Sweeping the Clouds Away

[Man in Black]

Political Correctness, wow! This is a confusing term that is becoming ironic. Used to describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize offense to certain groups, the idea is imploding in on itself as the letters "PC" now cause more groans than sanitized grins.

The term "political correctness" is derived from Marxist-Leninist vocabulary, and was used to describe the appropriate "party line" , commonly referred to as the "correct line" Those people who opposed the "correct line" were often punished.

I am beginning to feel punished... truly. I stutter around trying to find the place in my mind that stores today's correct moniker for the color of the person I am referring to. I'm part Indian, wait Native American... so now I can't pull for... let's see, uh... the Chiefs, The Braves, The Redskins who else? Who's next the Cowboys? "We are men not boys, and what are you saying when you call us Cowboys... that we like cows... that way?"

I even feel guilty now about being Southern - things like watching the Dukes of Hazzard (not the bad movie). The General Lee, Bo and Luke's famous ride, an orange Dodge Charger, had the Confederate flag emblazoned on it's high flying top. Heck, I just thought it was a cool blue X with stars until it was infused into society as a polarizing symbol of hate. I didn't fight in that war, I even admit the South was mostly wrong... I'm definitely glad slavery is gone... though if you'd had some of my bosses you might argue that point. There was even a time in my life when I wanted to be black... uh Native American... no African American. But I am still in love with my truck, my jeans and the way I say far instead of fire, my Southern Accents.

Deaf persons have generally embraced the label "Deaf". Now we have "Hearing Impaired" a term to include those with partial loss of hearing. Consequently, deaf people are increasingly becoming angered at being called hearing impaired. Though some will accept "Hard of Hearing" as PC. I think there should be a "Hard of Listening' category.

Political correctness is a practice of using inclusive, or neutral language. Surely a non-erosive idea at it's base but when is enough... you know... quite enough. Yeah PC is mainstream - At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream.

Today I read an article on Sesame Street. Oscar the Grouch and friends have been deemed too edgy for kids today. They already busted Cookie Monster a couple years ago for promoting an unhealthy diet. They outed Snuffalufagus to the world, citing his secret relationship with Big Bird as strange. The slummy street corners and dilapidated apartments, intricately blended into the Sesame Street atmosphere, are no longer suitable for our kids to see.

Wow, come on people the Bible says the meek will inherit the earth, not to train our kids to be oblivious wusses who can't figure out the world ain't<(Southern Accent) fair... so they can be taken advantage of for the rest of their meek lives. Sesame Street... WOW!

This lady makes a great point - She wrote the article

"People on “Sesame Street” had limited possibilities and fixed identities, and (the best part) you weren’t expected to change much. The harshness of existence was a given, and no one was proposing that numbers and letters would lead you “out” of your inner city to Elysian suburbs. Instead, “Sesame Street” suggested that learning might merely make our days more bearable, more interesting, funnier. It encouraged us, above all, to be nice to our neighbors and to cultivate the safer pleasures that take the edge off — taking baths, eating cookies, reading. Don’t tell the kids." --Virgina Heffernan/New York Times

The irony of it all makes me chuckle. The Global Warming situation is just scary. The Towel he... Muslim countries all want to kill us and if they can't get to us they will kill each other. None of us really know why our kids are fighting in foreign countries (God Bless David Drago). And the society police are sweeping the clouds away in an attempt to sanitize our language. Well, I for one find this sterility as offensive as any slip of the tongue on my race or place of birth. True some things should just never be uttered, but most words or phrases have a correct place and time... politically correct... or not.

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything's A-OK
Friendly neighbors there
That's where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

It's a magic carpet ride
Every door will open wide
To Happy people like you--
Happy people like
What a beautiful

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame street...
How to get to Sesame Street
How to get to...

[4C-696E]

The article does make a point, but when I read it, I was thinking "That's outrageous!" When I was young and watching Sesame Street, I wasn't looking at the condition of the street, or the problems of each character. Oscar was the grumpy old guy most everyone has as a neighbor. Never mind that he lived in a garbage can. Sure Cookie Monster could have had better grammar ("Me want cookie") but he was great fun to watch. To me, the show had great ways of learning the number and letter of the day, everyone showed kindness to each other with few exceptions. When I watched it again when my kids started coming along and it had Elmo's World in it, I could not believe it. "They ruined it!" I thought, and I've avoided the show since.

I do see how in these days, how Sesame Street was is not appropriate anymore. Kids should be wary of strangers even more now than ever, Bert and Ernie could be seen as...queer, two guys living together like that, and other things that have changed with time. There is the danger of obesity, but I've got a great Cookie Monster book that is "C is for Cookie" that also goes over carrots, caramel, and other foods that starts with "C".

I miss the old Sesame Street, but then, I also miss sleeping under the stars in the front yard. Now, I'm afraid to let my kids play outside without supervision for fear of kidnapping, let alone sleeping outside.

I'm done rambling now, I think.

[Drago]

You know, I think that this is yet another symptom of the softening (wussification) of America. It's a pastuerized denial of reality. Some people seem to think that everything we see needs to be watered down to make it more palatable. So that life and its often harsh realities are made to appear more user friendly.

I, personally, feel that this pastuerization does a great injustice to those that buy into its skewed views. It leaves people, particularly children, vulnerable and unprepared for the real world.

I liken this to the way some schools hand out trophies to ALL participants just because they don't want anyone to feel left out or unrewarded. This teaches children that reward is deserved outright instead of EARNED. It also denies them developement of the coping tools that they're going to need when they fail in life's harsh realities. I don't believe that a child should ever be rewarded upon failure. Encourage them by all means, but teach them that it's ok to fail. Teach them that the true reward is found in the knowledge gained by experiencing failure. Without that knowledge, how can they learn to try harder? And how will they learn to be a good winner?

Life is hard. Wear a helmet.

Sesame Street is perfectly fine, in my opinion. The older looking neighborhood has as much character as the citizens that occupy it. Why do some people have to look for bad in EVERYTHING? Are they trying to kid us, or themselves? Maybe it's just easier for them to garnish attention for their views by attacking something as beloved and utterly PROVEN as Sesame Street. I won't even give them the honor of taking them with a grain of salt. I dismiss them outright.

Where political correctness is concerned, I'll admit that I'm not a fan. Sometimes I just don't understand it. It's gotten so carried away that it's lost credibility. There are even some animal groups, who feel that it's improper to refer to your dog as a "pet". They think we should call them "canine companions." Are they kidding? I absolutely saw my dog, Sam, as part of my family. Not as a member, mind you, but as a part of it. In the end however, he was my pet. And if we start to refer to dogs as canine companions, will we have to start paying "petimony" if things don't work out and we can't keep them? Ridiculous right? That's exactly what how I'm trying to sound by saying it.

Where does it end? When do we stop watering down reality and start seeing the world in all of it's honesty? Both for it's good as well as it's bad? There's far too much gray in the world in which we live and it's not helping any of us to see the world clearly and in it's true colors.

[Man in Black]

Obviously, I totally agree Drago


This is perfect!

Life is hard. Wear a helmet.

And as far as when it ends for PCness... it has ended for me I'm not playing that game... it's retarde... uhh... I mean slo... uhh I mean special.

And I wonder how those "Pet" people feel about beatiality