Hear about this from our media yet? Or is it just he Brits who are paying attention to how our dogged, textualist refusal to demand that intent control the interpretive function of determining meaning is — inevitably and inexorably, as I’ve long explained it would — creating an officially-sanctioned list of words and phrases that is approved by the state under the rubric of tolerance, a de facto state-controlled inversion of the First Amendment.
Because the antithesis of tolerance, naturally, is intolerance. Or hate. And the liberals, in high-dudgeon, remain intolerant of intolerance, and are determined to pass laws against hateful speech. Which they have every right to do since they refuse, morally, to allow disgusting subhuman wingnut bastard haters who hate to use derogatory terms that may harm the esteem of groups these progressive angels — who care! — single out for championing. To do so would be to allow putrid, conniving, mouth-breathing retards and knuckle-dragging cousin humpers hiding behind their Bibles, their guns, and their gas-ass teabagging to ruin civil discourse.
People living in Seattle can no longer enjoy a brown bag lunch after city bureaucrats banned the term from official use for being racist.
A memo sent out from the Office of Civil Rights also banned the word ‘citizen’, claiming it could lead to people feeling excluded in the multi-cultural city.
The memo went on to offer politically correct alternatives that could be used in official documents and discussions.
Luckily, we’ve got options,’ Elliott Bronstein wrote in the internal memo, according to Fox News. ‘For “citizens”, how about “residents”?’
Mr Bronstein defended the ban on a Seattle radio station, and said that the term ‘brown bag’ had historically been used as a way to determine skin color.
Paper bags had once been used as way to decide if African-Americans had what was considered to be a light enough skin tone to be admitted to certain college teams and houses.
‘For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people’s skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event,’ Mr Bronstein said.
Bronstein, who is white as a queen’s ass, of course is unconcerned with the modern usage of brown bag, which of course means a paper bag that is, well, brown, generally deployed for holding a sandwich and some chips. And maybe the occasional fistful of roasted peanuts in the shell.
The practice was described in Future of the Race by Henry Louis Gates Jr., who says he experienced the brown paper bag test when he started at Yale in the 1960s, according to theSt Petersburg Times.
The chairman of Harvard’s Afro-American studies department, said: ‘Some of the brothers who came from New Orleans held a “bag party”. As a classmate explained it to me, a bag party was a New Orleans custom wherein a brown paper bag was stuck on the door. Anyone darker than the bag was denied entrance.’
According to Seattle PI, Mr Bronstein claimed workers had raised concerns about the term brown bag in the past.
To avoid bringing up its racist connotations, city workers in Seattle must now use ‘sack lunch’ or ‘lunch-and-learn’, according to Komo News.
First, let’s get this out of the way: if the chairman of Harvard’s Afro-American studies department had to learn about the city-specific practice from a classmate back when he was a student, then this is hardly a widespread historical slight on par with the promulgation of “nigger,” which is now, as a term, often acceptable among manu blacks (who claim to have “retaken its meaning” — something, ironically, the very White Mr Bronstein would likely celebrate without realizing he’s making the point of the intentionalists he otherwise denies) and Quentin Tarantino. So fuck Skip Gates.
Second, like spade, spook, tar baby, and other signifiers that at one point held some regionally-specific conventional meaning, or served as a double entendre of sorts, the fact that the signifier once meant something to a specific group who intended it in a certain way is now said to adhere to the words as if by magic: though a brown bag is being used to describe a brown bag, or a spade is being used to describe a garden implement, or a tar baby is being used to describe a type of inextricable situation, or a spook is being used to describe a spy or a specter — none of this matters to the left, who seeks to control discourse and provide us with a consensus-based understanding of interpretation, which in itself is the fastest road to authoritarianism and democratic despotism.
And all of this is sold under the rubric of tolerance.
If a child calls “hear boy!” to his dog, and an elderly black man is there to hear it, did it make a racist sound?
More and more, we are surrendering our individuality — encapsulated in our own ability to impose ourselves as individuals on the world through thought and expression and autonomy — to a group mentality that will determine what are or are not thought crimes based entirely on how they sound, and who might misconstrue them.
Egret tracks in the sand that appear to spell out “brown bag” would, under this hermeneutic paradigm, be every bit as racist and intolerant as brown bag uttered by a Seattle city employee who was talking about his brown paper sack as a brown paper sack, not as some historical measure of skin color discrimination.
One day those who consider themselves conservative will understand how fundamentally serious all this is — that how we come to think about how language operates influences policy and may undermine our very natural rights as expressed in our Founding documents.
That it’s a bit more arcane than finding liberal bias in some liberal rag doesn’t make it any less worthy of thought — and in fact, I’d argue (and have), that we’re witnessing the decline of the GOP as a party that stands for anything precisely because it has allowed itself to be infected with the kind of perception-based, relativistic pragmatism that allows others to define who you are and what you stand for.
(h/t JohnInFirestone)
A memo sent out from the Office of Civil Rights also banned the word ‘citizen’
I’ve sent a memo TO the Office of Civil Rights in which I respectfully (not really) tell them to blow me.
