Annoying modern trends...

[sheeplady]

Abysmal Point was the kind of place where they had to close down the public library after somebody checked out the book and didn't bring it back. The Fourth of July celebration was two kids sitting on the curb banging caps with a rock. For the grand finale they'd bang a whole roll. You get the idea.

At least they had a rock.

 

[Angus Forbes]

You make some good points, but of course the imperatives of Late Consumer Capitalism run counter to these values, and so today these admirable values are common to a smaller and smaller portion of the population. Oddly enough they are not as common as one would hope among the devoutly religious (or at least not among the most visible of the devout, those who one might call "Fundamentalist" or "Holiness") as they are amongst even the unchurched of a certain social class.

Those values are important, but our history shows them to have oft been honored in the breach. I worry because such large segments of society no longer even pay lip service to them. Even so, noting in this world is guaranteed. There are some who, regardless of values, are fated to penury.

Let us consider one pair of my grandparents, who deeply honored those values, as did their eight children. These values did not prevent the Spanish Influenza from taking two of their sons. They did not prevent their only daughter from perishing at the age of nineteen in a freak drowning accident at a company picnic. They did not prevent the killing of their eldest son by a railroad "Bull". They did not prevent the Midland Bank from failing, taking their life's savings and then in liquidation from calling and foreclosing on a current, nearly paid off mortgage in 1932. They did not prevent two more sons from dying in the War, one in the European and the other in the Pacific Theater. They did not prevent another son from returning home from war a broken man who spent the rest of his life in the VA hospital. Those of us whom success has blessed must always remember that prosperity can be fleeting, and that nothing in life is certain. One should at least aspire to empathize with those of whose struggle one is not entirely aware.

Good, thoughtful, analysis.

And yes, Lizzie, I do have some sheets to fold. I do these kinds of chores all the time, and I have some sheets to get to today.

Sorry for making so many posters uncomfortable -- these are difficult issues, at best.

 

[AmateisGal]

Well, we ARE all being polite, despite discussing relatively modern controversies. Why shut down a discussion which is not out of hand, for all of this really relates to the Era, or rather to our perceptions and misperceptions of it. We don't all have to agree as long as we play nice, don't you think?

I don't know that everyone is being polite...

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's no polite way to discuss overt racism. Nor should there be.

 

[2jakes]

Well, we ARE all being polite, despite discussing relatively modern controversies. Why shut down a discussion which is not out of hand, for all of this really relates to the Era, or rather to our perceptions and misperceptions of it. We don't all have to agree as long as we play nice, don't you think?

Perhaps some folks find it uncomfortable that we haven't removed our hats while inside
the Fedora Lounge.

 

[sheeplady]

A college friend has her daughter in the local Jewish School in daycare (she is age 4). They've had two bomb threats since the new year. The local Jewish skilled care facility has also gotten threatening calls and so has the community center. A nursing home!

When people are threatening little children and the most vulnerable elders in my community; I think I'm being as nice as I possibly can be.

 

[Angus Forbes]

A college friend has her daughter in the local Jewish School in daycare (she is age 4). They've had two bomb threats since the new year. The local Jewish skilled care facility has also gotten threatening calls and so has the community center. A nursing home!

When people are threatening little children and the most vulnerable elders in my community; I think I'm being as nice as I possibly can be.

I agree. This action is despicable, and is an example of real racism. And it also serves to illustrate the difference between real racists and people who are guilty of nothing more than violating the silly rules of political correctness.

 

[vitanola]

I agree. This action is despicable, and is an example of real racism. And it also serves to illustrate the difference between real racists and people who are guilty of nothing more than violating the silly rules of political correctness.

Now we are probably living in very different cultural milieus, but where I live whenever I have heard someone complain about "political correctness" he or she seems to really mean "simple decency". I have heard folks complain about being called out for so-called "micro-agressions" or "hidden racism" but I have never actually seen such things save in reports on talk radio and certain websites.

 

[MisterCairo]

I have never actually seen such things save in reports on talk radio and certain websites.

Well, if you haven't seen it (PC culture), then that's proof it doesn't happen.

