Saturday - September 20, 2008
The phrase Old Masters is sexist, authors and students are told. (Here We Go Again)
About a month or so ago I posted something similar and asked, what next? How far is this gonna go?
Well, my answer appeared in today’s paper. These folks really need to find a job that involves an 8 hour day at the minimum.
I had originally intended to highlight just some lines to stand out, but this is so overly stupid and so overly bizarre, I’ve made bold the entire article.
My Moonbat Award for the week past ... And it really is NOT funny.
The phrase Old Masters is sexist, authors and students are told
By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent
Publishers and universities are outlawing dozens of seemingly innocuous words in case they cause offence.
Banned phrases on the list, which was originally drawn up by sociologists, include Old Masters, which has been used for centuries to refer to great painters - almost all of whom were in fact male.
It is claimed that the term discriminates against women and should be replaced by “classic artists”.
The list of banned words was written by the British Sociological Association, whose members include dozens of professors, lecturers and researchers.
The list of allegedly racist words includes immigrants, developing nations and black, while so-called “disablist” terms include patient, the elderly and special needs.
It comes after one council outlawed the allegedly sexist phrase “man on the street”, and another banned staff from saying “brainstorm” in case it offended people with epilepsy.
However the list of “sensitive” language is said by critics to amount to unwarranted censorship and wrongly assume that people are offended by words that have been in use for years.
Prof Frank Furedi, a sociologist at the University of Kent, said he was shocked when he saw the extent of the list and how readily academics had accepted it.
“I was genuinely taken aback when I discovered that the term ‘Chinese Whisper’ was offensive because of its apparently racist connotations. I was moved to despair when I found out that one of my favourite words, ‘civilised’, ought not be used by a culturally sensitive author because of its alleged racist implications.”
Prof Furedi said that censorship is about the “policing of moral behaviour” by an army of campaign groups, teachers and media organisations who are on a “crusade” to ban certain words and promote their own politically correct alternatives.
He said people should see the efforts to ban certain words as the “coercive regulation” of everyday language and the “closing down of discussions” rather than positive attempts to protect vulnerable groups from offence.
The list of banned words is now sent out to prospective authors by Policy Press, a publisher of social science books and journals based at the University of Bristol, but is also used in many academic institutions.
The University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies recommends the guidelines to help students “challenge heterosexist assumptions”, and they are included in a “toolkit” to combat institutional racism included on the University of Leeds’ website.
King’s College London says they “may provide a good starting point” and Liverpool John Moores University provides a link to them in its students’ guide. The Open University said they are an “appropriate source of reference and advice” for students.
Napier University in Edinburgh says the list is “well worth looking at” while the University of East London advises its students they should “attempt to incorporate” it.
Even a secondary school in Norwich includes a link to the list on its website, with the statement: “Students may care to consider how far we inadvertently reproduce inaccurate sexist assumptions in the language we use, both written and spoken.”
The list of racist terms features black, which “can be used in a racist sense” and should be changed to “black peoples” or “black communities”.
Immigrants is said to have “racist overtones” because of its association with “immigration legislation”, while developing nations - intended as a more sensitive replacement for Third World - is “prejudical” because it implies a comparison with developed countries.
Although not included on the Policy Press list, the BSA warns authors against using civilisation because of its “racist overtones that derive from a colonialist perception of the world”.
Among the “sexist” terms to be avoided are “seminal” and “disseminate” because they are derived from the word semen and supposedly imply a male-dominated view of the world.
Authors are also told to “avoid using medical labels” when writing about disabled people as this “may promote a view of them as patients”.
In addition, the list says “special needs” should be changed to “additional needs”, “patient” to “person” and “the elderly” to “older people”.
“Able-bodied person” should be replaced with “non-disabled person”, it is claimed.
Students and academics are being banned from using the term “Old Masters” and “seminal” because of claims they are sexist.
Last Updated: 1:40AM BST 20 Sep 20
http://tinyurl.com/4xymh5
Posted by Drew458
on 09/20/2008 at 09:36 AM
Filed Under: • Awards • Education • Insanity • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • Saturday - August 30, 2008
OKOK, I promise I’ll get to the more serious stuff in a minute. But first ….
Oh my ... Ain’t she pretty. That isn’t a question.
Only 16. Wish her well and hope it won’t spoil her as this kind of thing so often does.
It’s great a Brit girl won in the face of all the awful teen news here in the UK about girl crime and girl gangs etc.
British girl wins Miss Teen World
A British schoolgirl has beaten 25 young hopefuls to become Miss Teen World.
By Vikki Miller
Last Updated: 10:48AM BST 30 Aug 2008
Amy Jackson, 16, was crowned in Houston, Texas on Saturday.
She has now returned home to Knowsley, Liverpool to celebrate with friends and family.
