"If it bothers people, why do you have to say..."
(Insert Quasi-Offensive word here. Retarded. Christmas. Whatever. Pick One.)
I've been asked this when I use the word "retarded." For the record, I use it to mean "stupid," because I believe the word retarded stopped meaning a person with a mental disability YEARS AGO, and we only remember that it used to mean a person with a mental disability because the PC Police yell at us for saying it.
I've said for years that nobody gets upset at the use of the words "mad," "crazy," and "idiot." The first two used to mean a person who was legitimately mentally insane, the third used to mean a person with a mental disability.
So I've openly fought to let this particular quasi-offensive term evolve into yet another synonym for "stupid." (Notice I said "quasi-offensive." That's because I know there are things that are LEGITIMATELY offensive. Like when people use the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a curse word, or when people use legitimate racial slurs.)
Yet one question I keep getting asked "If it bothers people, why do you have to say it?"
Here's why: I'm not willing to yield to political correctness and let the Left say "You've offended me! You must stop talking now!" Which, by the way, is a tool the Left uses CONSTANTLY. They shut down debate using this methodology.
I was once scolded by a co-worker for referring to MYSELF as a "Guinea." For the record, and this cannot be ignored: I AM OF ITALIAN DECENT! Italians, at least in my part of New York State, use this term for each other ALL THE TIME! We've also been known to call ourselves Wops. No Italian cares, as long as it's a fellow Italian using the term. (PS - The person who was offended is not of Italian decent.)
It's become a shut down statement. "You don't get to keep arguing. You've offended me." Translation, "I get to disregard your facts because they aren't PC."
Most of the time, if these people are genuinely offended it's because they've been TOLD to be offended. Liberals actually TEACH other liberals to be offended at things that, on their surface, aren't offensive. (Usually it's Activist Liberals teaching Neighborhood Liberals.)
Kind, well-intentioned Neighborhood Liberals buy into this out of a genuine desire to be nice and not hurt people. Activist Liberals use this to stop debate and discussion, with their unknowing Neighborhood counterparts backing them up because "it's mean to say retarded!" and "You offend people who don't celebrate Christmas so just say Happy Holidays!"
My friends, even though the intentions of our Neighborhood Liberal pals are genuinely trying to be kind, the Activist Liberals are using these good intentions to shut up debate. In the end, we must not let ourselves to taken out by red herrings and blocking tactics.
Showing posts with label Political Correctness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political Correctness. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Monday, December 24, 2012
Best of Biblical Conservatism: It’s Merry Christmas…Get Over It
This week, I'll be away on my annual Christmas Vacation. So today and Thursday, our new publishing days, I'll be posting Best of Biblical Conservatism articles that I feel are pertinent to our current moment in time. Merry Christmas!
Earlier this week, I attended my company’s nondescript “Holiday Party” where we had a nondescript “Holiday Tree.” I’m officially done with it. I’m
tired of the political correctness, and I don’t just mean the fact that
I enjoy getting shocked looks when someone says someone is Indian and I
respond “dots or feathers?” Yes, I do enjoy poking the liberal politically correct machine. I also enjoy calling homeless people “hobos” but that’s really just because “hobo” is a fun word. All that aside, there is something I’ve got to say to the liberal politically correct machine, and please, listen carefully: It’s Merry Christmas. Get over it.
That’s right, Merry Christmas. You see, it used to be that “Happy Holidays” was a short way of saying “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” Now it’s become this way to not dare to offend someone. It
used to be that you said Merry Christmas to basically everybody, and
then if you had Jewish friends you wished them Happy Chanukah. I’ve got news for you liberals: 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to Gallup. You got that? 95%...and the other 5% is not being injured in any way by being wished a Merry Christmas.
For the last few years, I’ve been intentional to wish people Merry Christmas. Do you know what they say? They thank me! They thank me for saying Merry Christmas…they’re tired of “Happy Holidays” too. That beautifully decorated tree in your living room? It’s a Christmas tree. It’s an old German Christian tradition that goes back about five centuries. Santa Claus? That tradition comes from Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who would leave gifts in people’s shoes quietly and without being noticed.
Most importantly, and this cannot be minimized: Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas
is the day we celebrate God sending His son to Earth to walk amongst
us, to live the human condition for 33 years, then to go to the cross
and suffer the worst execution man ever devised…for you and me…and then
rise from the grave the victorious King! Christmas is the beginning of the greatest story ever told! Please hear me when I say this: Jesus is the reason for the season, and I’m not ashamed to say it! My savior was made incarnate man, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas.
I’m tired of hearing Happy Holidays. It’s Merry Christmas! (To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!) Beyond that, this season is about Jesus! Jesus is the reason for the season! Now join me in saying it: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Sports and Political Correctness
Those of you who know me, follow me on Twitter, or read this blog regularly know I am passionate about three things: Jesus Christ, conservatism, and baseball. (Someday when I marry Ms. Right I'll be passionate about four.) I'm also a fan of sports in general. So recently, after listening to a conversation on a local radio station, a topic that I've debated for years came up: Cheerleading. Is Cheerleading, and similar activities like Colorguard, Dance Team, etc, a "sport."
