Enough already

Black Hole is racially insensitive. How soon until we just call black the "B" word and stop using it so we don't offend anyone

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/dallas-county-meeting-turns-ra.html

Dallas County officials spar over 'black hole' comment 5:34 PM Mon, Jul 07, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz Kevin Krause E-mail News tips A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon. County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office. Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole." That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy. Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term. A black hole, according to Webster's, is perhaps "the invisible remains of a collapsed star, with an intense gravitational field from which neither light nor matter can escape." Other county officials quickly interceded to break it up and get the meeting back on track. TV news cameras were rolling, after all.

I guess now I have to say I own two very dark cars

Is that going to be an other naughty word ?

A financial person here in the Old Dominion used the world "niggardly" in the office referring to financial matters.

Main Entry: nig·gard·ly Listen to the pronunciation of niggardly Pronunciation: \-lē\ Function: adjective Date: 1571 1 : grudgingly mean about spending or granting : begrudging 2 : provided in meanly limited supply

Someone got very offended and it even made the papers.

I was born in Canada and I say this is taking PC too far! We'd already crossed well over the line at this point:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/2261307/Toddlers-who-dislike-spicy-food-racist,-say-report.html

And if Black Hole is too politically incorrect, then wait until the IT world comes under review...blacklist (and whitelist) black hat (and white hat), master/slave devices...the press is gonna have a field day.

Remember in “Dawn of the Dead” how zombies would mindlessly wonder into malls because going to the mall was a habit they learned while they were alive.

I see an allegory here where the habit of fighting for the cause has become so engrained that it persists long after its need or utility has passed.

So? Hard drive manufacturers have been racists for a while now:

"Subject: IDENTIFICATION OF EQUIPMENT SOLD TO LA COUNTY Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 14:21:16 -0800 From: "Los Angeles County"

The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived. As such, it is the County's expectation that our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors make a concentrated effort to ensure that any equipment, supplies or services that are provided to County departments do not possess or portray an image that may be construed as offensive or defamatory in nature.

One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words "Master/Slave" appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.

We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.

Joe Sandoval, Division Manager Purchasing and Contract Services Internal Services Department County of Los Angeles"

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp

What's next? California banning brake master cylinders and clutch slave cylinders in cars?

"I am having an issue with my clutch. I believe either my "persons formerly owned by elitist Americans" cylinder may not be getting the correct amount of the fluid from my "elitist persons who formerly owned individuals" cylinder. Could you flush out the system and make sure the fluid is not "of african descent"?

Will master cylinders have to pay reperations to slave cylinders for all the pressure they have applied over the years?

Ironically "black" people are shades of brown in color and white people are shades of brown in color... I think it is time for white people to revolt and take back our god given brown-ness!

Xceler8x wrote: A financial person here in the Old Dominion used the world "niggardly" in the office referring to financial matters.

Main Entry: nig·gard·ly Listen to the pronunciation of niggardly Pronunciation: \-lē\ Function: adjective Date: 1571 1 : grudgingly mean about spending or granting : begrudging 2 : provided in meanly limited supply

Someone got very offended and it even made the papers.

When I was in college we had an editorial in the college paper with the word "niggardly" in it, and a similar E36 M3storm start up with loud demands an apology.

I suggested "We're sorry your college education has not trained you to use a dictionary or exhibit good sense".

A few weeks ago, Tyson Gay set a record at a track meet. A website had a filter, replacing the offending word. New headline: Tyson Homosexual sets record".

The article I read that reported this story also listed another site, that said something like "New Budget Puts City In The African-American".

It's gone too far.

Hmmm so does that mean I should be offended by the term "white dwarf"?

Maybe I should be offended by my "white" truck.

This PC crap is getting way out of hand...Heck I'm "white" and I spend so much time out in the sun my skin is dark enough most people don't think of me as "white". I refuse to change the proper name of something because someone is so overly sensitive that name of a FREAKING COLOR offends them!

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

There is your racist statement right there!!!

This is what really steams me! The first statement was made with no racist intent, the second one clearly was!

aircooled wrote:

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

There is your racist statement right there!!! This is what really steams me! The first statement was made with no racist intent, the second one clearly was!

Ditto. The racism is coming from those making a stink about it. Black holes have nothing to do with people, skin color, or anything else. PC stuff is getting retarded these days. That would be like dude A saying, "This shaft is going to have to be bigger for this application," in proper context and dudette B saying, "Oh, and I suppose that's what SHE SAID, huh? That is sexual harrassment!!!" In reality, the dudette was the one causing the problem.

Bryce

This is retarded. What's next? Human and HuWoman? "Humen and Huwomen of the world, you are equal. Just ask congresswoman Smith." (These mother berkeleying words don't have gender implications!!!!!!!!)

Some state just banned the "Men at work sign". Fine. I don't think gender was implied there, but OK. I can see that. They call the sign "Workers Ahead". You can have that one, New Jersey.

"Hey, that's a nice car. But that color is so hard to keep clean. But it is a nice shade of african american."

This is completely retarded and bass ackwards. I'm watching helplessly as my beloved language goes down the toilet. People butcher pronounciation of words, misspell like crazy, censor the crap out of what you say and type, and assign gender to words that have no gender implied! I can't say "I need to retard the timing on my BMW" because that offends people with 'difficulties in coping with the mental capabilities of other people around them'. I can't say "I would like to race Midgets some day," because people have no idea that I'm talking about a RACE CAR and it offends 'people who have slight difficulites in reaching objects placed at a somewhat high altitude in comparison to their stature'.

