Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 39

Thread: Political Correctness

  1. #1
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default Political Correctness

    I read ab article about Political Correctness here.

    http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/..._correct1.html

    I was pretty shocked when I read this part. Has Western countries really gone this far in political correctness? That's really sad.

    Religion-related

    Merry Christmas is often replaced with Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings. "Christmas" itself is sometimes replaced on company calendars with the generic "Winter Holiday" or "December Holiday" or "Winter Break" or other secular terminology. Characters on television commericals may refer to "Holiday presents" rather than Christmas ones. George W. Bush was criticised by many conservative Christians at Christmas 2005 for sending Christmas cards that wished a happy "holiday season" rather than a Merry Christmas (Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2005).

    Gregorian calendar-related terminology is being altered from Anno Domini (Latin: In the year of [the] Lord) and Before Christ to the Christian-neutral Common Era terminology (CE/BCE).
    People with religious beliefs are often (in the USA) referred to euphemistically as "people of faith", by analogy to "people of color".

    In 1998, Birmingham City Council decided to brand a series of entertainments over the Christmas and New Year period Winterval, which opponents claimed to be an attempt to remove the name 'Christmas' (the council denied this interpretation).

    In a 2003 PETsMART television ad, a mid-aged couple is shown with their dog sitting under a Christmas tree, with several Christmas presents under it. The woman then notes, "This is our dog's first holiday." Although the couple would most likely be celebrating Christmas, the word is omitted.

    In 2004, Federated Department Stores (which includes Macy's) banned their employees from saying "Merry Christmas" to customers.A small organization, the Committee to Save Merry Christmas, boycotted Federated Department Stores for their ban on mentioning the holiday.
    While Macy's names their November parade the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, the Christmas season parade (formerly Macy's Christmas Parade to 1991) has been genericized to the Macy's Holiday Parade.

    The debate of political correctness during the Christmas season has become so intense that websites are surfacing to oppose holiday celebrations which do not mention or focus on Christmas. These organizations include, but are not limited to, The Grinch List, V-DARE.com's War Against Christmas (since 2000), and The Committee to Save Merry Christmas.
    In 2002, Toronto city workers referred to the city's Christmas tree as a "holiday tree" resulting in a controversy that political correctness had been taken too far. Said Barry Levy, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and the head of religious studies at Montreal's McGill University, "That object is identified as a Christmas tree - it's not a Hannukah bush, it's not a winter tree, it's not a festival tree - it's a Christmas tree - we all know it for what it is. Quite frankly I'm offended on behalf of Christians for whom it's a symbol of some importance - that they should have a religious symbol converted into a secular one just in order to accommodate it into public display."

    On 27 November 2005, Boston's city Christmas Tree was renamed the 'holiday tree' in the name of political correctness. This caused much controversy, including comments from the annual Nova Scotian tree donor, who said "if they're going to call it a 'holiday tree', they might as well put it up at Easter". The tree was re-instated as "Christmas Tree" on 28 November.
    Since 1998, the Capitol's Christmas Tree was called the Capitol 'holiday Tree', and was renamed on 30 November 2005 to the Capitol Christmas Tree. Officials apologized that the website could not be updated to include Christmas for the 2005 season, but would be in 2006.
    The Committee to Save Merry Christmas, active once again in 2005, opted to boycott Sears & Roebuck, Inc. due to their non-use of Christmas terminology. Also, they succeeded in convincing Federated Department Stores (Macy*s) to re-instate "Merry Christmas", and other Christmas terminology in their advertising, which was acknowledged by a Federated associate. Recently, the Sears Corporation (including K-Mart) removed "holiday" references and replaced them with "Christmas" on 2 December 2005.

    Target, Inc.'s decision to ban the Salvation Army once again in for the 2005 Christmas season, as well as ban the use of the word Christmas in both their store locations and advertising, resulted in an attempted boycott of the corporation through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend (24 November - 27 November 2005) by the American Family Association, and the Committee to Save Merry Christmas. Target sales were down 7% over the weekend.

    Lambeth Council in London banned "Christmas lights" in December 2005 in favour of "winter lights" and, bizarrely, "Celebrity Lights". This prompted outrage by many citizens, who felt that in a Christian country (the UK has an established church), a Christian festival was being marginalised.
    I'm glad we still have 'Selamat Hari Raya', 'Merry Christmas', Go Xi Fai Cai' in our greeting instead of everything becoming 'Happy Holiday'.

