talkmagic.co.uk

This sort of thing really, really makes me mad. How far is this country going to take political correctness? I'm baffled as to who exactly these idiots think will be offended.

As reported by the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8123664.stm

When I read the title of your thread I thought your computer had broken!

But yes, I agree. Tis a crazy world we live in.

Hehe, nah the pooter is fine

The crazy thing is, whenever these stories are printed, I ask friends and colleagues who have skin colours various shades of brown and they all look nonplussed. As one of them pointed out: it's all very well making the word "black" taboo, which is ridiculous on its own, but how many people with black skin do you know?!

Presumably they'd have the same issues with a traditional Welsh Miners' Choir - all that coal dust on their faces might upset someone.....

As I understand it, 'blacking-up' was an attempt to disguise the dancers at a time when morris dancing was illegal.

Many current dancers use blue or other non-ambiguous colours.

But that's an unpopular move with other morris dancing groups, as they fear ir may make them look silly.

pcwells wrote:
But that's an unpopular move with other morris dancing groups, as they fear ir may make them look silly.

Morris dancers? Looking silly you say?

Cancelled just for blacking up? what tosh!
You'll be getting sacked from work for developing a heavy tan next!

Something I find hilarious is that the most racist person in our office is our, as he puts it, "token black man". He never means anything in any kind of offensive way but i do find it ammusing that he constantly makes jokes about it.
He last one was a few minutes ago; he came and grabbed a pen off my desk and said "I'm just stealing this, you know, stereotypes and all that"
It all started a few months back with our previous supervisor asking (after trying to make it sound as non-racist as possible) "do you people tan?"

(I had to retype that a couple of times)

Lawrence wrote:Cancelled just for blacking up? what tosh!
You'll be getting sacked from work for developing a heavy tan next!

LOL! No chance of that for me. If I'm in the sun for more than 10 seconds I end up looking like a lobster with a rather odd skin problem! Bald heads and sunshine do not mix!

Lawrence wrote:Something I find hilarious is that the most racist person in our office is our, as he puts it, "token black man". He never means anything in any kind of offensive way but i do find it ammusing that he constantly makes jokes about it.

I worked with a guy a while ago who was just like that. His parents came from Barbados. Every black joke in the office came from him! It was amusing to see the shock on the faces of visitors when they'd hear us called "honky". Priceless.

Whether or not this is offensive is in the eye of the beholder, rightly or wrongly, but if there is a historical reason for the facepaint, then all that needs doing is for it to be mentioned as part of the presentation. It's not like Morris Dancing is a modern pursuit; just contextualise it!

I've occasionally found myself in the "gollywog" debate and even though said gollywog was just a black gnome from a fairy story (and who says gnomes can't be black) the level of offense, and what the gollywog has come to represent means that it's not something you can really get away with doing unless you accept that you will offend.

As far as I can make out, there's nothing beyond the blackface to suggest any kind of racial connotation, so it really ought to stay, but requires a bit of explanation.

I'm with Stewart Lee, though, when it comes to the "political correctness brigade" brigade.

(And I choke back my own racism to avoid pointing out the irony that this news story has arisen in Kent).

'Crackers need to lighten up a bit!

PLEASE PARDON THE FOLLOWING POLITICAL INCORRECTNESS IF IT OFFENDS YOUR ALL SO TENDER SENSES OF RIGHT & WRONG... :twisted:

I was taught long, long ago (and have since realized it's truth) that the majority of literal "Niger's" in the world happen to be white not black or brownish; more akin to what we now refer to as "Trailer Trash" and to some degree "Racists"

Tennessee Williams pointed out many years ago when asked about his being gay by a reporter that "there is a huge difference between being a homosexual man and being gay; the latter of the two make it an issue..."

Of course, in today's world the Gay & Lesbian sub-culture (for reasons beyond my ability to comprehend) have embraced the negative terms of "Queer" and "FAG" thinking it a political statement... like the N-word (oi, I hate that term) it's ok if the GLBT community call themselves such derogatory names but if you are not part of that world it's an expression of hate and bigotry... go figure

I don't know, I was raised in part, on a farm and served more than a few years on the back-lot of carnivals & circuses and in either instance I learned quickly that if you step into a pile of something brownish, smelly and oft time oozing it's a pile of s*** and not some clever twist of words. Like the proverbial duck, if it walks like one, quacks like one and looks like one chances are highly probable that's just what it is. So why call it anything else?

Here in the States the whole PC thing has gotten way out of hand (as it sounds you all over in the UK are now suffering from); even to the point of claiming terms like ILLEGAL immigrant as being "racist" in nature vs. the truth as to what certain folks actually are (and god help you should you call them "invaders") But I think the real issue that's at hand is the fact that so many in today's world have become little other than outspoken PUSSIES... or would that be better stated as "Wimpish Birth Canals"?

Craig Browning wrote:[b]Of course, in today's world the Gay & Lesbian sub-culture (for reasons beyond my ability to comprehend) have embraced the negative terms of "Queer" and "FAG" thinking it a political statement... like the N-word (oi, I hate that term) it's ok if the GLBT community call themselves such derogatory names but if you are not part of that world it's an expression of hate and bigotry... go figure

Craig, you are spot on with your post!

We have a black comedian in the UK by the name of Lenny Henry. I don't like him and have never particularly found him amusing. But, the point is...he has made a career out of stand up "comedy" telling jokes that no white person would EVER get away with! He is offensive to me because he seems to think that because he is black that he's somehow absolved from responsibility and can make black and white jokes with impunity. The white comedians we have in the UK who have told similar jokes have all been banned from many clubs and venues for their extreme racist acts and are deemed offensive. It makes no sense and just smacks of hypocrisy to me.

This was the worst case I ever heard:

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/dallas-county-meeting-turns-ra.html

Mr_Grue wrote:I'm with Stewart Lee, though, when it comes to the "political correctness brigade" brigade.

I'm with Mr Grue being with Stewart Lee. Here's one of my favourite bits of Stew Lee audio (only a few minutes long) that sums up exactly how I feel about it. CLICKY

I largely agree Queenie. Although in this particular instance I do think it's a shame, because there's so little "British heritage" around today. Foreign cultures are often colourful, rich and fascinating, with strong links to their past. What have we got? Fish and chips, dis-used collieries, Robin Hood

However much we laugh at morris men (and we do ), they are a vibrant, wacky piece of our history - our version of tribal dances I suppose. I rather think they should be allowed to keep doing it without this sort of objection.

If they painted big white lips on themselves, that might be another matter...

As to those who make this ridiculous "reverse racism" argument - "why can they say n****r if I can't?" - put your Daily Mail down for a second and put your thinking hat on. If there was something different about you - perhaps you're obese, have an obvious birthmark, have alopecia or something, and in the past have been teased and singled out for it, do you think it's OK for people to make jokes about it? No. But if you feel confident enough to make a self-deprecating joke about it to lighten things up and make other people feel less awkward, is that OK? Yes!

Yes, I think the whole "claiming back offensive terms = empowerment" thing is a bit silly, but in terms of black comedians making "racist" jokes, what's the problem? Black people and white people can laugh along together and become closer through it.

The reason you (as a white person) are not allowed to tell those jokes is because of the history of our respective ancestors. If your grandad had murdered someone elses grandad, would you be telling that guy jokes about killing people? No - it's not about you being personally to blame, it's about showing that you acknowledge the errors of the past, and your desire to distance yourself from them. If that other guy then decides to lighten the mood by telling a joke about killing people, that's his decision and it's OK. Easy.