She said: “I really thought I had not made the final five, but then I went on to take the title. I was completely shocked and so happy.”
Miss Jackson beat competitors from Korea, Mexico and Russia to win. As part of the entry, she was marked on her stage presence and her answers in an interview.
The teenager received her GCSE results while at the competition in the US, and found out she had achieved nine passes, five of which were As.
She is now considering going to live in Texas for a year to promote the competition. After that, she plans to start her A-levels and then go on to university to study law.
Miss Jackson reached the final in Texas after winning Miss Teen Liverpool and Miss Teen Great Britain competitions.
Her father, BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Alan Jackson said: “The contestants were asked to talk about their home town. She mentioned Liverpool FC, Capital of Culture, the Mersey – there is no shortage of things to say about Liverpool.”
Her 18 prizes include a modelling contract in the US, a wardrobe of clothes, a year’s supply of top cosmetics and shoes and a £10,000 scholarship.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/30/2008 at 10:42 AM
Filed Under: • Awards • Eye-Candy • UK •
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Permalink • Friday - March 07, 2008
My stomach was torn open… so I tucked my shirt in and kept shooting
I caught this story early today in our Telegraph and wanted to post it when I caught an email from our GOF, with a link to another paper with the same story.
The Daily Mail. Thanks Grumpy ... The DMail version is much better as are the online photos and the awards to these wonderful young people I call,
BATTLING BRITS!
It’s kinda frustrating even for me as a foreigner, to see and read about these kids while at the same time I see ppl of the same age sitting in a doorway in Winchester waiting for passersby to drop money in their hats. All the while collecting benefits from the taxpayer.
Amazing stories of the selfless heroes of Afghanistan
By MATTHEW HICKLEY and PAUL HARRIS - More by this author »
Last updated at 09:07am on 7th March 2008They all made a pact before they went to war.
Whatever happened to them in Afghanistan no one - dead or alive - would be left behind.
One night in Helmand Province, that pledge was put to the test.
In a terrifying split second, the close-knit group from one of the Army’s most battle-scarred units came under fire from a hail of Taliban bullets and rocket-powered grenades.
Four men were hit and several others temporarily blinded by phosphorus. Their screams of pain cut through the darkness as the ambushed platoon was pinned down by gunfire from two sides.
But the men of 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment knew precisely what they had to do.
And today the extraordinary heroism which allowed the young soldiers to keep to their pledge at any cost can be revealed as they are awarded some of the highest military honours.
The men repeatedly braved enemy fire to rescue their injured and fatally wounded comrades from the hands of the Taliban.
Private Luke Cole, 22, carried on fighting after half his thigh bone was blown away.
When another bullet ripped open his stomach, he simply tucked his shirt in tighter “to hold everything in” - and carried on keeping the enemy at bay until back-up arrived.
Sergeant Craig Brelsford, 25, continued to command his men long after he was critically wounded - and right up to the moment he died.
In a singularly selfless act, he ran to put his body between the enemy and his wounded comrades.
It protected them from Taliban gunfire, but cost him his life.
And the 25-year-old platoon commander, Lieutenant Simon Cupples, led a rescue party into the killing zone to carry the injured to safety and recover the dead - again and again and again.
Their astonishing courage - and that of scores of other British servicemen and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq - is marked today with a raft of 184 awards.
They include the biggest batch of medals since fighting began in Afghanistan nearly seven years ago - a reflection not just of the ferocity of the conflict, but of the conspicuous bravery of British troops.
The ambush near the frontline town of Garmsir underlined the extreme danger that troops face daily in what has turned into a bloody and difficult war.
It played out into a six-hour pitched battle as both sides poured in reinforcements. But true to the pact, Lt Cupples and his men refused to withdraw until the bodies of two fallen comrades were recovered.
Telling their families back home that no one knew what happened to them, he decided, was “simply not an option”.
His valour and dedication is recognised with the award of a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - the highest bravery medal after the Victoria Cross.
Yesterday he told the remarkable story of that night last September.
The young officer, now a captain, recalled how his men were advancing under cover of darkness when they came under devastating fire from a Taliban trench just 20 yards away, and then from other enemy positions.
“I could tell we had taken serious casualties.” he said. “There was screaming from the men around me. Because we were so close to the enemy it was very difficult to withdraw and regroup, but we couldn’t leave the casualties.
“It was asking a lot for the blokes to run forward into enemy fire like that.
“But they did it because their mates were out there. When you live and serve with your men like that it creates a very special bond. You would do anything for those guys. That’s what drove the soldiers forward.”
Captain Cupples, from Derbyshire, who married his sweetheart, Louise, shortly before deploying to Afghanistan, is due to return with his unit next year.
Also involved in the September firefight was Private Cole, from Wolverhampton, who is awarded the Military Cross.