    Btw, 'actress' sounds so much better than 'female actor'.
    Last edited by kidd; 10-31-10 at 07:03 AM.
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  2. #2
    Senior Member Guo Xiang's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    The bubblehead
    Posts
    8,571

    Default

    I don't understand. What's wrong with using 'Christmas'?
    Join us at The Mandate RPG!
    Join the Discussion thread for The Mandate RPG!
    Quote Originally Posted by athlee View Post
    DZC - "Your wife and I, we are old friends."

  3. #3
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Guo Xiang View Post
    I don't understand. What's wrong with using 'Christmas'?
    Maybe those people ordering the change/ban were afraid that saying 'Merry Christmas' to non-Christians might offend them or that non-Christians seeing Christmas related decorations in public places might be offended?

    I don't know the situation in those countries. So, don't know if people there are that easily offended or not.

    arget, Inc.'s decision to ban the Salvation Army once again in for the 2005 Christmas season
    Does this mean that Salvation Army is ok on other days but not Christmas season?
    Last edited by kidd; 10-31-10 at 07:04 AM.
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  4. #4
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    I see no fault with "happy holidays". In some countries there are quite significant non-christian minorities that don't celebrate Xmas but do celebrate some other holiday that takes place approximately at the same time.
    If I were - say - an ardent Wiccan, I'd probably be quite fed up with all those Merry Xmas wishings.
    You can still wish Merry Christmas to anyone who you know will appreciate it. Saying Happy Holidays in situations when the outlook/religion/background of the receiving party is unknown costs you nothing and it can help you avoid awkward situations...
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  5. #5
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default

    That holiday period existed in the first place because of Christmas and the majority of the people there are Christians and these are Christian countries. What's wrong with having a holiday that was designated to celebrate Christmas be named Christmas Holiday and people greeting Merry Christmas during that time? 'Merry Christmas' is just a good will greeting.

    PC overdrive made everything so bland.

    It might seem to promote tolerance and all, but, I don't think so. It just creates more intolerance. People get offended or 'uncomfortable' by being wished 'Merry Christmas'?
    Last edited by kidd; 10-31-10 at 08:14 AM.
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  6. #6
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    Wrong. That holiday period takes place around winter solstice and people had celebrated all kinds of winter holidays connected with solstice long before anyone even heard of a bloke called Jesus.
    In fact, the Church actually scheduled major christian holidays around the time of older pagan holidays on purpose - to deal with the competition more efficiently. Blending with older traditions and bending them to christian image was one of the major strategies that helped Christianity to spread all over Europe.
    Let us also not forget the Jewish guys. Old Testament, NEW Testament, y'know... So how is the Jewish holiday younger than the Christian one?

    And when it comes to countries such as US, Canada, Australia or UK - considering the troubled history and/or colonial past of those regions, if being politically correct is all that the WASPs these days gotta do, they can count themselves lucky. :-p

    I am not the biggest fan of PC - it *can* go horribly wrong; but sometimes it does make people look just a tad further than the tip of their noses, so I guess it is not a purely evil thing.
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  7. #7
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cesare View Post
    Wrong. That holiday period takes place around winter solstice and people had celebrated all kinds of winter holidays connected with solstice long before anyone even heard of a bloke called Jesus.
    In fact, the Church actually scheduled major christian holidays around the time of older pagan holidays on purpose - to deal with the competition more efficiently. Blending with older traditions and bending them to christian image was one of the major strategies that helped Christianity to spread all over Europe.
    Let us also not forget the Jewish guys. Old Testament, NEW Testament, y'know... So how is the Jewish holiday younger than the Christian one?
    Ok. You are right, I'm wrong. I forgot this historical fact.

    But, I still think it's overly PC to ban the greetings and change the name of the tree and holidays.

    My country used to be a British colony too and we still call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree.

    I am not the biggest fan of PC - it *can* go horribly wrong; but sometimes it does make people look just a tad further than the tip of their noses, so I guess it is not a purely evil thing.
    Sorry for being self-centered and can't look beyond the tip of my nose.
    I'll support PC from now. (Shush, that's an angel picture that. Not all religion has depiction of angels. So not PC )
    Last edited by kidd; 10-31-10 at 09:45 AM.
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  8. #8
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    But, I still think it's overly PC to ban the greetings and change the name of the tree and holidays.
    Yeah, the "Holiday tree" thing is a tad far fetched (although it kind of reflects the true state of things - the tree has become a purely secular symbol for quite a lot of people) but what is so wrong about acknowledging that there are other winter holidays besides Xmas? You can still wish merry christmas to people you know...