It's a debate that I think begins with political correctness and making sure we don't hurt anyone's feelings. Along with it is an attitude that, at least at the academic level, if we don't call an activity a "sport" it's somehow invalid. It's a debate I had in my own house growing up...my sister participated in Winterguard/Colorguard for seven years through junior high and high school. She said it was a sport. I said it wasn't.
Before I proceed, I should explain my reasoning. Several years ago, my close friend and fellow blogger the JC_Freak and I sat down and developed what we felt were two iron-clad criteria for what makes something a sport. They are:
1 - The Human Body is the engine that drives the competition: Specifically this means that there can be an aparatus used along with the human body, ie a bicycle, however, the bicycle does not go on it's own, it requires the human body to make it go. An automobile, however, has it's own internal combustion engine, and even if a human is required to steer the car, it is that internal combustion engine that makes the car go. Hence, our conclusion was that a bicycle race was indeed a sport, while NASCAR was not.
2 - Objective Scoring: Specifically, this means that you put the ball in the hoop from inside the line you earn two points. Put the ball in the hoop from outside the line, you earn three points. You cross home plate before you are tagged out, you earn one run (point). Score a touchdown, you earn 6 points. Period. It doesn't matter how nicely you perform the activity, you get X points for X activity.
Inherent to this is that the referee/umpire's job is to enforce rules, but not choose the winner. That is the difference between a referee (rule enforcer) and a judge (decider of winner). A referee decides IF something happened, a judge decides HOW WELL something happened. For this reason, we excluded judged competitions from the definition.
Now I know there are many of you out there who are already upset at me, because you were a cheerleader, or in Winterguard (if my sister is reading this, sorry) or gymnastics, etc, that thing you did is really hard and requires a lot of athletic ability...please note I'm not trying to diminish your activity!
First off, to respond to the "it requires a lot of atheletic ability" question: Yes, I know that activities like bowling, which you can do well while weighing 500 lbs. and eating nachos while playing fit my definition and such highly atheletic activities as gymnastics don't fit the same definition. I get that. Under this definition, athletics are not the same thing as sports. Sports are a type of athletics. Otherwise if we just qualified everything that requires atheletic ability as a sport, we'd have to consider ballet, roofing, being a lumberjack and climbing a tree to be sports.
Each of these activities requires atheleticism. They aren't sports. We don't go see a ballet game...it's a performance! To me, an activity like gymnastics falls into that category...it is a performance. Are there performance competitions? Absolutely! Choirs have competed for decades, so have rock bands in various Battles of the Bands, etc.
Which brings me to my second point: Since when does something need to be categorized as a "sport" to matter? That's the attitude behind this mentality. When I was in school I did both sports and performance arts. I studied karate and participated in several tournaments (for the record, the scoring was "strike your opponent cleanly, 1 point. First to 3 points wins the match). I also was on the wrestling team. I also played the guitar in two bands, sang in the choir on several different levels, and acted in a few plays and musicals. I was in a Battle of the Bands with one band, sang in choral competitions, and yes, the dancing in the musicals often required athleticism. They weren't a sport...and that was just fine by me.
So why do you think your activity needs to be a sport to matter? Calling your activity a sport doesn't affect your activity's funding...the reason activities like football and basketball get more funding is largely because people actually pay to see a high school football or basketball game so there is a measure of self-funding. THAT is why they get more funding...they actually fund themselves in many levels. Yet I think we've made the heading of "sport" so inherent to the value of an activity, and that is wrong.
This is another fine example of political correctness pervading our society, so much so that we have to call a visual performance a sport just so we don't hurt people's feelings. It's silly. If you're a cheerleader, or on the dance team, or do Winter Guard, that's awesome...I'm glad you've found an activity that brings you joy. But it's not a sport...and that's not a bad thing. Just be proud of what you do...don't feel the need to cram your square peg into the round hole that is the heading of sports.
It's a debate that I think begins with political correctness and making sure we don't hurt anyone's feelings. Along with it is an attitude that, at least at the academic level, if we don't call an activity a "sport" it's somehow invalid. It's a debate I had in my own house growing up...my sister participated in Winterguard/Colorguard for seven years through junior high and high school. She said it was a sport. I said it wasn't.
Before I proceed, I should explain my reasoning. Several years ago, my close friend and fellow blogger the JC_Freak and I sat down and developed what we felt were two iron-clad criteria for what makes something a sport. They are:
1 - The Human Body is the engine that drives the competition: Specifically this means that there can be an aparatus used along with the human body, ie a bicycle, however, the bicycle does not go on it's own, it requires the human body to make it go. An automobile, however, has it's own internal combustion engine, and even if a human is required to steer the car, it is that internal combustion engine that makes the car go. Hence, our conclusion was that a bicycle race was indeed a sport, while NASCAR was not.
