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Welcome 1984.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/02/seattle-officials-call-for-ban-on-potentially-offensive-language/?test=latestnews

New York?

The New York Post reported in March 2012 that the city’s Department of Education avoids references to words like “dinosaurs,” “birthdays,” “Halloween” and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests because they could evoke “unpleasant emotions” among the students.

Dinosaurs, for example, conjures the topic of evolution, which could rile fundamentalists and birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Halloween, meanwhile, suggests an affiliation to Paganism.

We're actually on this bit in the Manning thread

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/02/seattle-officials-call-for-ban-on-potentially-offensive-language/?test=latestnews#ixzz2arQ8Bk4N

Dinosaurs.... Fracking dinosaurs? Holy son of a bitch really? I don't really get the others either but.... dinosaurs are real fracking things, they existed once, no one can argue against that fact. I need a face palm picture with a nuke going off to show how thismakes me feel

 KingCracker wrote:
Dinosaurs.... Fracking dinosaurs? Holy son of a bitch really? I don't really get the others either but.... dinosaurs are real fracking things, they existed once, no one can argue against that fact. I need a face palm picture with a nuke going off to show how thismakes me feel

PC at it's worst. Can't offend anyone, so we'll deny actual truth in order to keep everyone feeling happy. It's freaking ridiculous. Can't use the word "citizen" cause it'll make those illegal immigrants sad. *rolls eyes*

Careful DJ....there be some that might be offended by what you say Like "Illegal" is bad now so its "unregistered"....

 djones520 wrote:
*rolls eyes*

This pretty much sums it up for me.

This is base dumbassery, and those who support it are beneath my contempt.

....I have no words. I can't even bring myself to post that picture of Tommy Lee Jones glaring disapprovingly over his newspaper from No Country For Old Men.

Pick up the can Civilian. Remember....these are our elected officials we voted into office.



Citizenship through service.....Press "D" to learn more

 KingCracker wrote:
Dinosaurs.... Fracking dinosaurs? Holy son of a bitch really? I don't really get the others either but.... dinosaurs are real fracking things, they existed once, no one can argue against that fact. I need a face palm picture with a nuke going off to show how thismakes me feel

Does the US not make the teachings of evolution mandatory?

They did when I went to school but that was some years ago. They also didn't give everyone a medal just for showing up either.

 KingCracker wrote:
They also didn't give everyone a medal just for showing up either.

Quite frankly, with how crap schools are in this day and age, kids practically deserve medals for the sheer amount of their time that has been wasted.

They banned dinosaurs...wow. new thing, cuz they were still taught 2 years ago. If they weren't, the schools I taught at missed the memo, as dinosaurs were still a topic. Idiots who make these choices need to be booted out of office. Time for me to also call for my overzealous need to castrate the morons to remove their reproduction capabilities.

PS, I'm a Christian and I'm insulted by the removal of dinosaurs. Put them back in education where they belong.

Sigh... the Starship Troopers reference is the best part of this thread by far.

Is it a bad thing I've always secretly wanted to be called "citizen" ever since I watched that movie when I was in grade school?

It's funny that nobody here has read the actual articles, and the scope and rationale of these plans. They actually make more sense than they appear.

New York is removing certain words from standardized tests, so that when it tests kids it can accurately gauge ability without culture bias. It is, believe it or not, an attempt to be more accurate and do the job better.

In Seattle, why would a city government discuss citizens? Nobody is a citizen of a city, they are a resident. the brown bag thing is a little goofy, but government employees are notoriously easy to offend.

 Polonius wrote:
It's funny that nobody here has read the actual articles, and the scope and rationale of these plans. They actually make more sense than they appear.

New York is removing certain words from standardized tests, so that when it tests kids it can accurately gauge ability without culture bias. It is, believe it or not, an attempt to be more accurate and do the job better.

In Seattle, why would a city government discuss citizens? Nobody is a citizen of a city, they are a resident. the brown bag thing is a little goofy, but government employees are notoriously easy to offend.

I read the article. Doesn't change the fact that it's pants-on-head that they banned dinosaurs. If any little kid is offended, I'd be shocked. It's not evolution: it's history. Unless all those bones are a conspiracy, then they happened. Deal with it, religious nutjobs.

I'm still a bit miffed at this news. Can anyone tell?

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Polonius wrote:
It's funny that nobody here has read the actual articles, and the scope and rationale of these plans. They actually make more sense than they appear.

New York is removing certain words from standardized tests, so that when it tests kids it can accurately gauge ability without culture bias. It is, believe it or not, an attempt to be more accurate and do the job better.

In Seattle, why would a city government discuss citizens? Nobody is a citizen of a city, they are a resident. the brown bag thing is a little goofy, but government employees are notoriously easy to offend.

I read the article. Doesn't change the fact that it's pants-on-head that they banned dinosaurs. If any little kid is offended, I'd be shocked. It's not evolution: it's history. Unless all those bones are a conspiracy, then they happened. Deal with it, religious nutjobs.

I'm still a bit miffed at this news. Can anyone tell?

When you say things like "they banned dinosaurs," it shows that you didn't really understand the scope of the policy.

It may be silly, but I'm pretty they can create plenty of questions for these tests without bringing up dinosaurs. I"m not an expert in quantitative academic testing, so I can't refute their theory that words like dinosaur could affect performance. I think, like you contend, that it would be a pretty small number. but that's a debate about test design, not an "OMG they banned dinosaurs" freak out.