I can’t believe they still allow people to say “cotton.”
What about the brown (paper) bags? Have they been banned? If they were really used as tools for determining racial acceptability, I would think that any right-thinking prog utopia would need to ban such a disgraceful artifact of intolerance.
If all the brown bags are sucked into a black hole, will Al Sharpton protest?
Am I the only American left alive that took a brown bag lunch to school every day?
I guess box lunches are now verboten as well?
Brown lunch = doggie bag.
Coincidence?!?!?
Oh, America. You serious, serious place.
Do they make white versions of those lunch sacks? That’s what I really want to know.
Off topic, (perhaps, perhaps not, should Seattle get dragged in?), I see by a piece over at Legal Insurrection that the Washington Post has been sold to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon proprietor.
Much too late to the Insty thread for it to be read, I added this:
The Left desires Power And Control.
And their Masterminds are smart enough to understand that gaining control of the definitions of words is one of the most effective ways to control our thinking, so that we end up policing ourselves and saving them the time and effort. This is an effort at re-engineering, pure and simple, and Elliott Bronstein is either a True Believer Dupe or a Fellow Traveller.
Yes.
On a more general note: fuck all of these people who want us to avoid using every single term they could possibly ever be sensitive to. Or at least actively encourage them to grow a thicker skin.
PCUSA
There should be a “People’s Socialist Republic” in there somewhere.
OT:
The bad news: Somebody just suggested I should cube a 2″ thick T-bone because kabobs “sound better.”
The good news: I’m not drinking too much for the bullshit I put up with. Yet.
For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people’s skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event,
BY ALL MEANS LET’S KEEP THAT MEANING ALIVE!
Or at least actively encourage them to grow a thicker skin.
Because they’re actually offended.
Right.
‘citizen’, claiming it could lead to people feeling excluded in the multi-cultural city.
comrade is all embracing
And by “actively encourage”, I mean they should be sentenced to being scrubbed every day with #4 steel wool until they are no longer so sensitive.
Seriously, wouldn’t the city of Seattle lose in court if they tried to fire or even discipline a city employee for this? Assuming said employee wanted to go to the mat?
I tend to want to take people at their word, and then take action accordingly. If not necessarily along the lines they’d prefer.
A good follow-up soak in alum should accelerate that skin-thickening process some. Possibly with a little formaldehyde thrown in for good measure.
If Seattle were a functioning government entity, it would take this as incontrovertible evidence that the Office of Civil Rights has solved all the real issues for which it was created, and dissolve the office forthwith.
Instead of speaking of brown bags, speak openly of the most sensitive actual information: speak “Death to America”.
If you “white bag” your lunch it just brands you as a racist tea bagger.
Is this more of that pre-emptive offense taken on behalf of people they believe might be offended, a sort of Hate (Pre)Crime by proxy?
Not only have the characterized the supposed targets of these horrid faux-slurs as too dim to discern when one is being insulted vs. being invited to lunch, they’ve assumed that the rest of us just can’t be trusted to engage is mundane conversation without all of our bigotty bigotry streaming out.
oh my
Sequester Making Government More Efficient
And what type of thick skin would they be growing? Hmmm?
Layers and layers of racism, like an onion! Specifically Vidalia. Which is the State Vegetable of…?
If you can write a dissertation on it, you’re not crazy!
Brown bags aren’t that “green” anyway. My son’s public school was more than happy to micro-manage what items we should/should not use, including a strong recommendation against single-use wrapping/containers (because micromanaging his food choices just wasn’t enough).
pedant:
There’s no such thing as a Vidalia Onion. Vidalia Onions are actually descended from Texas Grano.
Texas: we even own your onions.
/pedant
Grocery stores went from paper to plastic bags. They said it was for the environment. Now local governments are trying to ban plastic bags. They say it is for the environment. Grocery stores say they will charge for paper bags if plastic ones are banned. As an alternative, they suggest you bring your own cloth bags. They will sell you the cloth bags. Scientists say cloth bags often become contaminated by bacteria from food because people do not wash and disinfect them frequently enough. Soon grocery stores will be selling disposable plastic liners for the cloth bags.
oh dear
Obama’s Missile-Running Plays Out in Sinai… Jihadists Fire US Missile at Egyptian Government Office
– Speaking of media, Depp and his director say its the critics fault that the lone ranger stinks. In fact, he feels so let down by his Leftist mediots hes talking quiting acting, because hey, if you can’t be assured of outcomes then whats the point. Progressives do not take failure well.
– CNN has fired back at the RNC, saying that if the party shuts down the debates over the networks obvious ankle licking slather-fest over Hildebeast in the form of a thinly disguised political puff ad, or as they are calling it a “documentary”, that will be a “disservice to voters”.
– They didn’t indicate which voters it would be a disservice to, but you can probably guess if you try.
