As we bid farewell to another year, it looks like we’ll also be saying goodbye to some iconic pieces of cultural history along with it. Songs, fairy tales, hand gestures; for the PC-police, nothing has been off limits in 2018.
Here’s a look at some of the things we’ll miss as we trudge wearily on toward a heavily-sanitized world where nobody ever feels offended again.
1. Christmas songs
They had a good run, but 2018 was the year the PC-grinch stole Christmas songs. After 74 years, ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ was discovered to have a “rapey” vibe and radio stations decided time’s up for the Christmas classic. Next for the chop was ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ which could be traumatizing to children. It’s been voted the best Christmas song of all time, but even the iconic Irish classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ wasn’t safe. Far too many offensive words, in that one. What next? ‘Driving Home For Christmas’ promotes air pollution?
2. Fairy tales
Many of us fondly remember watching and re-watching movies like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast — and reading and re-reading fairy tale classics like Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and The Ugly Duckling.
The children of the future will know no such pleasure. This year, Keira Knightley led the charge, banning many of them from her children’s book shelves, lest they impart any negative messages. Soon there will be no more ugly ducklings to scare children with horrifying themes like bullying and image-consciousness. There will be no Sleeping Beauty awakened from her slumber by a prince’s non-consensual kiss. Oh and speaking of consent, did God sexually assault Mary by getting her pregnant with Jesus without prior approval? That’s another debate, if you dare wade into it.
3. Clapping
By now you will probably have attended at least one event at which a couple of people decided to forgo engaging in the “non-inclusive” traditional clapping and cheering methods of expressing appreciation and opted instead for “jazz hands” or “clicking” of the fingers. It’s all in an effort to ensure deaf people, anxious people, or anyone with sensory issues feel as included as possible. There’s no word yet on what we’ll be replacing jazz hands with when they discover that it clearly isn’t inclusive to visually impaired people.
So with 2018, we wave goodbye to clapping — unless waving is also now offensive? We’re not quite sure.
4. Gendered phrases
This was also the year when the PC-brigade tried even harder to get rid of the words ‘woman’ and ‘women’ and replace them with ‘womxn’ because the word women is apparently racist and transphobic. Even some major brands were almost suckered into the PC ploy. If they had their way, we’d also be doing away with words like ‘mother’ and ‘father’ and sticking to the more bland ‘parent’ in a bid to never cause any offense. This follows a 2017 effort to replace the phrase ‘pregnant women’ with ‘pregnant people’ to avoid excluding transgender people.
Oh, and the Nativity’s three wise men? No thank you, this Christmas we’ll have ‘three wise people’ instead.
5. Halloween costumes
Remember those exciting Halloween nights, dressing up as witches and wizards, or re-imagining yourself as a beautiful Pocahontas for the evening? Well, 2018 surely taught you better. Witches are now “culturally offensive” and costumes depicting characters from minority backgrounds are highly problematic. At first, we thought strong female characters like Elsa from Frozen and Moana were wonderful, but we soon discovered that Elsa costumes promote white beauty and Moana costumes promote cultural appropriation. In fact, the many ways in which you could have been unintentionally offensive in 2018 were endless.
6. Animal phrases
Perhaps because we’ve already put an end to all the terms that could offend humans, in 2018 we moved on to animals. Earlier this month, animal welfare organization PETA suggested doing away with certain well-known phrases like ‘kill two birds with one stone’ and ‘bring home the bacon’ and replacing them with more animal-friendly ones like ‘feed two birds with one scone’ and ‘bring home the bagels.’
Now, animal welfare is all well and good, but we’re pretty sure they can’t feel offended by animal-themed idioms.
Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here’s how to remove speciesism from your daily conversations. pic.twitter.com/o67EbBA7H4
— PETA (@peta) December 4, 2018
Fare thee well, simpler times. We’ll miss you.
https://www.rt.com/news/447454-pc-gone-wild-traditions-2018/
How nice.
Makes me think of a story.
3 Southeren belles were comparing gifts from their husbands.
The first said “My husband bought me this fine mink coat, that’s how much he loves me.The second says ,”Oh my!”, the third says, “How nice.”.
The second belle says, “My husband bought me this shiny automobile, that’s how much he loves me!” The first says, “Oh my,” and the third says. “How nice.”
Finally they look to the third and ask what her husband bought for her. The third Southern belle says, “My husband bought me lessons in finishing school, that’s how much he loves me!”
“FINISHING SCHOOL?! What can you do with finishing school”, they questioned?
“Finishing school teaches me to say “how nice”, instead of “f-k you!”
Ha, you just laid low my comment but I’ll post it anyway. Thanks for the laugh.
🙂
I don’t easily get depressed but this article depressed me. I grew up in a family where one of our greatest entertainments was hurling insults at each other, you know, teasing, which meant laughing, a lot of laughing. And we swore when needed, frequently told dirty jokes, pulled pranks on each other, and indulged in mischievous and on-going nonsense. It was the cultural norm. Now the very backbone of that tradition is at risk. No more foolin’ around. Put on the straight-jacket and be quiet. Or worse, be polite, polite to the point of being false.
They are attempting to create a bland world of compliance and sameness. Who would want to live in such a world?!! I know there are bigger battles, but this one is important because of how it affects everyday life, how we humans interact with each other. Pretty soon it’ll be, only minimal talking please, and in a lowered voice; also, no direct eye-contact. Yuck!!
The other thing getting ripped off in all this is honesty because a direct consequence of all this control is DISHONESTY, where nobody knows what the other is really thinking. To hell with that. I’m asking myself what can be done, I mean in the meantime, beyond the ultimate fight, what can be done to arrest this tyranny. Do we need a national swear fest, or a national dirty joke fest (no question about who could organize that – teehee) just to remind ourselves of our right to such utterances? I’m not saying we should go out of our way to intentionally hurt someone, but just saying I want to see humans be themselves, be real, and be strong enough to handle any debris that comes out of that. Damn!!
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