One of the great ironies is that much of "political correctness" is premised on the idea that there are words that have such overwhelming meanings that people don't investigate context, or take into account the facts, and simply hear or are offended by certain words. There is a strong element of this country that hates that theory, yet proves it every time they chicken little over any effort to prevent words from use. All they hear is that words are banned, and they go nuts. Because, of course, people don't react based on words...

Can't bother with facts, it's important to just be outraged.

 Polonius wrote:
It's funny that nobody here has read the actual articles, and the scope and rationale of these plans. They actually make more sense than they appear.

New York is removing certain words from standardized tests, so that when it tests kids it can accurately gauge ability without culture bias. It is, believe it or not, an attempt to be more accurate and do the job better.

In Seattle, why would a city government discuss citizens? Nobody is a citizen of a city, they are a resident. the brown bag thing is a little goofy, but government employees are notoriously easy to offend.

The whole brown bag thing is truly stupid.

It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

It's far less to avoid "upsetting the students", and far more to avoid "upsetting the parents of said students" when little Stevie comes home and tells mommy and daddy who teach their child the Creationist method about the question which talks about "_____lived 65 million years ago and roamed the Earth as giant animals of dooooooooooom".

 Kanluwen wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

It's far less to avoid "upsetting the students", and far more to avoid "upsetting the parents of said students" when little Stevie comes home and tells mommy and daddy who teach their child the Creationist method about the question which talks about "_____lived 65 million years ago and roamed the Earth as giant animals of dooooooooooom".

I don't know how someone can try to explain away Dinosoar fossils, and I am Christian.

Relapse wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

It's far less to avoid "upsetting the students", and far more to avoid "upsetting the parents of said students" when little Stevie comes home and tells mommy and daddy who teach their child the Creationist method about the question which talks about "_____lived 65 million years ago and roamed the Earth as giant animals of dooooooooooom".

I don't know how someone can try to explain away Dinosoar fossils, and I am Christian.

God works in mysterious ways.

 d-usa wrote:
Can't bother with facts, it's important to just be outraged.

How's that glass house holding up?

If we can't talk about dinosaurs, how will we accurately describe our lord Jesus leading the Founding Fathers against Muhammad, the Romans and the Devil on his mighty T Rex 'Freedom', armed only with a minigun, burger and a will of iron, forged in the heart of Wallstreet?

Relapse wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

It's far less to avoid "upsetting the students", and far more to avoid "upsetting the parents of said students" when little Stevie comes home and tells mommy and daddy who teach their child the Creationist method about the question which talks about "_____lived 65 million years ago and roamed the Earth as giant animals of dooooooooooom".

I don't know how someone can try to explain away Dinosoar fossils, and I am Christian.

The key to that mindset is not to explain, only to deny.

 Cheesecat wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
It was pretty simple to understand, actually: "these words are being excluded from tests because they can potentially upset some students due to..." And they list the examples. Believe me, I got the scope of it. What I didn't get is how they figured DINOSAURS to have the potential to offend children. Children love dinosaurs. It's a prerequisite to being a child. I understand Halloween and birthdays being removed. I have friends who couldn't be involved in those in school. It's the removal of teaching an extinct animal that is proven to exist that becomes daft.

It's far less to avoid "upsetting the students", and far more to avoid "upsetting the parents of said students" when little Stevie comes home and tells mommy and daddy who teach their child the Creationist method about the question which talks about "_____lived 65 million years ago and roamed the Earth as giant animals of dooooooooooom".

I don't know how someone can try to explain away Dinosoar fossils, and I am Christian.

God works in mysterious ways.

Didn't Bill Hicks cover that many years ago?

I'm so glad I live in the UK, where the dumbest thing our elected officials do is ban porn.

The only one I have any inkling of reasonable reaction to is brown bag. But even with the seriously far out reasoning, having to call something a "lunch and learn" (da feth?) rather describing it for what it is, a bag that is brown in colour. Call me calous but seriously, anyone of any race that gets offended by a bag's colouration for some event that happened 40+ yeas ago needs to wind their neck in as we say around these part. What, they going to sue supermarkets for only giving out white plastic bags?

As for removing the word dinosaurs...I have no words. In fact, I would go so far as to be offended that they would remove my favourite childhood animal from curriculumns (curiculi?) because it might bring up a topic of scientific explanantion for existence and may or may not offend some random man in the street, who may or may not be a "citizen" or "permanent visitor to the country."

Banning birthdays...



Alas, I am from good ol', nudity free Northern Ireland where petrol bombs are a mere traffic annoyance and lines of police in riot gear is considered Tuesday. Still, much rather be here where the only person who cares about the offensive language is the guy your offending. And you settle it like men. Pissing ccontest behind the pub.

This reminds me that there is a billboard not to terribly far from me for the Creation Museum and their exhibit on Dragons.

 Deadshot wrote:
Alas, I am from good ol', nudity free Northern Ireland where petrol bombs are a mere traffic annoyance and lines of police in riot gear is considered Tuesday. Still, much rather be here where the only person who cares about the offensive language is the guy your offending. And you settle it like men. Pissing ccontest behind the pub.

Or you press charges http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23547697