What is your favourite example of Political correctness

[fallen-archie]

Here are a few to get you thinking.

1. The BBC has dropped the use of the terms Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD) on one of their programmes and decided that the terms 'Before Common Era' / 'Common Era' are more appropriate 

2. The European Parliament introduced proposals to outlaw titles stating marital status such as 'Miss' and 'Mrs' so as not to cause offence. It also meant that 'Madame' and 'Mademoiselle', 'Frau' and 'Fraulein' and 'Senora' and 'Senorita' would be banned.

3. Throughout several US councils and organisations, any terms using the word 'man' as a prefix or suffix have been ruled as not being politically correct. 'Manhole' is now referred to as a 'utility' or 'maintenance' hole. 

4. Loveable cartoon rogue Dennis the Menace has been given a politically correct make over. BBC chiefs decided to take away his edge in the remake. Gone are his bombs, catapult, water pistol and pea shooter - and in their place is a simple boyish grin.

5. Spotted Dick - a classic English dessert has been renamed to avoid embarrassment. The traditional pud Spotted Dick has been given the title Spotted Richard, after UK council bosses feared the original name might cause offence.

6. A school in Seattle renamed its Easter eggs 'spring spheres' to avoid causing offence to people who did not celebrate Easter. 

7. A UK council has banned the term 'brainstorming' – and replaced it with 'thought showers', as local lawmakers thought the term may offend epileptics.

8. A UK recruiter was stunned when her job advert for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants was rejected by the job centre as it could be offensive to unreliable and lazy people.

9. Gillingham fans had begun to fondly offer celery to their goalkeeper, ‘Big Fat’ Jim Stannard. The club, however, decided that celery could result in health and safety issues inside the ground. As a result, fans were subjected to celery searches with the ultimate sanction for possession of celery allegedly being a life ban.’

10. In 2007, Santa Clauses in Sydney, Australia, were banned from saying 'Ho Ho Ho'. Their employer, the recruitment firm Westaff (that supplies hundreds of Santas across Australia), allegedly told all trainees that 'ho ho ho' could frighten children, and be derogatory to women. Why ?  Because 'Ho Ho Ho' is too close to the American (not Australian, mind you) slang for prostitute.

11. Some US schools now have a 'holiday tree' every at Christmas, rather than a Christmas tree.

[marshallhouse]

Baa baa rainbow sheep - presumably to avoid offending black sheep.

[joe_bloggs*]

Iceland still do spotted dick,got one the other week,dunno if its banned elsewhere though?

[millielilac]

As a nursery teacher ( now retired ) we still sang Baa Baa Black Sheep but there is a second verse of Baa Baa White Sheep which we always used....eventually we tagged on the third verse of Baa Baa rainbow sheep too....so not a problem at all. On a similar note we did receive a directive from the education authority that we should not use the term " black sacks " for our black plastic rubbish bags ....we must call them " refuse sacks " . We were also not allowed to call blackboards " blackboards " ...they must be called chalkboards ....oddly enough the whiteboards were not affected ...they were still whiteboards .... Madness really ...but hey ho ...

[upthecreekyetagain]

There are numerous examples of political correctness, (many of which are urban myths).  The bottom line though is that I can't think of a single example that has actually changed my behaviour or affects me in day to day life.

I don't understand why people get so het up about them.

[bankhaunter]

1. The BBC has dropped the use of the terms Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD) on one of their programmes and decided that the terms 'Before Common Era' / 'Common Era' are more appropriate 

Nothing to do with the BBC, it's been is common use for a long time.

[upthecreekyetagain]

6. A school in Seattle renamed its Easter eggs 'spring spheres' to avoid causing offence to people who did not celebrate Easter. 

Urban Myth

"And it is a great story—if it's true.

But there's one problem: "We haven't been able to verify that it happened," says Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman Teresa Wippel. The school district (which says "no religious belief or nonbelief should be promoted" by its employees) contacted all 88 schools in Seattle, asking if any employee could confirm or deny the "spring spheres." "Generally when we put out some question, we usually do get some kind of confirmation from people," Wippel says. "But it has been silence so far."

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/fabricated-eggs/Content?oid=7770403

 “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” – Mark Twain

[al**bear]

9. Gillingham fans had begun to fondly offer celery to their goalkeeper, ‘Big Fat’ Jim Stannard

--------------------------------------

They did not 'Fondly Offer' the celery

They bombarded the goalkeeper from the Terraces, with it every match.

[crafty.snapper]

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@marshallhouse wrote:

Baa baa rainbow sheep - presumably to avoid offending black sheep.

