Has PC gone too far?
Last edited Mon Jun 18, 2012, 10:49 AM - Edit history (1)
This morning my daughter was getting ready to leave for camp. Her friend Susy who lives across the street knock and asks of Mary can play. I explain Mary is leaving for camp in a few minutes but Alice next door is probably awake and would want to play. Susy replies that she cannot play at Alice's house because Alice's mom is the g-word and leave. In the car I asked Mary why can't Susy play at Alice's house. She said "Because Alice's mom is a lesbian." I asked her what does "the g-word" mean and she says "It means gay, Mom, we are not supposed to use that word because it is hurtful and and mean." These kids are twelve and may not understand fully, but they all know (or should know) what gay means. To me, this is a back-handed way of telling children being gay is wrong. Maybe I am just over-thinking this.
Edited to add: It is okay for Susy to play with Alice if they are outside of the house, riding bikes, skateboarding or swimming at my house. But it is not okay to actually go inside of the house.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Calling each other "gay" on the playground is hurtful and mean and prohibited. Using it appropriately to describe someone's sexual orientation is (usually) not. The kids haven't figured out the nuance, yet. 
When we bought our condo, we bought two units and another couple bought the other two. When the sale was final, I freaked out the selling agent (who was a gay black broker with offices in the Castro) by asking him, as he was handing me my keys, "Can I ask you about the other buyers -- (he stiffened up and got that oh hell look on his face) they're not, um, they're not REPUBLICANS are they?"
lol
He gave me a big hug and told me, he didn't think so and hoped no, for their sake.
there with actually LISTENING to people and asking them for real questions to try to honestly understand better, without all of our habitual filters (religion, education, class, race, politics . . . . ).
......................................................
The U.S.A. is like being handed a colorful box of nutritious food that requires some special work before eating and most of us have thrown away the food and we're eating the box.
S/he is saying their school told the kids to not say "gay" but say "the gword," like using the "nword" instead of the entire word.
So, if you say "Ellen is the gword," or "That shirt is so gword," it's apparently okay.
erate and respectful. It creates opportunities to talk about EXPERIENCES compared to acquired ILLUSIONS (media, cerrtain churches etc.). It also creates opportunities for others to listen and maybe even watch, or at least read. ALL good opportunities for cognitive development.
Bias is inherent to what we call "knowledge", so the questions are about how much bias is valid, empirically grounded, and how much is fabrication, not valid in terms of experience. The thing about experience is that it can be FULL of confusion, negative emotions, and outright LIES, but the only way to separate the food from the BULLSHIT is to go ahead and go there (without killing one another). And it is MY bias that if we could authentically do that, a bunch of us are going to discover that the differences in our experiences that we thought were so important aren't really and the differences in our experiences that are in fact important won't be so god damned THREATENED, and hence paranoid, by all of that other stuff that no one is making an effort to understand in the first place, so it's getting turned into hate by those who actually DO hate all of us.
Differences, authentic differences, can be a good thing, because they require clarity and strength, which are the opposite of ignorance and paranoia.
Pardon my 
since at no point in this thread have I advocated for stifling discussion of any kind, nor would I. 
did respond to my posts.
Limbaugh In Column
Buchanan, who has a long history of making controversial statements, was fired from MSNBC in February after the publication of his new book "Suicide of a Superpower." Critics called the book racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic, charges he denied. He responded to the recent firestorm over Limbaugh's incendiary comments about Sandra Fluke in a new piece called "Rush and the New Blacklist."
In it, he blasted "the left" for trying to censor Limbaugh even in the wake of his apology. He alleged, "the media that piled on Rush objected less to the term than to the target he picked: one of their own." He also took aim at "the cultural ascendancy of the left" and "political correctness," lamenting:..
Obviously, some people believe that PC has gone too far; personally, nah, I really don't think so.
Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh coming up 
This nebulous "we" is exactly who? And this was not much of a discussion, more like a hit job. But I think you already know that.
I posted what I thought was a very direct answer.
But your "not intention" has me confused.
Maybe some of us could understand your point better if we knew what "not intention" is. Thanks in advance for being so helpful.
The lack of compassion and combative nature of some of the responders is very disappointing. They clearly know little of Louisiana, it's school systems (and I use that term loosely), or the prevailing social mores there. You probably did frame your OP title poorly, but the personal attacks and veiled accusations are just deplorable. I hope you, your daughter, her friends, and your neighbors can all find comity.
(I guess I better put on my flame retardant suit when I get up in the morning. 
)