2 - Objective Scoring: Specifically, this means that you put the ball in the hoop from inside the line you earn two points. Put the ball in the hoop from outside the line, you earn three points. You cross home plate before you are tagged out, you earn one run (point). Score a touchdown, you earn 6 points. Period. It doesn't matter how nicely you perform the activity, you get X points for X activity.
Inherent to this is that the referee/umpire's job is to enforce rules, but not choose the winner. That is the difference between a referee (rule enforcer) and a judge (decider of winner). A referee decides IF something happened, a judge decides HOW WELL something happened. For this reason, we excluded judged competitions from the definition.
Now I know there are many of you out there who are already upset at me, because you were a cheerleader, or in Winterguard (if my sister is reading this, sorry) or gymnastics, etc, that thing you did is really hard and requires a lot of athletic ability...please note I'm not trying to diminish your activity!
First off, to respond to the "it requires a lot of atheletic ability" question: Yes, I know that activities like bowling, which you can do well while weighing 500 lbs. and eating nachos while playing fit my definition and such highly atheletic activities as gymnastics don't fit the same definition. I get that. Under this definition, athletics are not the same thing as sports. Sports are a type of athletics. Otherwise if we just qualified everything that requires atheletic ability as a sport, we'd have to consider ballet, roofing, being a lumberjack and climbing a tree to be sports.
Each of these activities requires atheleticism. They aren't sports. We don't go see a ballet game...it's a performance! To me, an activity like gymnastics falls into that category...it is a performance. Are there performance competitions? Absolutely! Choirs have competed for decades, so have rock bands in various Battles of the Bands, etc.
Which brings me to my second point: Since when does something need to be categorized as a "sport" to matter? That's the attitude behind this mentality. When I was in school I did both sports and performance arts. I studied karate and participated in several tournaments (for the record, the scoring was "strike your opponent cleanly, 1 point. First to 3 points wins the match). I also was on the wrestling team. I also played the guitar in two bands, sang in the choir on several different levels, and acted in a few plays and musicals. I was in a Battle of the Bands with one band, sang in choral competitions, and yes, the dancing in the musicals often required athleticism. They weren't a sport...and that was just fine by me.
So why do you think your activity needs to be a sport to matter? Calling your activity a sport doesn't affect your activity's funding...the reason activities like football and basketball get more funding is largely because people actually pay to see a high school football or basketball game so there is a measure of self-funding. THAT is why they get more funding...they actually fund themselves in many levels. Yet I think we've made the heading of "sport" so inherent to the value of an activity, and that is wrong.
This is another fine example of political correctness pervading our society, so much so that we have to call a visual performance a sport just so we don't hurt people's feelings. It's silly. If you're a cheerleader, or on the dance team, or do Winter Guard, that's awesome...I'm glad you've found an activity that brings you joy. But it's not a sport...and that's not a bad thing. Just be proud of what you do...don't feel the need to cram your square peg into the round hole that is the heading of sports.
Friday, December 9, 2011
It’s Merry Christmas…Get Over It
Earlier this week, I attended my company’s nondescript “Holiday Party” where we had a nondescript “Holiday Tree.” I’m officially done with it. I’m tired of the political correctness, and I don’t just mean the fact that I enjoy getting shocked looks when someone says someone is Indian and I respond “dots or feathers?” Yes, I do enjoy poking the liberal politically correct machine. I also enjoy calling homeless people “hobos” but that’s really just because “hobo” is a fun word. All that aside, there is something I’ve got to say to the liberal politically correct machine, and please, listen carefully: It’s Merry Christmas. Get over it.
That’s right, Merry Christmas. You see, it used to be that “Happy Holidays” was a short way of saying “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” Now it’s become this way to not dare to offend someone. It used to be that you said Merry Christmas to basically everybody, and then if you had Jewish friends you wished them Happy Chanukah. I’ve got news for you liberals: 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to Gallup. You got that? 95%...and the other 5% is not being injured in any way by being wished a Merry Christmas.
For the last few years, I’ve been intentional to wish people Merry Christmas. Do you know what they say? They thank me! They thank me for saying Merry Christmas…they’re tired of “Happy Holidays” too. That beautifully decorated tree in your living room? It’s a Christmas tree. It’s an old German Christian tradition that goes back about five centuries. Santa Claus? That tradition comes from Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who would leave gifts in people’s shoes quietly and without being noticed.
Most importantly, and this cannot be minimized: Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas is the day we celebrate God sending His son to Earth to walk amongst us, to live the human condition for 33 years, then to go to the cross and suffer the worst execution man ever devised…for you and me…and then rise from the grave the victorious King! Christmas is the beginning of the greatest story ever told! Please hear me when I say this: Jesus is the reason for the season, and I’m not ashamed to say it! My savior was made incarnate man, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas.
I’m tired of hearing Happy Holidays. It’s Merry Christmas! (To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!) Beyond that, this season is about Jesus! Jesus is the reason for the season! Now join me in saying it: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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