Most recent to catch my eye were articles written about Arnold Schwartenegger and his "girlie man" speech (in which he also used a statement encouraging people to go to the polls and vote to "terminate" the opposition).
"I'm going to TERMINATE my political career"
It's always a refreshing breath of democracy when an office holding human can cut the bullshit, uptight, stick in the ass crap that seems to so often come with the position they've been elected to and have a more laid-back approachable aire about them.
This only really works though if you're not an ex-movie star quoting over used pop culture lines from movies you did 25 years ago. Or also in this case, quotes used in parody of you on SNL. I'm a huge geek with questionable social abilities but even I know that's fucking lame. But this isn't even
at ALL what he's getting shit about!
No mention of how uncalled for or immature or really just flat out inappropriate using the phrases are. Nope. No mention. Oh but here's what they DO come up with…..
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…." the governor used the "girlie-man" reference twice in the span of a 16- minute speech aimed at pressuring the Legislature to pass his budget, now 17 days late. The remark is an apparent reference to an old Saturday Night Live skit parodying Schwarzenegger. Comedians Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played "pumped up" bodybuilders -- Hans and Franz -- with thick Austrian accents. Anyone without a muscled torso was dismissed as a "girlie-man."
Having used his charisma and celebrity to build relationships with lawmakers over the past eight months, the governor is adopting a combative new tone. He said he would strive to oust Democratic lawmakers who vote against his budget.
"I want each and every one of you to go the polls on Nov. 2nd," he said Saturday. "That will be judgment day. I want you to go to the polls. ... You are the terminators, yes!''
The governor's pugnacious turn raised objections Saturday, with the "girlie-man" reference becoming the focus.
"It's really painful to hear the governor resort to such blatant homophobia," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who chairs the Senate's Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee. "It's an old-fashioned way of talking about gay men as to indicate they're not as strong. So that part is really painful. And I have to say it's really surprising. It's like he can't get his way so he resorts to some kind of name-calling."
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What the FUCK!?!? How in god's name do you come up with homophobia from a throw-back statement to a bodybuilding skit on classic SNL????(Albeit completely rediculous) Other statements accuse his speech as being sexist and derogatory towards women. No, you fucktards, you're giving him too much credit, he's just an idiot.
I'm totally in sync with PC terms that deem language, with negative -or other fucked up historical connotations- inappropriate, however…as much as I'd like to sidestep racial PC altogether, that's just not me And it's situations like this that have me totally confused and annoyed about PC terms.
If someone is black I say "the black guy". If they're white " the white guy'. How is this offensive to ANYONE? I've heard the arguments for "it's not nice to define people by the way they look."
WHAT??? What if I don't know the guys name? If I want to refer to the black guy in the room, I'm not going to discribe him as "the guy with the dark hair. No, no, he has dark eyes and sometimes he wears that cool green shirt…" No offence, but I live in Oregon, he's probably the only black guy in the room and it would save me a lot of time if you would just shut the hell up and let me say black guy.
Because he's black. Get over it! Though if I'm following those PC rules , technically I couldn't say anything about his hair or eyes either.... "what's his name, you know the guy that sits in the back with the great personality and peaceful aura about him". And it's not like anyone's going to call you the spikey-brownhaired- white guy after they know your name.
Ok so, for the moment, being the PC people we are, we should say African-American, Mexican-American, Asian-American etc. But what if your family's not from Africa (or Mexico etc)? I mean, ok, if you go back far enough we're ALL from Africa but what then if you're not American? Mexican-Canadian? Asian-British? And so if you're black and a dual citizen you're really screwed!! AfroColumbiAustralian? Shit. I get a stress ulcer just thinking about it.
Come to think of it that's an interesting thought….. is PC only a language spoken in the US? Something that incredibly confusing, time-consuming and pointless? That would make sense.
Look, now I'm all riled up. Curse you Girlie Man Schwartzenegger!
PS-If you don't believe me check out this link that has some funny (in a very, very sad way) collection of top No-no phrases.... such as "flip chart", "brainstorm" and "black coffee" (WHAT?!?!?!?!)
http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html