See that link for photos and more info. Impressive! But then, bravery always is. And the Brits have it in spite of all that goes on at home. And I’ll get to that maddening subject later.
Posted by Drew458
on 03/07/2008 at 08:33 AM
Filed Under: • Awards • Heroes • War-Stories •
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Permalink • Saturday - April 14, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
Posted by The Skipper
on 04/14/2007 at 07:57 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - April 08, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
Posted by The Skipper
on 04/08/2007 at 07:59 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - March 31, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
Perhaps instead of Googling “Gulf Of Tonkin” you all should Google “Psycho Bitch From Hell”. If Google doesn’t immediately show you pictures and verbal diarrhea from Rosie O’ Donnell there’s something wrong with Google. I swear, this Lard-Ass-Lesbo-Loser has gotten on my last nerve.
It’s bad enough that she has spent the last several years claiming the WTC collapse was a plot by George W. Bush to start a war overseas. If ABC doesn’t take this miserable moron mouth off the air soon the whole world will think we’re all crazy.
ROSIE O’DONNELL: But interesting with the British sailors, there were 15 British sailors and Marines who apparently went into Iranian waters and they were seized by the Iranians. And I have one thing to say: Gulf of Tonkin, Google it. Okay.
JOY BEHAR: Some other time. Some other time.
O’DONNELL: Well, you know...
BARBARA WALTERS: It could be a decision making time. It’s a very difficult situation. It’s at the United Nations. It’s being examined now. Should there be sanctions? Militarily, we certainly don’t seem to be in the position to do something militarily. But it is a decision making time.
O’DONNELL: Yes, but it’s very interesting too that, you know, these guys, they went into the water by mistake right at a time when British and American, you know, they’re two, they’re pretty much our biggest ally and we’re considering whether or not we should go into war with Iran.
BEHAR: But the U.N. was about to sanction them, also have an embargo against Iran. And the, and the timing [unintelligible] so they distracted the whole world with this.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Right and they may be about to expel the inspectors right now, too, which could be considered [unintelligible]
O’DONNELL: Right or it could be just the Gulf of Tonkin, which you should all Google.
-- Transcript from NEWSBUSTERS
BRITISH HOSTAGES
anderson cooper
wake up
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear as if they are being carried out by other entities.
the british did it on purpose
into iranian waters
as
US MILITARY BUILD UP ON THE IRANIAN BORDER
we will be in iran
before summer
as planned
come on people
u have 2 c
i know u can
-- Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie’s Blog, March 28
Posted by The Skipper
on 03/31/2007 at 11:01 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - March 10, 2007
Barking Moonbat(s) Of The Week
It is official. Half of this country is barking mad. Unfortunately, they voted for Democrats in the last election and now they expect the Donks to do their will. Democrats are just now finding out about their insane, uninformed, incredibly stupid base.
Memo to Democrats: Good luck, assholes. They’re your people and you lied to them and used them to get into power. Now it’s up to you to figure out how to talk sense into these morons.
Congressman David Obey (D-WI) Confronted By Anti-War Activitsts |
Posted by The Skipper
on 03/10/2007 at 01:56 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - March 03, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
I can’t help it. This story was so outrageously funny that I had to give one of the players the award this week just for the pure entertainment value alone. I chose the player who started the whole kerfuffle that erupted into nuclear warfare between the Clintons and Barack Obama. Besides, Geffen is a Hollywood Liberal and I just love it when they start cat fights among themselves. Congratulations, David. Let’s do this again real soon!
David Geffen
(PEOPLE) - February 21, 2007
David Geffen gave the NY Times’s red headed hottie Maureen Dowd an exclusive and dished his real feelings regarding Hillary Clinton, Barack’s competition.
Geffen told Dowd: “Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don’t think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is—and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?—can bring the country together.
Further explaining his devotion to Obama, Geffen stated: “Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq. And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television.”
“I don’t think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person,”
Geffen says, adding that if Republicans are digging up dirt, they’ll wait until Hillary’s the nominee to use it. “I think they believe she’s the easiest to defeat. Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”
Posted by The Skipper
on 03/03/2007 at 04:17 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - February 17, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
Posted by The Skipper
on 02/17/2007 at 02:00 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - January 21, 2007
Hall Of Fame - 2006
For meritorious service in providing unending hours of entertainment in the service of society by her unabashed acts of media whoring, sucking up to commie dictator Hugo Chavez, lovingly hugging Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton amid the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina while shamelessly pissing on the grave of a dead son who died serving a country he loved much more than his mother loves herself and for willingly sacrificing the last vestiges of any dignity she ever had to be a tool for every Leftist Liberal hate group with enough money to buy her mindless services ... we, the governing body of the Barking Moonbat Hall Of Fame are indeed proud to induct into our shameful shrine this year’s proud winner ...