If a company that I supplied computer parts to asked me to stop calling drives Master and Slave drives, I'd tell them to go berkeley themselves and find another customer. Or I'd just do nothing and keep supplying them until they stop ordering from me.

I have more faith in our justice system than to believe that a court would even try a case that stems from something that Bryce just said, but who knows about our future? I'm sure that there are people at least trying to get cases just like into courts.

Lunacy. Pure, unadultured lunacy.

SUPER-EDIT (because I don't just edit, I SUPER-EDIT): I'm also getting tired of the 1nt34net lingo getting spread into our real world. When someone comes up to me and says, "WTF?" or "IDK," I want to hit them. This has got to stop now or we will have an issue on our hands with our next generation of graduates. It will become acceptable in our community for professional writers to use words like "WTF", "IDK", "IDKFA", "IDDQD", "IDCLEV", and "IDCLIP" in scientific and other professional publications.

By the way; some of you DOOM II fans out there might recognize the last four abbreviations.

Thanks. Now I'm going to have a mental image of racing midgets in my head for the rest of the day. Worst of all, there's that one with the Viagra stickers all over him...

Tim Baxter wrote: Thanks. Now I'm going to have a mental image of racing midgets in my head for the rest of the day. Worst of all, there's that one with the Viagra stickers all over him...

LOL that's actually quite funny! I guess that makes me an awful bigot, I'll go whip myself now.

I remember a "man show" or something (I never watch/watched it...just happened to see one episode) where they were having women sign a petition to help end womens' suffrage.

It sounds terrible...let's end it!

Classic, I tell you!

Clem

i had to do petitions at my highschool for a class, i did the womens suffrage petition... and yes MANY signatures

ClemSparks wrote: I remember a "man show" or something (I never watch/watched it...just happened to see one episode) where they were having women sign a petition to help end womens' suffrage. It sounds terrible...let's end it! Classic, I tell you! Clem

YES! I remember that one! It was one of my favorite episodes. And they had all of those women sign the petition! I wish those two still did the Man Show. It was the only thing they were good at and the show was nothing without them. It was a match made in Heaven -- opps! Sorry, can't say that lest I want to offend other Atheists, or Muslems, or Jews! It was a match made a place which can be real or figurative; depending on your religious orientation; which is the realization of the ultimate Utopia: a place where one can be united with God, if he or she so believes, which is common to almost all religions but not believed in by Atheists.

Another PC thing I'm tired of seeing: his or her / he or she / him or her. I refuse to write or speak that way (except for the above paragraph where I was mocking it).

"One can type with his or her left hand, or his or her right hand if he or she pleases. He or she can use both, as is commonly recommended by many, but many prefer to use the 'hunt and peck method' because it can allow for him or her to learn the orientation of the keyboard at his or her own pace."

People are forgetting that the word "He" can be used to refer to a genderless term - I would think it is a reference to Man (HUMAN, you PC lunies!). "One can type with his left hand or his right hand if he pleases," is a generic, genderless term unless the "One" is specifically identified. Then it would be "Mary can type with her left hand or her right hand," or "Mark can type with his left hand or his right hand:" his and her are now assigned a gender and refer to an identified subject.

I believe there was a Penn and Teller BullE36 M3 episode where they went around to a bunch of hippies and convinced them to sign a petition to ban hydrogen dioxide (H2O).

Apexcarver wrote: i had to do petitions at my highschool for a class, i did the womens suffrage petition... and yes MANY signatures

Haha a friend and I did this too. Hilarity. The girls weren't too amused when it broke out though

I did a group project in college with a gal who got offended because I used the words "Woman/Women". She insisted that I use the word "Womin/Womyn" or something like that. I didn't change. This crazy person also accused me of plagiarism because I had a significant portion of text that sounded a lot like the source I'd drawn it from. I had cited the source. In that same paper, she did not include any citations.

A friend of my dad's from the UK came out to visit and joined us at the Oshkosh airshow. Someone overheard him make the comment that there weren't many black people there (the vast majority of pilots are white), and told him it was offensive to call people black or white. He asked what wouldn't be offensive. The person didn't have a good answer. He responded with "How about 'Non-reflective' or 'Reflective'?" The person said that was acceptable.

I wasn't sure about the etymology of "niggardly". I could see that one possibly being offensive... but I looked up the etymology, and it apparently does not derive from the Latin "niger". I do know that Shakespeare likes to use the word "niggardly" a lot. But then, he wasn't very racially sensitive.

Edit: as for the whole "his/her" thing... I can kinda see that one. "He/him/his" is used to define the male gender, even if you can validly argue that it is also used to indicate neutral gender. I hate "his/her" or "(s)he" though. That defeats the point of a pronouns. I am a proponent of using either "one", "one's", "they", or "their". Yes, I know "they" and "their" are plural. It's becoming common usage, and it doesn't sound stupid when said outloud. "If one wishes to accelerate, they press their foot their gas pedal."

I think the over reaction to this indecent is a little ironic. Yes the judge was being completely ridiculous, but one person misinterpreting a comment and over reacting is not news.

My girlfriend is reading the book "Freakonomics". In it, they talk about an incident where some mayor was at a library function and talking to a girl who was like 8-10 years old.

The girl told him that her name was "Isis" and that it meant "Beautiful Egyptian Princess" (or something along those lines).

He responded with, "No, I think it means 'stupid dirty girl'."

The black community got all in an uproar with leaders shouting about how, this mayor was culturally insensitive and never would have made a comment like that if he'd been speaking to a white girl.

The things was... turns out Isis was white.