[Dixielandjazz] PC gone mad

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Stereotypes and racism does us all no good.  Last night I played a gig with
"Blind" Tony and "Fat" May.  I had never met the singer before and Tony was
one of my students when I taught at Mo School For The Blind.  Today Tony
Simmons is a top pro here in St. Louis.  I never had so much fun in my life.
The singers voice was incredible blues / jazz style.  She did "At Last" the
best that I have ever heard it done.  So why  isn't she on TV and radio and
CD's.  It's because she weighs about 450 pounds.  She's so big she can
hardly walk but what a voice.  Discrimination is a problem but Tony doesn't
care because he's blind and her size and looks mean nothing --it's the voice
and the sound that counts.  Too bad the rest of us aren't "blind" to
stereotypes and racism.  None of us like it and are all subject to it so why
do we do it?
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Suhor" <csuhor at zebra.net>
To: "LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing" <sign.guy at charter.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] PC gone mad


> Thanks. This is a clarification I needed. And if I read it right, it
> illustrates that apparent PC changes can be useful in discarding labels
> that were made toxic as they were turned into slurs in popular
> usage.--Charlie Suhor
>
>
>
> On Mar 16, 2005, at 7:23 PM, LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing
> wrote:
>
> > Charles said:
> >
> >> As another example, I'm appalled at the suggestion that "idiot" is a
> >> legitimate, scientifically and socially useful description of retarded
> >> human beings.
> >
> > I said  "was used" not is used.
> >
> > The successive softening of the language on this might
> >> well have become excessive and precious, but it's in the right
> >> direction of not stripping people of their dignity. Those who disagree
> >> on this one can state their case, and that's a plus-one for
> >> clarification.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sorry to say but those "names" were at one time actual legitimate
> > words used
> > by the medical profession to separate different levels of intelligence.
> > Today we have tests and numbers but before that they used names to
> > describe
> > the levels of retardation.  The descriptors dropped off when the
> > general
> > public started using them as "names" to be applied to whatever.    The
> > terms
> > were dropped as far as I know around WW2.  People had some quaint ideas
> > then.  The terms were not originated to strip anyone of their dignity
> > but
> > became that after a while so the language started evolving.  As I
> > pointed
> > out the language has undergone several modifications and as the new
> > term
> > starts becoming a term of derision the professionals change it.  We
> > used to
> > call musicians who were visually impaired "Blind"  for example in the
> > late
> > 1800's and early 1900's there was "Blind" Boone and others who played
> > music.
> > Today Blind has morphed into Sightless then into Visually impaired and
> > it
> > goes on and on.  As far as I know "Idiot Savant" is the only hanger on
> > from
> > that earlier era in common use to describe a person who is retarded and
> > exceptionally good at something like adding numbers or remembering
> > telephone
> > numbers or playing music on an exceptionally high level.  Another
> > morphing
> > of words is the Mongoloid Idiot became Mongoloid then Downs Syndrome.
> > I'm
> > sure that will change too in time to ???
> >
> > I didn't make up the words and I agree that people shouldn't be
> > stripped of
> > their dignity but as we apply descriptors there are those who would
> > misuse
> > them.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Charles Suhor" <csuhor at zebra.net>
> > To: "LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing" <sign.guy at charter.net>
> > Cc: "Phil O'Rourke" <philor at webone.com.au>; "DJML"
> > <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:47 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] PC gone mad
> >
> >
> >> I'm all for acknowledging that language distortions, in the form of
> >> extreme PC, doublespeak, political spin, etc., are damaging and should
> >> be exposed.
> >>
> >> My plea is for making distinctions on a case-by-case basis rather than
> >> dismissing a given example, like "Darktown" or "idiot" or "s/he" as
> >> all
> >> of the same cloth under the blunt label of PC. We might come to
> >> different conclusions about particular instances, as we have about
> >> Darktown, but the dialogue is better than a general tirade against
> >> language changes that might, just might, attack our comfortable
> >> biases.
> >>
> >> As another example, I'm appalled at the suggestion that "idiot" is a
> >> legitimate, scientifically and socially useful description of retarded
> >> human beings. The successive softening of the language on this might
> >> well have become excessive and precious, but it's in the right
> >> direction of not stripping people of their dignity. Those who disagree
> >> on this one can state their case, and that's a plus-one for
> >> clarification.
> >>
> >> So it goes. It takes time and effort to sort out what's useful and
> >> what's b.s. in language change, but the problem isn't solved by
> >> broadside labels like PC on one hand and, say, "sensitivity" on the
> >> other.
> >>
> >> Charlie Suhor
> >>
> >>
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> >>>
> >>
> >
>