Calling pedants, teachers, wordsmiths and class warriors.

[shylock]

I have a question.

The car-as-status-symbol thing drives me nuts. What does it show about anyone what car they drive?

I like a nice big comfortable car for long journeys and a nice small zippy one for easy parking in big cities. Even better - I like living (like I do now) with a bus or tram stop bang outside my front door and can zip around town much more quickly than in a car.

How marvellous it must be to have such a perfect life Anna! Do you actually realise how smug and condescending your posts come across?

Better to be contented than bitter and twisted than lots of posters.

sorry, "like lots of posters".

Anna - can you please explain the downgrading of beauty : political correctness relationship? (or point me to where i may have missed it below?)

I'm not sure anyone here comes accross as bitter and twisted!!We'd gathered though that you are very content with your lot!

Actually some of us are happy in our slummy houses with our ugly DHs speaking lazy accented English.
Perfection is not the same as flawlessness.

Anna has just accused blackandwhitecat of not reading very much on the comps thread. This would be the same bandwcat who has posted some of the most thoughtful eloquent posts on the thread then. Sigh.

Wait, so 'smug and condescending' means 'contented', but 'wanting some explanation of theoretically scientific assertions' means 'bitter and twisted'?

Glad to hear it Mrs Badger, there was I thinking you might be one of the "bitter and twisted" ones

Comps thread? Link please?

Comps thread

Blu - I did give references to books that I find explain the issue quite clearly.

To resume: "political correctness" discredits value judgement. Children brought up in an atmosphere of political correctness, where it is considered bad form to say that one thing is better/more beautiful etc than another have their senses warped rather than honed. They grow up not knowing the value of things and cannot appreciate beauty, which is great hindrance to happiness.

WTF?

What definition of 'political correctness' are you working from Anna?

I'm not sure that political correctness stops anyone saying one thing is better or more beautiful than another.

I always understood it to mean not saying that one person is better or more beautiful than another, thus encouraging the belief that every person is of value.

Which, of course, is a belief that you may disgaree with.

So if being PC is a great hindrance to happiness, then it would presumably be so much better if we were all racist bigots, beacuse then at least our children would grow up to appreciate beauty. I am speechless.

have you ever come across artists like antoni tapies or louise bourgeois or christian boltanski

anna8888

Thank you for the summary - i do not have a copy of the refs you cite to hand.

Interesting - but I would have a completely different understanding of politicl correctness.

I think there is something in so much unqualified praise for children's work that they fail to develop a discriminatory faciliyt - ir that it undermines the fact that they know that some things they do are better than others (I think that is a pillar of montessori teaching - that teachers do not offere critical feedback of work on the grounds of it being 'good' but allow children to make thier own judgement).

But I would be surprised if this so-called political correctness was really having such an effect on children in the way described. The context of value judgements on one piece of music being better than another, for examplae are strong, the arts are teeming with awards and prizes, from Turner to Booker via the Baftas...until I read the books you refer to i think i will still suspect that consumer desirability is more persuasive in distorting value on aesthetic gorunds than political correctness.

Blu - what is your understanding of the term political correctness?

I'll give a very basic example of political correctness that distorts children's perception of beauty.

It is considered bad form in the UK by many adults to point out that being overweight is ugly. So children (who when small naturally point out that people are fat) "learn" that we shouldn't "discriminate" on those grounds. And they grow up with a distorted image of what a normal healthy body looks like because they haven't been allowed to express their natural gut instinct about it.

So would you say that the "ideal" body shape promulgated by the fashion industry is a "true" reflection of beauty?

The relationship between body mass and beauty has altered many times throughout history. There is nothing absolute about it in the slightest.

I personally would say that bad manners in mentioning someone's weight was as far better descriptor of ugliness.

And to agree with Blu, media, advertising and consumerism are far more persuasive influences on what is perceived to be the 'perfect' body shape that political correctness is.

it's only recently that skinny is thought beautiful..this is an association with wealth and choice in the uk

in countriers where thin is the norm then fat is a reflection of wealth to a greater extent

these ideas have got confused

history of art is interesting in this changing concept of a beautiful body

Small children also point out people who are a different colour to them, tall, short, in a wheelchair etc.
Children learn that it's not polite to point out any of these things in public.
Being fat, tall, short or in a wheelchair doesn't make the person worthless, or, indeed 'ugly'.

At least, not in my slummy world. Your views may differ.