    As for your other comment - meh...
    Anyway, on a lighter note - the discussion reminded me of this little gem:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vShJa6GobFQ
    XD
    Last edited by Cesare; 11-01-10 at 07:39 AM.
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  9. #9
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cesare View Post
    Anyway, on a lighter note - the discussion reminded me of this little gem:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vShJa6GobFQ
    XD
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  10. #10
    Moderator kidd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Somewhere Out There
    Posts
    13,111

    Default

    I don't know how true this news is since it's written by someone who calls himself white dude and he's not reporting, just giving opinion.

    But, if it's true, is it right for the New Haven Fire Department to do that? The white firemen did score better in this supposedly race neutral test designed by a company specialises in PC. The white firemen did do better in the test, but, they were denied promotion and the test result thrown out because no blacks qualified for promotion base on the test result. So, the test must be flawed.

    http://angrywhitedude.com/?p=1550

    I also wonder, if the burden of being PC in US only falls on the majority group or the group supposedly in power. (whites, men, Christians).
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

  11. #11
    Senior Member Candide's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    ( @ )( @ )
    Posts
    4,651

    Default

    This PC sh1t about Christmas is a favourite trick of the Western media.

    You'll find that no minority group has ever called for a change in names, or a ban on anything Christmas-related. However, the media will quote them out of context or flat out make sh1t up so that they can have stories about Christmas being under threat. This of course fires up various angry-white-dudes who lap up this false them-vs-us conflict like angry flies on sh1t. It sells papers, ads & gets higher TV ratings.

    And guess who profit from all this? White fellas who run the media.
    "Anything you can't say NO to is your MASTER, and you are its SLAVE."

    "I disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it."

  12. #12
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    PC usually is by white folks for white folks, that much is true...
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  13. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Giang Ho, Canada
    Posts
    4,876

    Default

    Here in Canada, non Christian people have no problem with the words "Merry Christmas". In fact, they use them as well during the holidays.

  14. #14
    Senior Member Lucre's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    両親の家
    Posts
    631

    Default

    Well, not so much of a single-movement propaganda, but the merging of 'pagan' holidays with christmas sorta comes in 'series'

    Prior to the acceptance of Christianity, Christians being outlawed can only celebrate 'important festivals' in secret, and the easiest way of being unnoticed is to celebrate when everyone else is celebrating - they do their pagan rites, christians convert these days to suit their own 'celebrations' to remember Christ.

    After the acceptance of Christianity, many people are still pagans and heart, even though they are baptized, and technically Christians in name only. So apart from calling everything Christ-related, they are still sticking to their old familiar practises, and hence helped to keep 'pagan rites' very much alive.

    As for the third wave, Christianity did not gain worldwide success just because of one Roman Emperor, nor because the church imitate other european pagan festivals to bribe them. To cut the story short, Christianity at one time was adopted to 'keep the people' in check because after getting rid of the Romans from their lands, they have nothing else to fight for and started to cause trouble. Having a religion to tame them seemed a good political move. Popularity in Europe was a systematic enforcing (in the hopes for 'better future') than just advertising Christmas by celebrating it in the fashion of pagan rites.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cesare View Post
    Wrong. That holiday period takes place around winter solstice and people had celebrated all kinds of winter holidays connected with solstice long before anyone even heard of a bloke called Jesus.
    In fact, the Church actually scheduled major christian holidays around the time of older pagan holidays on purpose - to deal with the competition more efficiently. Blending with older traditions and bending them to christian image was one of the major strategies that helped Christianity to spread all over Europe.
    Let us also not forget the Jewish guys. Old Testament, NEW Testament, y'know... So how is the Jewish holiday younger than the Christian one?

    And when it comes to countries such as US, Canada, Australia or UK - considering the troubled history and/or colonial past of those regions, if being politically correct is all that the WASPs these days gotta do, they can count themselves lucky. :-p

    I am not the biggest fan of PC - it *can* go horribly wrong; but sometimes it does make people look just a tad further than the tip of their noses, so I guess it is not a purely evil thing.
    o wilku mowa...♪

    The only thing I need to know is that I don't know anything.

  15. #15
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    Sure it was not just the merging with older traditions that promoted spreading of Christianity and of course it was a more complex process. Thanks for clarifying - my main point was that Christianity *wasn't* there first, so I oversimplified things (the fact I don't *like* that religion much didn't help, of course).
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  16. #16
    Registered User JamesG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Lethbridge AB
    Posts
    2,466

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by kidd View Post
    Maybe those people ordering the change/ban were afraid that saying 'Merry Christmas' to non-Christians might offend them or that non-Christians seeing Christmas related decorations in public places might be offended?

