiers responsible for not preventing Hasan’s actions if we aren’t giving them the environment and the tools they need to confront Islamist radicalization? The military cannot allow the mantra of victimization of Muslims to dominate how it handles force protection. Islamist radicalization is real and it cannot be confronted unless we are honest about the threat it represents. Hasan is not the first soldier to be radicalized and he won’t be the last if we do not address the real issues.

Read the whole thing

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