TheEarl
Occasional visitor
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2002
- Posts
- 9,808
Baa Baa Black Sheep
I've just been reading about a friend of mine who was reprimanded in an interview for a police job for using the word 'blackspot' to describe a trouble area of a city. Apparently, blackspot leads to the possibility of being misunderstood as having racist connotations and is unacceptable language for the police.
Ai ya, huai le! What the hell is wrong with people? Black doesn't mean skin colour in every single connotation. When we say someone's a black sheep, it doesn't mean that we think black skin and bad characteristics have something in common! It's simple human linking between colours and feelings - black means bad because it symbolises darkness and night, when ancestral humans were more vulnerable to predators. Blackspot means an area where dark deeds occur; it has nothing to do with black people! Am I even allowed to say dark deeds, or is it inappropriate language because people with dark skin shouldn't be linked with bad things?
I'm aware that being black can sometimes put you in a worse position than being white through institutionalised racism and that sucks ji ba. However, there is no merit in trying to make it better by overcompensating in another area, especially one that I'd bet most black people couldn't give a monkeys about. Any black people reading this blog get overly offended by the lyric, "Baa Baa Black Sheep"? There's no notion of skin colour in there at all, but heaven forfend that we should teach it to our children, cause it's got that scary b-word in it.
Humanity can be so infuriating at times. I made several complaints a while back to the owners of a short story anthology aimed at women, because they only accepted stories written by women, with the subtext of "Men obviously don't have the sensitivity required to write stories that women would be interested in." Other authors I know tried to rein me back by pointing out that women have generally got the short end of the stick throughout history and that this one little concession was nothing compared to the deprivations enforced on them. However, I just do not get that point of view. If you're striving for equality, then you should strive for equality in all areas, rather than forgiving inequality which benefits your group because on balance you're still behind.
And another thing - the row over Wimbledon pay is ridiculous. The women winners get paid less than the men winners and there's a big campaign to equalise the prize money. Why? Because otherwise it's obviously innate sexism and wouldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that the women's matches only last for 3 sets and the men's last for 5 sets. I don't see how the women can possibly claim they deserve equality of pay, when they're doing less work. You can't have selective equality and only equalise the bits you feel like. If you take the attitude that women are less physically strong than men (on average) and thus can only play 3 sets, then that's fine. Saying they should then get equal pay for unequal work is ridiculous! That's why I have so much respect for Michelle Wie, the female golfer who's playing on the Men's Circuit. She's not asking for special treatment cause she's a girl, she's not playing 3/5ths of the holes, she's just going out there and telling people to treat her like an equal. And, by and large, she is, because she's acting like one.
Joss Whedon gave a speech to a charity called 'Equality Now' a month or so back, about how he keeps getting asked the same question - "Why do you keep writing these strong women characters?" He gives about 4 or 5 different answers to an imaginary reporter, getting more sarcastic each time he's asked, before finishing his speech with the response of "Because you feel the need to keep asking me that question." And he's absolutely right. Equality's about acting like equals, like pretending the world's how it should be. Disadvantaged groups shouldn't be treated as different, or given special circumstances. They should be treated like a human being, rather than as an imbalance that has to be solved.
So please, drop the PC shit. Political correctness will never save the world.
The Earl
I've just been reading about a friend of mine who was reprimanded in an interview for a police job for using the word 'blackspot' to describe a trouble area of a city. Apparently, blackspot leads to the possibility of being misunderstood as having racist connotations and is unacceptable language for the police.
Ai ya, huai le! What the hell is wrong with people? Black doesn't mean skin colour in every single connotation. When we say someone's a black sheep, it doesn't mean that we think black skin and bad characteristics have something in common! It's simple human linking between colours and feelings - black means bad because it symbolises darkness and night, when ancestral humans were more vulnerable to predators. Blackspot means an area where dark deeds occur; it has nothing to do with black people! Am I even allowed to say dark deeds, or is it inappropriate language because people with dark skin shouldn't be linked with bad things?
I'm aware that being black can sometimes put you in a worse position than being white through institutionalised racism and that sucks ji ba. However, there is no merit in trying to make it better by overcompensating in another area, especially one that I'd bet most black people couldn't give a monkeys about. Any black people reading this blog get overly offended by the lyric, "Baa Baa Black Sheep"? There's no notion of skin colour in there at all, but heaven forfend that we should teach it to our children, cause it's got that scary b-word in it.
Humanity can be so infuriating at times. I made several complaints a while back to the owners of a short story anthology aimed at women, because they only accepted stories written by women, with the subtext of "Men obviously don't have the sensitivity required to write stories that women would be interested in." Other authors I know tried to rein me back by pointing out that women have generally got the short end of the stick throughout history and that this one little concession was nothing compared to the deprivations enforced on them. However, I just do not get that point of view. If you're striving for equality, then you should strive for equality in all areas, rather than forgiving inequality which benefits your group because on balance you're still behind.
And another thing - the row over Wimbledon pay is ridiculous. The women winners get paid less than the men winners and there's a big campaign to equalise the prize money. Why? Because otherwise it's obviously innate sexism and wouldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that the women's matches only last for 3 sets and the men's last for 5 sets. I don't see how the women can possibly claim they deserve equality of pay, when they're doing less work. You can't have selective equality and only equalise the bits you feel like. If you take the attitude that women are less physically strong than men (on average) and thus can only play 3 sets, then that's fine. Saying they should then get equal pay for unequal work is ridiculous! That's why I have so much respect for Michelle Wie, the female golfer who's playing on the Men's Circuit. She's not asking for special treatment cause she's a girl, she's not playing 3/5ths of the holes, she's just going out there and telling people to treat her like an equal. And, by and large, she is, because she's acting like one.
Joss Whedon gave a speech to a charity called 'Equality Now' a month or so back, about how he keeps getting asked the same question - "Why do you keep writing these strong women characters?" He gives about 4 or 5 different answers to an imaginary reporter, getting more sarcastic each time he's asked, before finishing his speech with the response of "Because you feel the need to keep asking me that question." And he's absolutely right. Equality's about acting like equals, like pretending the world's how it should be. Disadvantaged groups shouldn't be treated as different, or given special circumstances. They should be treated like a human being, rather than as an imbalance that has to be solved.
So please, drop the PC shit. Political correctness will never save the world.
The Earl
Maeve
