PC Nursery Rhymes, coming to a school near you.....

[Trojanfarce]

...so now we have Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep as the original is deemed to be too offensive. This, coupled with story about the antique dealer being arrested in Hereford for selling antique G*llyW*gs, just makes me soooooo proud to be British. I gotta emigrate

[sp1814]

Trojanface - I've just reread my post to you and it reads overly aggressive and I didn't mean it to.

My point is that things simply change...you wouldn't sing 'Ten Little N***ers' to your child sitting on a bus, because it's just not acceptable and you know it would give offence.

The story about Baa Baa Black Sheep angers me because it came up about 18 years back (around about the time when the GLC were accused of banning 'blackboards' - which was, by the way, completely fabricated).

Simply put - if people start believing that black people are offended by the word 'black', then it just overly complicates things for the white population.

Believe me - this is a bogus story. Just because someone has taken it upon themselves to create the ban, it doesn't mean that anyone else is going to support it. Remember, we live in a diverse society where people are alllowed to be stupid. Some of these stupid people work for local authorities and educational establishments...this is how these stories come about.

[bill barlow]

Supernick, sp1814 etc.....................I fail to see how you can say the PC Brigade does not really exist.

Explain to me why the Police confisgated 3 *********?? That is an undeniable fact. Explain why or say it does not exist and let it continue and flourish.

[bill barlow]

That said G**ll8***............................and it was f**c8ing edited!!!!

[WaldoMcFroog]

Where is the constitution for PC people? Where do they join? What is their manifesto?

There is no such group who would identify themselves as the PC brigade, there are only people who are described as such by others (typically of a more right-wing persuasion).

It is a myth, a scam, an illusion; this parrot is imaginary.

[sp1814]

Bill

I honestly can't work out why those policemen would confiscate those toys. To me, they're mildly offensive (because of what they represent), in the same way that the Black And White Minstrel Show was, but they're just so...so...in the past.

My point is that in my day to day dealings with people, PC is just not an issue. I work with people in their 20s and 30s who simply aren't brought up wanting to give offence - it's just not in our vocabulary.

The problem as I see it is that these extreme stories are published and everyone takes them as 'the norm'. They're not the norm - if they were, they wouldn't make such big stories.

By all means, shout if you feel that PC is encroaching on your daily life, but shout even louder when you hear/see examples of real racism, sexism and homophobia.

[Trojanfarce]

SP, don't worry, I didn't take any sort of offence as I quite agree with you on there being many things that needed to be eradicated for being out of date and out of context for this day and age.

I guess what I'm trying to get at though, is not so much that we were and continue to be brought up on nursery rhymes, it's just seems to me that it another example of interfering busybodies doing there best to erode what is harmlessly traditional.

Nox, Supernick and SP - thanks for giving me another angle to come at this from.

[ludwig]

It's a relief to know the PC brigade don't actually exist. I for one was convinced it was a formal organisation with a rule book, membership cards, and a secret handshake like the masons. I could have sworn they hold regular meetings to discuss what things to ban next. Thanks for putting me straight on that guys, I'll sleep easier now.

[sp1814]

Another point actually - Baa Baa Black Sheep isn't offensive, because at no point in the rhyme is the sheep in question denegrated. If the rhyme went:

Baa baa black sheep / I conclude that your wool is inferior / To wool from a white sheep

then I could see the point...but it doesn't.

Unless of course, there's a second verse to that rhyme that I've never heard.

[mullein3]

All this is absoloutely stupid..what are things coming to? baba rainbow sheep sounds even more stupid!! I have started to wonder what colour i am as my skin isnt as white as say a cotton sheet ..my arms are an ivory colour.."left over suntan "from last summer..and even if i never went in the sun i wouldnt be white..my husband is black well thats what he has to say he is in fact he is a yellowy brown..and he thinks all these stupid things are a laugh..they dont offend him at all...what does offend him is being stereo typed which also offends me...

[sp1814]

Also, 'baa baa rainbow sheep' doesn't scan properly.

[stoo_pid]

The suggested change has nothing to do with race or use of the colour black being offensive to black people. In fact they still sing Baa Baa Black Sheep.

The Sure Start centres in Ofxord & Abingdon are run by the charity PACT (Parents and Children Together). The idea is to turn the song into an action rhyme. In addition to "Black" sheep they also sing "Happy", "Sad", Bouncing", "Hopping", "Pink", "Blue", "White", etc.

An insider at the Daily Express was quoted as saying "our readers have a right to know what the ever-elusive PC Brigade are up to and we'll be damned if we're going to let facts get in the way of a good front-page headline"

Read the truth

[smudge]

On the way to Hemel Hempstead yesterday, our little Granddaughter was sitting in the back of the car happily singing 'Baa baa black sheep......' it made us smile, especially after hearing about this story only half an hour before!

I ask you 'Baa baa rainbow sheep......'

[CT]

Anyone ever seen a rainbow sheep for real?

[stoo_pid]

Baaaa!

[smudge]

No that can't be right stoo_pid, I bet Joseph just found somewhere to park his coat?!!

[GMH]

The chances are if you're bald headed and accident prone, then Humpty Dumpty isn't exactly going to be your favourite nursery rhyme...

Let's see - Three Blind Mice is offensive to people who have lost their sight; This Little Piggy Went To Market is ofensive to Muslims (as well as those who suffer from bladder incontinence), and of course Little Miss Muffett is offensive to people with a phobia of spiders.

It wouldn't surprise me if nursery rhymes came with a government health warning in the not too distant future!

[kipchik]

Well my kids sing baa baa black sheep,I have a ******** that i've had since i was a girl and i'm not changing my views on him for no one!

[kipchik]

What a joke,the above *********** is actually saying G**LLYW*g!

[Hgrove]

15-odd years ago the papers ran a story that it was going to be Baa Baa Green sheep; it was not true, and I am not inclined to believe the rainbow version any more, I do not always believe what the newspapers say because they have to be sensational to sell after all.