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This post was published on 20/01/11 in Men, women and others.

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  1. Comment by Richard Lubbock, 20/01/11, 01:30:

    I fear Canadian authorities are gearing up to prohibit the use of all words ending in -gger.

  2. Comment by Monty, 20/01/11, 11:39:

    “I fear Canadian authorities are gearing up to prohibit the use of all words ending in -gger.”

    Oh Bugger!

  3. Comment by Lee Rudolph, 22/01/11, 12:05:

    A correspondent in the Great White North kindly pointed me to a Canadian Broadcasting Company article , in which we learn that:

    (1) “The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is urging the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) to review the decision made earlier this month by its Atlantic Regional Panel”

    and

    (2) In a letter sent on Friday, the CRTC also noted “that many of the letters it has received mistakenly have assumed that it was the commission, and not the CBSC, that determined that the version of the Dire Straits song containing the contested derogatory word was inappropriate for radio airplay.

    ‘The volume of letters and perceived overlap of responsibilities between the commission and the CBSC has created uncertainty for the public and for radio stations requiring information on the continued appropriateness of playing that version of the song,’ CRTC secretary general Robert Morin said in the letter.”

  4. Comment by Tony, 22/01/11, 09:04:

    Elisabeth,

    Firstly I really enjoyed the TED video I watched of you and, as I also work in this field, I look forward to exploring more of your blog.

    Here’s my take on this issue. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in many blog comments to LGBT people who take offense at something they personally deem homophobic. They are exhorted to ‘lighten up’; ‘chill out’; ‘get a life’ etc. The impression is that the modern gay should just laugh and shrug off any reactions of discomfort to song lyrics, blogs or media representation because we are all so cool and liberated now. To protest like an old school activist is now perceived by many as being out of touch, anachronistic and uptight.

    This position really frustrates me. Of course political correctness taken to the extreme is destructive and defeats the point. But the reality is that discrimination against the Eljibiti community is very real and current – even in those North American states where many gay rights have been achieved.

    Being a victim of homophobia – being called a faggot regularly and mercilessly throught from childhood on – is the personal and wounding experience of multitudes of gay men and to discount their pain when they protest against hearing the word in song lyrics over their radio is, in my opinion, cruel and dismissive. So often in the past our protests were met with derision, angry rejection and, perhaps most humiliating, laughter.
    I don’t care to get into the whole debate about the context of the lyrics (how many people ever really understood the context?) or censorship or whatever. My point is that somebody heard the term and was hurt by it. And that person deserves to be heard and respected – regardless of the outcome – not written off as a whiner who got their ‘sensitive soul’ bruised.

  5. Comment by George, 29/01/11, 12:28:

    Irony. Sarcasm. Humour.

    Sorry Tony, you do have to get into the context. Otherwise, how do you deal with someone who says ‘I dislike the term faggot’ – as the song implies?

    Let’s be clear about Political Correctness. It passes for what when I was brought up was called ‘being polite’. The term itself was conjoured by people who found themselves offended that casual racism, sexism and homophobia were becoming unacceptable in everyday speech and behavior. They wanted us to feel their hurt and did so by subverting the language.

    Those of us who are on the side of the angels in this tend to get all the stick. We over-moderate our language and end up in a wordy mess.

    Tony, those who don’t understand the context will forever grind their way through the darker parts of life’s journey, yelling insults as they pass in their vans, Dire Straits blaring out the windows. They may well have happier lives than ours. But we will civilise them. Eventually.

    Hurt. Sarah Palin was ‘hurt’ that she was shown to be a halfwit, and managed to use the ‘hurt’ – some might say revelation – that she felt, to her advantage.

    Tony, we must never be regardless of the outcome.

  6. Comment by Clarisse Thorn, 31/01/11, 12:28:

    I bet you’d like the novel “Remake” by Connie Willis. It’s short!

  7. Comment by MkH, 31/01/11, 06:45:

    Hey, Elizabeth. Are you kin to Dr. Laura?

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