Posted by The Skipper
on 01/21/2007 at 03:41 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - January 20, 2007
Barking Moonbat Hall Of Fame 2006
Winner to be announced on Sunday!
Another year, another list of candidates for the Hall Of Fame. Who will join previous winners Al Gore and John Kerry from this year’s crop of Moonbats? Only you know.
Cast your vote and send one of these fine specimens to immortal fame. Polls will remain open all week. You may vote once each day so spread the love around if you want. The voting will end on Friday evening and the winner will be announced on Sunday.
There are ten candidates - one from each major Moonbat category. If your favorite is not in the list, don’t worry - they’ll make it next year (or the next). Moonbats are persistent if nothing else.
So peruse the list and choose wisely. You are bestowing immortality ....
Posted by The Skipper
on 01/20/2007 at 01:00 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - January 06, 2007
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
This week’s award was a cinch for Cindy Sheehan after her lunatic rant at the Capitol on Wednesday. That was then, this is now. Coming to her rescue is our old friend Jacques “tête de merde” Chirac, leader of the French Resistance - the group of Euro-ratbags who fight an endless struggle against the entire whole world ... especially the United States.
Of course Jacky-boy makes an exception for Muslims in the Middle East, especially those associated with terrorism like Hamas. Since his pal Arafat kicked the bucket Chirac has been lonely - but that hasn’t stopped him from bashing the US. His latest rant earns him the award this week ....
Chirac Blasts U.S.-Led Invasion of Iraq
PARIS (NEWSDAY) - January 5, 2007, 11:26 AM EST
In a speech to ambassadors, Chirac also renewed his call for an international conference on the Middle East, saying he was deeply concerned by the growing number of crises there.
“At Europe’s gate, the Middle East has become an epicenter of international tensions,” Chirac said. “Crises are building up and spreading.” On Iraq, Chirac suggested the problems there today justified France’s strong opposition to the invasion in 2003. “As France foresaw and feared, the war in Iraq caused upheavals whose effects have not yet finished unraveling,” he said.
“The venture exacerbated the divisions between (Iraqi) communities and undermined the very integrity of Iraq,” he said. “It weakened the stability of the region, where every country is now worried about its security and independence. It gave terrorism new terrain for expansion.”
Now, “more than ever, the priority is to return sovereignty to the Iraqis,” Chirac said. Chirac had rallied together voices against the Iraq war, the main foreign policy legacy of his 12 years in office. He is not expected to stand in elections this year, though he has not yet declared his intentions.
For months, Chirac has called for an international conference on the Middle East. The European Union should relaunch the work of the so-called Quartet peacemakers—the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations—with a proposal for a conference, he said.
Chirac said it should be “a new form of conference that, without claiming to dictate the terms of the settlement to the parties involved, would bring the new guarantees that they aspire to,” he said. “Then, I am persuaded, a true dynamic of negotiation could be launched.”
Posted by The Skipper
on 01/06/2007 at 09:57 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - December 30, 2006
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
This week’s award goes to whichever one of these three ratbags is going to be next to dangle from a noose. While looking around the planet for the “asshat dictators” candidates for the noose, I realized we’re running out of this species of cockroach. Below are pictures of the top three on my list. You can vote on these three and seven others I have chosen to be the next “Dangling Dictator”. Runners-up that almost made the list were King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia), Hu Jintao (China) and Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan). Maybe next year, guys! So go ahead and cast your vote for who you think should be the next one to be frog-marched to the gallows.
Posted by The Skipper
on 12/30/2006 at 04:39 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - December 16, 2006
Barking Moonbat Of The Week
Posted by The Skipper
on 12/16/2006 at 05:25 AM
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
The first colour photographs from the German front line during World War One.
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Tracked at Macker's World
WOW! Now this presents a new perspective on World War I: color photos from the German side: Given today's film speeds and grain quality, I can only imagine that what…
On: 11/15/08 11:19
Too True!
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Tracked at Macker's World
Now here's a parody of a parody: If Parker & Hart were around, I'm sure they'd be OK with this. HAT TIP: BMEWS
On: 11/09/08 11:38
Twas the Night Before
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Tracked at The Chronicles Of A Rogue Jew
A friend of mine emailed this to me. He said he got it from the Barking Moonbat Monitor. Enjoy! ‘Twas the night before elections And all through the town Tempers…
On: 10/30/08 12:38
Banned from using Hoover or hot water under health and safety rules. (ere we go again matey)
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Tracked at Goldwater Girl's Weblog
Perhaps some of BHO’s civilian security force (which will be funded as well as the military) can cook up something like the Elf and Safety over in the UK. This…
On: 10/23/08 09:48
debate blogging
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Tracked at Nicholas Fitzgerald
Well, it was another night of missed opportunities for John McCain. He missed a lot of them tonight. I’m not sure how that will play out over the next three…
On: 10/15/08 11:18
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