Renault on 10/1/2017 at 21:38

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What's a womble anyway? Is it a British thing?

PigLick on 10/1/2017 at 22:04

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Wombles of Wimbledon, ah memories

heywood on 10/1/2017 at 23:25

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I don’t really know what the right wing propaganda machines are doing.

I’m mostly observing it in social circles, from some of my friends and coworkers, at kids birthday parties, etc. And from left wing bloggers. And it tends to run through the comments sections of Democrat-leaning media sites. I’m also hearing a lot in the local news. In the Boston/New England area we’ve had a string of controversies and protests in secondary schools, colleges, and universities where the -ism card gets way overplayed and some good administrators and student leaders who aren’t any kind of bigot get trashed with charged language on social media and in the community, because of some administrative or disciplinary decision that some whiny student didn’t like. We’ve also had local political scandals involving black and latino politicians, where the pol and his or her supporters use race baiting to divert attention from their scandal, stir up the community, or discredit a prosecutor or ethics office. There’s been a rise in accusations of racism by black public sector employees (cops, firefighters, etc.) who are sore they didn’t get a promotion, although some of those accusations do have merit so you can’t dismiss everything. It’s just getting harder to take every accusation of racism as seriously as we used to when the charge is thrown around so cheaply.

This year was especially bad because of the election. It really got under my skin right after the election when the left media tried to pin the white supremacist label on Trump and Bannon and anyone associated with the “alt-right” or right populism, as well as trying to attribute a lot of his populist appeal to what they assumed was white supremacist sentiment among voters. Even the mainstream media picked it up and ran with it for a few weeks. To me, that crossed a line into being dangerous, because by associating Trump and his administration with white supremacists, it legitimizes the real white supremacists. We had people like David Duke and Jared Taylor getting some air time as if they were part of a mainstream political movement.

Kolya on 11/1/2017 at 07:39

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Personally I think that political correctness is a tool meant to keep dumb people in check, but it's a two sided sword because it cuts into our own freedom as well. And that becomes most visible when it is directed at the arts.
Once we cleared them of everything dubious and indecent there won't be much left, as overstepping lines is what good art should do.
Was it dubious to allude to sexual slavery in a scifi adventure movie? Of course! But it was also awesome because it went completely over the kids heads and provided parents gratification.
Was it sexist? Maybe. But sometimes a bit of sexism is fun when it isn't actually hurting anyone, like any taboo is fascinating. By slamming every harmless instance of it with the sledge hammer of political correctness you're not beating it, you're just making it stronger, because evil is in all of us.

Kolya on 11/1/2017 at 11:04

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Yes, some people may feel undervalued. But that is at least partly a personal problem, since there are lots of ways to get your self worth besides being considered sexually attractive by everyone. Ask some old people. Or some fun people.
Calling a bit of gratuitous nudity unacceptable won't make the people who like nudity value your personality. You'll just be considered fat AND a killjoy.
There are worrying trends in advertisement and fashion to unhealthily thin bodies but it's not easy to point out a scapegoat because that image is largely created by female competition. Most men don't even like it.
Fat bottomed girls make the rocking world go round because they're twice as fun. Not because they whine about skinny girls in the movies.