Has political correctness actually gone mad?

So this one’s quite interesting. A graphic novel gets pulled because of online protests and - as far as I can make out - this all went down before any of the protestors had actually read the book.
Sounds it's already out there in some form tbh.

Gantos’s story was originally part of Here I Stand, a 2016 young adult anthology for Amnesty International, which said at the time that Gantos’s story “celebrates the power of books to transform lives”.

Never heard of a library described as a 'white space' though. Sounds kind of racist in itself.
 
I remember there was talk in the 1990s of some residents in NYC owning falcons that would prey on the pigeons. Being a falconer always seems like a cool hobby to me
OT uses birds of prey to reduce pigeons and it is pretty standard. Pigeon shit is corrosive and does damage.
The concourse at Waterloo is quite small considering how busy it is and gets very congested. They can be a genuine pain the arse.
 
OT uses birds of prey to reduce pigeons and it is pretty standard. Pigeon shit is corrosive and does damage.
The concourse at Waterloo is quite small considering how busy it is and gets very congested. They can be a genuine pain the arse.

I think I missed my true calling as a falconer. That would be such a cool job to manage those falcons.
 
I think I missed my true calling as a falconer. That would be such a cool job to manage those falcons.
Been on a couple of those experience days where you fly a bunch of them. It is super-cool. The barn owl was completely silent in flight and so precise. Would defo recommend it if you haven't done it.
 
Been on a couple of those experience days where you fly a bunch of them. It is super-cool. The barn owl was completely silent in flight and so precise. Would defo recommend it if you haven't done it.
I've done it on the West Coast Of Ireland at a place called Flying Eagles. It was very good.
 
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46385597

"Mr Casamitjana says he has been discriminated against many times because of his vegan beliefs.
He said: "It is important for all the vegans to know that if they want to talk about veganism, they are protected and no-one will say 'Shut up'."

Shut Up!
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46385597

"Mr Casamitjana says he has been discriminated against many times because of his vegan beliefs.
He said: "It is important for all the vegans to know that if they want to talk about veganism, they are protected and no-one will say 'Shut up'."

Shut Up!
To be fair, he might have a point when you compare the criteria for having a belief that affects employment law on discrimination:

Harassment and victimisation on grounds of religion or belief are also unlawful, as is indirect discrimination, by applying a criterion or practice that disadvantages employees of a particular religion or belief unless there is an objective justification.

To qualify as a philosophical belief, veganism must:

  • be genuinely held
  • be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour
  • attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance
  • be worthy of respect in a democratic society, not be incompatible with human dignity and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others
  • be a belief, not an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available

All of those points hold true for veganism.

Obviously, it does look like he was sacked for gross misconduct, after revealing information he shouldn't have. Then again, the charity were pretty hypocritical, given their whole standpoint would suggest they would not be investing funds in animal testing.
 

Speaking of...



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The replies to the retraction are mind-blowing to me, all speaking of some massive bias apparently shown by AP with the first tweet and exploding at the lack of an apology.
From where I'm standing, the original is pretty neutral.
 
Talk about giving a dog a bad name. I mean, talk about giving a fog a bad rain...or something.
 
Michael Rappaport had very recently a famous cat video taken down from Instagram because they said he was "cat shaming".

Tumblr just announced new content policy that effectively kills anything to do with lady fashion because the female body is apparently so horrible that you can't be allowed to see anything resembling a nipple or bare flesh.
 
Is someone that takes part in speciesism a speciesist or specist?
 
Talk about giving a dog a bad name. I mean, talk about giving a fog a bad rain...or something.
Perfectly set up for you, this is your thing Steve! 4/10 low effort...



I don’t even...

Meh. I think some of the alternatives are quite clever... Is this what y'all (maybe not you specifically) are currently raging over then?
 
Meh. I think some of the alternatives are quite clever... Is this what y'all (maybe not you specifically) are currently raging over then?