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Urban myth

Baa Baa ‘Rainbow’ Sheep
The myth: Teachers have been banned from singing ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ in schools because it has been deemed racist towards black people.
The truth: A couple of nurseries in Oxfordshire decided to make the song longer and more stimulating for children by replacing ‘black’ with a range of other adjectives.

https://pcgonemadgonemad.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/hello-world/

[*.*..lola..*.*]

My favourite examples of politically correct urban myths are the ones that regularly do the rounds on Facebook originating from groups like Britains First.

This showed up on my news feed a couple of months ago, kindly shared by someone I used to work with:

It still hasn't occurred to her, that the fact the picture is STILL showing on her profile 2 months down the line is kind of making her look a wee bit silly  

It amazes me that people blindly share all those memes about christmas trees, poppies, sniffer dogs, flags etc etc etc without even bothering to find out if there is even a grain of truth in them first.

I'm an inth away from unfriending one of my own cousins because of all the BF propaganda she keeps sharing on her wall.

IMO most of the PC madness either stems from outright lies being spread by racist groups or ridiculous initiatives put forward by 'white liberals' who have never spoken to a black or Asian person in their lives and who don't understand how much harm their *good intentions* are doing to race relations.

[fallen-archie]

So of the list I started with, which I plucked from the net, around 50% are false, Not surprising in my opinion, what I don't understand is why those who promote these ideas (The genuine ones) feel it necessary to draw attention to a refuse sack in a negative way. Why not just ban the use of black? The same goes for chalk boards, in fact they are rapidly becoming obsolete. I suppose what I am trying to understand is what the logic is, it seems that because some low life takes a word and gives it a negative meaning that word in all it's guises becomes non pc. Oh well it was a silly topic anyway.

[jd.linklater]

It wouldn't surprise me if the majority of those examples were fiction. I remember this kind of nonsense at a meeting I used to attend when the subject of Chairman/Chairwoman/Chairperson was raised by somebody with too much time on their hands. All totally unnecessary as whoever was chairing the meeting was referred to in the minutes as 'The Chair' and always had been. Some people just seem to like to justify their existence by dreaming up this sort of drivel.

[plpmr]

No it was not a silly topic, just interesting.

It reminded me that I have to write to my public representative and demand the banning of the most racist, bigoted and offensive song.

You know the one that Bing sings - I'm dreaming of a *****  *********.

[suzieseaside]

HELP!

Call 999 and tell them I have been bitten by a spider of colour with unfortunate spousal circumstances

[mustard-tree]

Here in Bristol, we have Blackboy Hill which leads down to Whiteladies Road

The PC brigade can make of that what they will.

Years ago, we had a launderette, where they had one machine clearly labelled "Whites Only"

You can imagine the uproar that caused.

[mustard-tree]

I may be wrong, but doesn`t PC stand for Politically Correct?

If so, we are not politicians, and maybe all this PC nonsense should be relegated to the House of Commons.

[mikes*corvettes]

Latest bit of PC nonsense:

The Church of England has said it is "disappointed and bewildered" by the refusal of leading UK cinemas to show an advert featuring the Lord's Prayer.

The agency that handles adverts for the cinemas said it could offend those of "differing faiths and no faith".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34891928

[jd.linklater]

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@mikes*corvettes wrote:

Latest bit of PC nonsense:

The Church of England has said it is "disappointed and bewildered" by the refusal of leading UK cinemas to show an advert featuring the Lord's Prayer.

The agency that handles adverts for the cinemas said it could offend those of "differing faiths and no faith".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34891928

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I read that link this morning and I'm confused as to whose feelings they are trying to protect. I'm not a Christian so it doesn't bother me personally but I can understand if those with a strong faith would find it discomforting, we are a Christian society on the whole after all. We seem to be constantly having to pander to the feelings of minorities most of whom probably have no opinion one way or the other, but those in power have to make these ridiculous judgements on the off chance that someone other than ourselves might be offended. What makes it ok to offend the many to protect the rights of the few?

I know we live in a multicultural society but this is a totally ridiculous stand to take in my view.

[mikes*corvettes]

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jd.linklater wrote: 

I know we live in a multicultural society but this is a totally ridiculous stand to take in my view.

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 Couldn't agree more with you there, if it was offensive on racial grounds I can understand the ban, but to ban it on religious grounds is just plain ludicrous.

The only thing that will come from this action is more religious tension, as if we haven't got enough of that at the moment

[joe_bloggs*]

Wonder why they're trying to advertise? mustn't be selling well or something...I think its just that most cinemas i think do not allow religious or politcal adverts,wasn't it the last census that revealed there were more Jedi knights than Christians in this country?