– NBC, on the other hand is claiming they don’t have any connection to this documentary thing. I guess “stupid” is the latest Lefty media gambit when cornered these days on their rapacious bias.
– It would be great to think the Right has finallt gotten some stones and idea of self-preservation, but its so late in the day I’d tend to wait and see.
– Whenever they can print something from Trump they can use to prop up the Lefturd narrative, he’s a regular whipping boy for them. But when he says something none of the Mainstream mediot sewer rats want said out loud it seems to all fall down the blackout hole. So don’t expect to see these quotes on the usual suspects blogs or in print anytime soon.
charlie be a stupid black cracka
same with al & jesse
racist black crackas i say like rj3.O!
[…] All I can say about this is Good Freaking Grief! […]
“I guess box lunches are now verboten as well?”
Leigh,
Those are to be referred to as square mid-day meal containers now.
phony crises cont.
DESPITE MAJOR TERROR THREAT – Obama Withdraws Special Elite Forces From Italy Back to Spain
why would dat leak
From BBH’s link:
“Asked if he expected President Barack Obama to comment on Rangel’s statement, Trump said, “Obama is going to take a pass, and they’re all going to take a pass, and that’s the way the country is right now.”
Trump should’ve said: BROTHA PLEASE!!! Hypocrisy has ol’ Hussein’s face next to it in the dictionary.
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/trump-rangel-white-crackers/2013/08/05/id/518729?promo_code=EACE-1&utm_source=GatewayPundit&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1#ixzz2b9WOHNZY
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!
MRE, Meal-Rectangular-Edition.
Very good, geoff.
Well played Mr. B!
they’ve assumed that the rest of us just can’t be trusted to engage is mundane conversation without all of our bigotty bigotry streaming out.
They’ve assumed that by finding bigotry where no one else can find it, they’ve proven themselves King Of The Hill.
Bow, knaves! Bow before true royalty!
“I guess box lunches are now verboten as well?”
Henceforth to be known as “snatch packs”.
‘wat?
please stop using the words ” democratic party” it brings to mind bull conners, george wallace, robert byrd and segregation/slavery.
I knew one of you would get it, John. ; )
The brown bag test is a new one to me. Its a black thing. They own it, it is their test. I had to look it up and found out black people don’ t like real dark black people. Must be the white in them.
the collective cont.
“and found out black people don’ t like real dark black people”
link
newrouter, Northern white liberals seems to be the problem. Interesting link.
We’d probably be better off as a society if we educated for knowledge and character. But the schools lost interest in character a long time ago. And now they barely teach knowledge.
I think you can narrow that down to northeastern white liberals myself.
Ernst, Agreed.
good news
detroit be the “talented tenth”?
we need to name names about this so called “talented tenth” . like the crew @ msnbc. alinsky them.
ax rev al if he be part of the “talented tenth”? have fun!!11!!
OT: Gun free zone? They were very lucky that one very brave man took the shooter down barehanded when he saw the chance to do so.
Great. Another cop wannabe. At least this one didn’t murder any children.
As I wrote years ago, the destruction of language is a beautiful thing. Sometimes the Trojan horse can be as simple as a lunch bag.
Some students think banning these words from periodic assessment tests is ridiculous.
“If you don’t celebrate one thing you might have a friend that does it. So I don’t see why people would find it offensive,” Curtis High School Sophomore Jamella Lewis told Diamond.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the DOE is simply giving guidance to the test developers.
“So we’re not an outlier in being politically correct. This is just making sure that test makers are sensitive in the development of their tests,” Walcott said Monday.
To which Fliegal responded: “It’s all of life! I don’t know how they figure out what not to put on the list. Every aspect of life is on the list.”
There are banned words currently in school districts nationwide. Walcott said New York City’s list is longer because its student body is so diverse.
Here is the complete list of words that could be banned:
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.
For those of you keeping score at home.
For the squeamish, no words were harmed in the making of this video.
All but the last two lines blockquoted from:
If they think 50 unobjectionable words are damaging to the little darlings’ self esteem, just imagine what a dozen years of academic failure at the hands of the teachers’ union will do to ’em!
I wonder if New York City realizes that the Potemkin social construct they’re want to build for the children looks like Mayberry.
– Professor Hill made a living off this linguistic scam a long time ago, and set it to music with the help of his discovery of the fluggle horn pinky finger.
– Do Progressives EVAH think of anything original?
I am always surprised about how light – skinned all the most annoying race hustlers are. Seems like something going on there.
Hey Jeff, another likely co-traveler in the Outlaw! party:
http://threesurethingsoflife.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/its-time-for-something-different/
This guy can match you in the verbosity department, too.
He cannot match Jeff in eloquence, though, let alone on dolphins in pea coats.
JG verbose?
I say economical.
When I was a kid my dad used to take his lunch to work in a special little paper bag the bagboys at the grocery store used for ice cream in half-gallon boxes. The bags were “insulated” according to the print on the side, so’s to keep the cold contents cold. Mom figured they’d also keep his lunch fresher.
The bags were white.