[Callers] Politically Correct?

K Panton panton90 at tricolour.queensu.ca
Mon Mar 26 15:40:14 PDT 2018


Hey Rich:

Several replies are of the "it's OK in context" or "that's how things were
back then" variety.

Perhaps.

To use that as the sole argument, however, leads me to a cute little rhyme
my friends and I would sing out when we were about 5 years old and playing
in the yard out on the west coast. It began, "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe..."

I hope no one would suggest that the rhyme in question is fine in this day,
"if only it is put in context."

Granted, your example is a little tamer (in my eyes, but others may find it
equally offensive to the rhyme mentioned; I don't know).

Maybe there are other arguments for retaining the original that stand up
better to true scrutiny. It would be a shame to retain, in common usage
(thereby prolonging the insult), cultural relics that would be unacceptable
in civilized society today.

It would also be a shame to lose past cultural joys.

What about those pop songs that get altered to remove a "derogatory term
for a homosexual"  here (Dire Straits) or a "medication usually prescribed
by a physician" there (Meatloaf)?

Where does one draw the line?

Adapt to current mores or die, Relic!

Good luck with that, Rich!

:)

Ken Panton

ps. We have just recently had pass in parliament a change to our national
anthem, to make it gender-neutral,  from "in all our sons command" to "in
all of us command". Wasn't THAT a challenge!

Then some smart guy pointed out:

"FYI: The original lyric to the 1908 version of “O Canada” was “Thou dost
in us command.” Was changed to “All Thy Sons” in 1914. So for you
traditionalists, Robert Stanley Weir’s original lyric was, in fact,
gender-neutral."
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