I generally like to "rage" about everything that tries to force change just for the sake of it, without any correlation to a positive outcome. And the more you get inundated with it, the more likely you are to push back.
 
I generally like to "rage" about everything that tries to force change just for the sake of it, without any correlation to a positive outcome. And the more you get inundated with it, the more likely you are to push back.
Meh. They get the same message across so if people want to start saying them I'm not going to lose any sleep...

Didn't read past the image so, how are they trying to force change? More than just words and stern looks? Tbh I'm just not that invested.
 
Perfectly set up for you, this is your thing Steve! 4/10 low effort...


Meh. I think some of the alternatives are quite clever... Is this what y'all (maybe not you specifically) are currently raging over then?

I’m definitely not raging. More bemused. I just find it weird the way people seem to want to take offence at the most banal phrases.
 
Meh. They get the same message across so if people want to start saying them I'm not going to lose any sleep...

Didn't read past the image so, how are they trying to force change? More than just words and stern looks? Tbh I'm just not that invested.

Campaigning, advertising, stern looks... that's how it starts. Maybe the new phrases will enter the educational curriculum soon and the old ones become hate speech.. that's how it ends. I mean, I'm generally more than happy to accommodate change when I see a tangible reason and benefit for it. The path described above has been used to good effect more often than not. But there's 0 correlation between using the expression "kill two birds whit one stone" and animal cruelty. And the birds don't speak English for their feelings to be hurt. So this is just a waste of time and funds for PETA and all it achieves is to piss people off. So yeah

For someone not strongly invested you are certainly commenting enough though :p
 
I’m definitely not raging. More bemused. I just find it weird the way people seem to want to take offence at the most banal phrases.
Oh yeah I get that. I find a lot of it funny too... The backlash that often occurs tickles me as well.

For someone not strongly invested you are certainly commenting enough though :p
Boredom mate. And I was half hoping you'd respond with something worth engaging. No disrespect, but it wasn't engaging enough... :p
 
Oh yeah I get that. I find a lot of it funny too... The backlash that often occurs tickles me as well.

The reason I don’t find the backlash funny is because it pushes reasonable people in the opposite direction to causes/ideas I want them to get behind.

I hate animal cruelty and PETA is one of the highests profile organisations committed to this cause. It’s a real shame to see them turning themselves (and, hence, their cause) into a laughing stock with this sort of nonsense.
 
The reason I don’t find the backlash funny is because it pushes reasonable people in the opposite direction to causes/ideas I want them to get behind.

What opposite direction? Actual animal cruelty? Or cussing out the occasional cat? (lets face it we've all done this)

I hate animal cruelty and PETA is one of the highests profile organisations committed to this cause. It’s a real shame to see them turning themselves (and, hence, their cause) into a laughing stock with this sort of nonsense.

Yea I just don't see it. Why would this makes you turn against PETA? Unless you're a touchy obsessive or something?

I dunno Pogue, this is another one of them ones.... but knock yourselves out. I've had my fill...
 
What opposite direction? Actual animal cruelty? Or cussing out the occasional cat? (lets face it we've all done this)



Yea I just don't see it. Why would this makes you turn against PETA? Unless you're a touchy obsessive or something?

I dunno Pogue, this is another one of them ones.... but knock yourselves out. I've had my fill...

This would certainly make me think twice about giving them money at a fundraiser, or whatever. When a charity is able to start devoting time and energy to pointless crusades like this, then people will decide they can’t be badly in need of funding.

On the more general issue, I definitely think that the recent trend for social justice advocates (and I consider myself one of them!) to start focussing on issues that seem trivial to most people gives the impression that the more important battles have already been won. And that’s a problem IMHO.
 
The reason I don’t find the backlash funny is because it pushes reasonable people in the opposite direction to causes/ideas I want them to get behind.

I hate animal cruelty and PETA is one of the highests profile organisations committed to this cause. It’s a real shame to see them turning themselves (and, hence, their cause) into a laughing stock with this sort of nonsense.
feck PETA though.

https://www.petakillsanimals.com/
https://www.boredpanda.com/anti-peta-hate-rant-dear-tumb1r/
 
Some people in here are totally apathetic and act like even the smallest passing comment on an issue is somehow you caring about it or getting triggered. You can think something is daft/pc gone mad without blowing smoke out of your ears.
 
I just heard that a local radio station won't play 'Baby It's Cold Outside' because it's a bit rapey.

One of my favorite holiday songs. Didn't it used to be on the Michael Bublé Christmas album? It's not on it on Spotify. Was it never there? or Mandela Effect? :wenger:
 


This is a very good piece on the PETA tweet above (even though, technically, the author is calling me stupid)

Isn't this the case with most of these stories? Something inane gets twisted for views or retweets and people are quick to jump on the story to say it's pc gone mad.
 
Isn't this the case with most of these stories? Something inane gets twisted for views or retweets and people are quick to jump on the story to say it's pc gone mad.

Yup. Although nothing got twisted here. PETA's tweet really was inane. What I might have missed is the possibility they're deliberating tweeting stupid shit, on the basis that bad publicity is better than no publicity. Not the way I think a charity like this should behave but they do have a track record of saying/doing stupid shit to further their cause.
 
The reason I don’t find the backlash funny is because it pushes reasonable people in the opposite direction to causes/ideas I want them to get behind.

I hate animal cruelty and PETA is one of the highests profile organisations committed to this cause. It’s a real shame to see them turning themselves (and, hence, their cause) into a laughing stock with this sort of nonsense.

PETA have always been operating at that particular level in terms of the publicity they get. I don't see any change in tack here. To be fair, they know how to get noticed.
 
I hate animal cruelty and PETA is one of the highests profile organisations committed to this cause. It’s a real shame to see them turning themselves (and, hence, their cause) into a laughing stock with this sort of nonsense.

They have an explicit policy that no publicity is bad publicity. That's why this nonsense, the nude protests, consistent outrageous comparisons...their strategy is to be in the news as much as possible. I think the plan is that if you keep seeing the name peta, you might end up on their website which had very different material.
 
They have an explicit policy that no publicity is bad publicity. That's why this nonsense, the nude protests, consistent outrageous comparisons...their strategy is to be in the news as much as possible. I think the plan is that if you keep seeing the name peta, you might end up on their website which had very different material.
From memory the nude campaign with supermodels was a very shrewd one tbf. Came up to my mum's tonight and weirdly her boyfriend brought it up- explained it was bs from @Pogue Mahone's link - we pretty much all fell for it tbf. They did laugh at feed two birds with one scone too, which made me chuckle. Urgh, the Brexit discussion was a bit different:(
 


1. The stone achieves two tasks as a single tool or process. If your task is to feed a bird and you feed it some scone then that is a single task achieved with a single tool/process. If you feed two birds some scone you have now achieved two tasks but have used twice as much scone, thus the process/tool has had to double as the tasks have doubled. Unless of course you want to get into a debate about the universal metaphysics of a scone; perhaps in a Platonic sense the scone bits, whether fed to one bird or multiple birds, are representative of a single scone. Then you might say that one individual scone can be seen as feeding two birds, rather than seeing it as an increasing number of birds requiring an increasing quantity of scone particulars, to be fed .

2. You don't experiment on the test tube, the test tube is part of the apparatus of the experiment. The phrase would correspond if the original expression was "be the hutch" or "be the straw".

3. The beating of a dead horse hinges on the finality of the state of the horse. There is an emphasis on the futility of the action. However feeding a fed horse changes the state of the horse giving you an overfed or fat horse. The revised suggestion seems to emphasise excessiveness in the action and underplays the theme of futility.

4. Taking the bull by the horns is about taking the initiative or tackling a given situation head on, as with Heracles subduing the ferocious bull. It's not about holding the pointy bits of a thing.

5. No I'm not being serious. Much.