I'll be sure to mention that to my university-attending niece and nephew, who claim to experience it almost daily.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It always seems to be the ones complaining about people complaining about being offended who seem to be the most easily offended. The music goes round and round, whoa ho ho ho ho ho, and it comes out here.

 

[tonyb]

If addressing people in the terms they would prefer makes me politically correct, well, guilty as charged.

Sure, there have always been people quick to take offense where none is intended. But that cuts both ways. In my experience (as long as we're swapping anecdotes here), those who complain the loudest about "political correctness" display the sorts of behavior they would condemn in others. You know, they're whiny and hypersensitive. They see themselves as victims. And maybe they are. But it isn't that other people aren't.

 

[tonyb]

Gee, Liz, you beat me to it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

All part of our lockstep groupthink, don'cha know...

 

[vitanola]

Well, if you haven't seen it (PC culture), then that's proof it doesn't happen.

I'll be sure to mention that to my university-attending niece and nephew, who claim to experience it almost daily.

I live in a college town, and am quite involved with the school, as I have also have been with a much larger and older school in the East.

The last two times that I have heard fellows complain about "Political correctness" in my town were when a local pork processing plant asked a boy that I know to park his pickup truck which had two large Battle Flags flying from the bed off of company property if the flags were not furled, and when our local police arrested another boy for painting the word FAGGOTS on a neighbor's house after smashing some windows. Both of these youngsters (and their parents) complained bitterly of "political correctness". Please forgive my scepticism. I did and do note that my experience is not necessarily universal.

 

[AmateisGal]

I work at a university and help edit two academic journals. We have students of every race and religion from here in the US to around the world. There's a mixture of the "I'm offended by everything" culture and those who are just trying the best they can to be kind and understanding. It's not all or nothing. Is there a prevailing belief system on campus? Most definitely. Those of us who don't subscribe to it are very aware of what we say and do. When I first started, I was extremely careful about what I said and did; now not so much. The university is supposed to be a place of exploring other ideas and experiencing new things. I try to keep that in mind and only wish more would open themselves to it.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
People prefer the company of kindred spirits. Nothing new in that. I'm confident there are certain ways of speaking at, say, CPAC, which are much more accepted than other ways of speaking.

As Liz put it, the music goes round and round ...

 

[Angus Forbes]

Seems like some of our posters here really don't understand the difference between having a Confederate battle flag on your truck vs threatening to bomb a Jewish nursing home or child-care facility.

 

[Angus Forbes]

Now we are probably living in very different cultural milieus, but where I live whenever I have heard someone complain about "political correctness" he or she seems to really mean "simple decency".

I'm curious -- do you think that a conventionally rude person violates simple decency?

 

[Angus Forbes]

I often edit my posts to improve clarity or to reduce length. Strunk and White command us to Be Brief! Be brief! This may be what you are seeing.

 

[vitanola]

Seems like some of our posters here really don't understand the difference between having a Confederate battle flag on your truck or using a slur vs threatening to bomb a Jewish nursing home or child-care facility.

May I assume that you have never been on the receiving end of one of these attacks? Let me assure you that it is extremely disconcerting to come home to a vandalized house. One loses a great deal of the peace of mind which should be associated with the concept of "Home". In addition, 1850's soft burned brick cannot be sand or shell blasted, and it absorbs paint rather deeply. It is very expensive and nearly impossible to entirely eradicate graffiti. Repairs to hundred-fifty-year-old windows are likewise time consuming and expensive. I would hardly call that bit of self-identified "Political correctness" a minor matter.

That said, I was merely pointing out that in my own experience those who complain about so-called "Political Correctness" are generally upset about being called out for malign actions. I know the boy who was flying those flags, by the way. He was flying them with the specific intention of intimidating a non-white co-worker.

I'm curious -- do you think that a conventionally rude person violates simple decency?

Well, it depends. If the "conventionally rude" person engages in public behavior which does not "conform to accepted standards of public morality or respectability" then yes. If not, no.

I often edit my posts to improve clarity or to reduce length. Strunk and White command us to Be Brief! Be brief! This may be what you are seeing.

Alas, you are a better man than I. As you have doubtless noticed I honor Strunk and White in the breach. What style I have was formed by many years spent reading entirely too many Nineteenth Century economists, historians, politicians and divines.