    I don't know the situation in those countries. So, don't know if people there are that easily offended or not.
    Seems to me that people that emigrate to countries with an historical Christian tradition should adapt to that fact, or leave. The atheist groups in the US are targeting Christianity and its belief in God, but they don't have the courage of their convictions to target the practitioners of Islam. Talk about Chickens**t two facedness [or cowardice].

  17. #17
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JamesG View Post
    The atheist groups in the US are targeting Christianity and its belief in God, but they don't have the courage of their convictions to target the practitioners of Islam.
    Sure that is partly due to fear (Islam hasn't quite grown out of its teenage years yet) - but it's more complicated than that. In a country where money have "in God we trust" written on them, targeting Christianity makes a lot more sense. For a regular white atheist in the US who is fed up with all that religious air, Christianity is enemy number one simply because that's where most of the pressure comes from.
    I personally see no huge difference between Abrahamic religions as such, be it Judaism, Christianity or Islam... It's just that all this is more about the social and political status of the said religions - and in that respect, they differ a lot.
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

  18. #18
    Senior Member Lucre's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    両親の家
    Posts
    631

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cesare View Post
    Sure that is partly due to fear (Islam hasn't quite grown out of its teenage years yet) - but it's more complicated than that. In a country where money have "in God we trust" written on them, targeting Christianity makes a lot more sense. For a regular white atheist in the US who is fed up with all that religious air, Christianity is enemy number one simply because that's where most of the pressure comes from.
    I personally see no huge difference between Abrahamic religions as such, be it Judaism, Christianity or Islam... It's just that all this is more about the social and political status of the said religions - and in that respect, they differ a lot.
    come to think of it, Christ was an 'offending' person (otherwise nobody would wanna crucify him); so in the same gist, we are following Him to his teachings, standing up for Right VS Wrong (obviously what Christ had said, not anybody's right-or-wrong, but His), instead of non-offensive VS offensive, and similarly had to understand that when things becomes offensive, we may be crucified.
    o wilku mowa...♪

    The only thing I need to know is that I don't know anything.

  19. #19
    Registered User JamesG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Lethbridge AB
    Posts
    2,466

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cesare View Post
    I personally see no huge difference between Abrahamic religions as such, be it Judaism, Christianity or Islam... It's just that all this is more about the social and political status of the said religions - and in that respect, they differ a lot.
    True. Islam became politicised right after Mohammed's death [a perversion] and Christianity became politicised when Rome co-opted it [another perversion]. In neither case has this changed, except the the various versions [sects] have made them even worse. Judaism may be the least perverted of the three, and that's not saying much in its favor.

    Atheists tend to be 'Lefties' which leads them to display intolerance towards anyone that doesn't think their way. I think it may be a genetic brain defect in the cognitive center of the brain which causes 'cognitive tunnel vision'. Anything they see or hear that doesn't fit in their narrow view of things must be belittled or attacked. They just can't help themselves. Poor dears.

  20. #20
    Senior Member Cesare's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    703

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JamesG View Post
    Atheists tend to be 'Lefties' which leads them to display intolerance towards anyone that doesn't think their way. I think it may be a genetic brain defect in the cognitive center of the brain which causes 'cognitive tunnel vision'. Anything they see or hear that doesn't fit in their narrow view of things must be belittled or attacked. They just can't help themselves. Poor dears.
    Got nothing to do with leftism or rightism. There are enough people like that on both sides of the barricade (on all sides of all barricades, actually).
    Quote Originally Posted by JamesG View Post
    Judaism may be the least perverted of the three, and that's not saying much in its favor.
    I think they are all pretty much on the same level. But I don't care about them being perverted or political or whatever. It's that one god, one truth, one morality nonsense that renders them pretty cringeworthy to me - and it's also where much of their destructive potential comes from.

    Lucre: I don't really care about this Jesus guy or his definitions of right and wrong - even though I happen to share some of his views. But that's MY choice of course. You or anyone else is perfectly entitled to think otherwise (as long as they don't try to convert me).
    别想把黑暗放在我的面前
    太阳已经生长在我心底
    不再有封闭的畏惧
    奔腾的灵魂飞上天际
    太阳 我在这里

Similar Threads

  1. Give wuxia titles to political leaders
    By PJ in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 12-12-16, 10:21 AM
  2. Political Compass
    By xJadedx in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 04-02-10, 04:04 AM
  3. Zhang Wuji - not suitable to be a political leader?
    By Extremer88 in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 09-01-06, 05:53 AM
  4. Political Views of the Main Characters
    By PJ in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 02-17-06, 12:11 AM
  5. Political/military power of main JY heroes
    By Ken Cheng in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 10-11-04, 10:32 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •