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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I just returned from a week-long judges meeting at Semi-ah-Moo. Semi-ah-Moo is a Northwest Indian word which means, in a dialect spoken only by Faldage, "all major credit cards accepted."
In pursuit of the courts' goal of eliminating racism from our tribunals, we enjoyed a class in which we were reminded (appropriately) of those (many) things which a judge may say in open court which might be construed as racially insensitive, if not outright bigoted.
Almost all of this was review. We all know not to use racial slurs. We have all learned that there are racially-derogatory connotations to verbs like "gyp" and adjectives like "gypo".
But we were collectively stunned to learn that one ought no longer refer to the large pad of newsprint on which witnesses are allowed to draw charts and maps and graphs and diagrams as a "flip chart." This drawing pad is (or was) so called because one flips from one page of it to another, in showing the jury different things written or drawn by different witnesses. But no more.
It was explained to us that "flip" is a derogatory reference to Filipino persons.
In all my days (which are almost as many as those enjoyed by Heinlein's Lazarus Long), I have never heard the word "flip" used to refer to an ethnic group. Have you? Who knew?
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think this type of censuring of words is really offensive.
Flip is a well-known, and commonly-used verb, noun and adjective – all acceptable variations of the word that have no racially negative connotations whatsoever.
Furthermore, it is really demeaning to Filipino people. The people who told you to eliminate this word from your vocabulary decided that people from the Philippines are so ignorant that they will not be able to distinguish between an item and a racial slur.
P.S. I've never heard that use for flip either.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm all for sensitivity, but that's just stupid.
formerly known as etaoin...
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stranger
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stranger
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It was explained to us that "flip" is a derogatory reference to Filipino persons.
Not to be flippant, but I'll wager that this suggestion didn't come from a Filipino. The situation has gotten so far out of hand that even Irish folk musicians are feeling pressured to limit themselves to performing only reels.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have certainly heard "flip" used to refer to Filipinos. I agree that eliminating the phrase "flip chart" is just plain silly.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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yeah, this should be placed in the niggardly class of political correctness.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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So, now we must all refrain from asking someone to flip our burgetrs while complaining about the history of niggardly burger supplies at our picnics? Can we invite these pillocks to shift, to the far queue, please?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The dangerous thing is that no one dares openly to tell these little jacks-in-office to piss off. So it all gets worse and they build more power and hubris than they can decently handle. Like with so many aspects of politics and related issues today I am reminded of Titus Oates and Senator Joe McCarthy.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
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> they build more power and hubris
A deafening din and tunefulness is all but outlawed, huh:-) In the end even the best of it's chatter though<g>.
Ya puttin too much weight into words, and there's too much hate in this world - Princess Superstar
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I agree with you all and would like to buy a round of beers. That is if the use of "round" is not offensive to obese persons...
On politcal correctness in general: I believe there is a reasonable middle ground for adults, where decorum is the rule but is not enforced with a battle axe. There will always be overly-prudish people, just as there will always be coarse and vulgar people. Somewhere along the way, we have begun catering to the wishes of the overly-sensitive. The state of being offended has been elevated to some weird plane that makes no sense. Sometimes the offended party is wrong to be offended, or at least a little uptight. To take an extreme example for purposes of illustration, an avowed racist might be offended to share a table with a person of another race, or to see an interracial couple kissing. We give no credence to their feelings in these situations (and rightly so).
A real life example: my father is a retired professor of fine art. One of his graduates went on to get an MFA, and in the course of doing that she taught some classes in drawing and painting to undergraduates. One such class was life drawing, in which students learn to draw the human form by working in a studio with nude models. One prudish student, who expected to earn a bachelor's degree in fine arts, objected to having to draw a nude model. Over the protests of the graduate student teaching the class, the university made a special allowance for the girl so she could do separate work in human drawing without drawing nude models. IMO this is improper on fairly self-evident grounds so I'll stop there.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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i did HS art classes (in a nyc public school) with nude models. the class was only open to qualified students (ie, you had to be 'honor student' to particapate in advanced art classes --average of 85 or better) --the school, though a public one, was an all girls school which made it a bit easier to manage. (the model was a woman in her fifties)
I wonder does the woman not have any mirrors in her house?
(does she take bath's or showers with her clothes on? ) shame on the university for allowing her to proceed.
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The HapMap is putting political correctness under a microscope. The new science of raceBy CAROLYN ABRAHAM Globe and Mail Saturday, June 18, 2005 Extract: Yet the role of race in genetics is a subject scientists now believe they can't ignore. The future of medicine may depend on it. In fact, a massive international effort, which includes many Canadian researchers, has been quietly under way for nearly four years to catalogue and compare the genetics of people with African, Asian and European ancestry. It is called the Haplotype Project. You may not have heard a word about it before now. But by the end of this year, society may have to start facing its implications. http://www.theglobeandmail.com
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Science is poking its nose into a lot of subjects the politically correct and the politically pious might find objectionable. Born gay? How biology may drive orientationSeattle Times, Sunday, June 19, 2005 Extract: "The social and political implications of the research are impossible to ignore, leading to unease on both sides of the gay-rights debate. If science proves homosexuality is innate, is there any basis to deny gays equal treatment — including the right to marry? But if scientists unravel the roots of sexual orientation, will it some day be possible to "fix" people who don't fit the norms or abort fetuses likely to be born gay? -------- But controversy can't obscure the facts, he said. "It's pretty definitive that biological factors play a role in determining a person's sexual orientation." Austrian scientists reported this month that switching a single gene was enough to make female fruit flies rebuff males and attempt to mate with other females. Swedish researchers recently found the sexual center of gay men's brains lit up when they sniffed a pheromone-like chemical from men's sweat, but didn't respond to a chemical from women. And last fall, Italian scientists offered a possible explanation for the persistence of gay genes — even though evolution tends to weed out traits that discourage reproduction. The team from the University of Padua found that mothers and aunts of gay men had more offspring than female relatives of heterosexuals, suggesting genes that influence homosexuality in men may increase fertility in females. That the evidence comes from such disparate directions leads scientists to suspect several different biological pathways may lead to homosexuality" http://snipurl.com/foks
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When facts don't fit the opinionBy Ellen Goodman, Globe Columnist Boston Globe, June 19, 2005 Extract: "THE MEDICAL examiners delivered their autopsy report in the most matter-of-fact tone. Terri Schiavo's brain had atrophied to half the normal size for a woman her age. Her eyes, the focus of that famous videotape, saw nothing. She was blind. The men couldn't say why Terri had collapsed 15 years ago. But they could say she wasn't abused by her husband. They could say that ''no amount of treatment or rehabilitation would have reversed" her condition. There was no doubt about it. -------- This case was never solely about medicine. But the question on the TV screen illustrated the times we live in -- times when facts can exist in a separate universe from opinions. And a country in which science is not seen as a matter of black and white but increasingly of red and blue.The Schiavo case is not the only example. ..." http://snipurl.com/fol0
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Unfortunately, this seeming non-stop PC madness may slow or even stop some new medical advances. The relatively new field of pharmocogenetics has already put forth many wonderful advances, and suggestions for improved therapy.
For example, it has explained quite well why codeine works so well for some while just making others sick (about 1 in 5 N. Am caucasians lack the enzyme to convert it to the active form - morphine). Asians over 99% of the time have the correct enzyme - and it seems to work more often for pain in that group.
Yet, the PC crowd is yelling 'foul!' - and are naysaying the entire field of science.
Sigh...
R
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...no one dares openly to tell these little jacks-in-office to piss off.Don't let *those jag-offs win over your resolve on this board. 
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
You cant. No one wants to be called a racist or accused of being racially insensitive. The people who gravitate to these kinds of positions tend to be extremely fanatical and they have the willingness and power to make your life miserable if you don't go along.
If you just want to do your job as best as you can you just have to compromise - otherwise, you run the risk of getting sidetracked by this kind of stupidity. It's easier - and in the short term, more productive - to just acquiesce.
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