Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Thanks, Thought Police…

Ah, liberals… always telling us what we can or cannot say, because it might “offend” someone. First, you couldn’t make a joke at someone’s expense, because that’s “harassment” or “bullying.” Now, New York City won’t be using the word “dinosaurs,” and fifty other harmless terms, in its standardized exams.

What’s so offensive about the word “dinosaur?” Well, it might make someone think about evolution…

Yep, just as many of us “crazy, first-amendment people” predicted (and yes, I have been called that before… more than once), conservatives are using “political correctness” to censor our country and dumb down our children.

I decided to seek out the full list:
- Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
- Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
- Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
- Bodily functions
- Cancer (and other diseases)
- Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
- Celebrities
- Children dealing with serious issues
- Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
- Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
- Crime
- Death and disease
- Divorce
- Evolution
- Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
- Gambling involving money
- Halloween
- Homelessness
- Homes with swimming pools
- Hunting
- Junk food
- In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
- Loss of employment
- Nuclear weapons
- Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
- Parapsychology
- Politics
- Pornography
- Poverty
- Rap Music
- Religion
- Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
- Rock-and-Roll music
- Running away
- Sex
- Slavery
- Terrorism
- Television and video games (excessive use)
- Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
- Vermin (rats and roaches)
- Violence
- War and bloodshed
- Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
- Witchcraft, sorcery, etc

Jesus Fucking Christ, people… “Rock-and-Roll music” is on the list. Some of the other things are downright insulting to my sensibilities that some dumbass thinks it’s inappropriate to talk about them. Poverty, vermin, hunting, witchcraft, divorce, homelessness, death, disease… we can’t even discuss these things anymore, like they’re bad words.

No one has the right to not feel offended. If you see, hear or read something that offends you, you have the right to fuck off.

6 comments:

  1. Abolish the publik skools.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm sure that someone with your political views would love such a situation. An uneducated populace is easier to convince of silly things.

      Delete
  2. Another case of the media using blaring headlines, when the actual story is a boring non-issue.

    No, the New York School Board is NOT controlling what anyone says.

    They are just writing standardized exams to test kids on language skills, and figuring out how to do so in a very diverse city in a way that makes the test as fair and accurate as possible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I understood what they were trying to do... and this was not the way to do it.

      Delete
  3. You wrote "we can't even discuss these things anymore". That's not true. This isn't about controlling the curriculum in New York City, or censoring children. It's about creating a standardized test with maximum accuracy and fairness.

    If a test assumes prior cultural knowledge that not all kids have, then it is biased. Including Halloween on the test in NYC, when they know that some kids don't celebrate it and won't be familiar with it, would be like including Diwali on a standardized test in the boondocks. It may be relevant to understand cultural celebrations around the world, but it will distort standardized language testing results.

    How would you ensure bias-free testing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many of these subjects have nothing to do with "cultural bias." What culture has no exposure to "bodily functions," or "violence," or any kind of "traumatic material?" I'm particularly insulted by certain terminology which SHOULD be taught and learned by ALL students, regardless of cultural background, like evolution, politics, death and disease, slavery, war and bloodshed, crime, divorce, loss of employment, and quite a few others.

      It is ridiculous and laughable that this is the sorry state of American education.

      Delete

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