Am I the only person depressed by the number of comments with gender or racial stereotypes in them?

[AJB Temple]

Every now and again you come across a teacup with a storm going on inside it.

Usually there is a bystander wielding the spoon that started it all, accompanied by a chief stirrer who professes ignorance of the terminology in use. We have all of this here.

 

[D_W]

And the father is usually black, the mother white. Not very PC the other way around.

Wait, what? I tried when I was younger but couldn't ever generate any female interest. What wasn't PC about that? It wasn't a PC move, though. My motto was, I'm looking for a shape - don't care about color. (I'm not sure if you could say that now because if you prefer a certain shape, you're discriminating against people who aren't that shape?).

Sooner or later, it will be unacceptable to be attracted to anyone because it disadvantages people you're not attracted to, and we will be told about the ethical sacrifice of choosing a partner we don't find particularly attractive to overcome the discrimination of thinking certain ladies are pretty.

 

[Spectric]

suggesting that women are better suited to a particular job

The one that springs to mind is getting pregnant and having a baby or two. You can only blame mother nature for some of these issues, physically men used to be heavier built and more capable of manual work, nothings changed except we have automation and power tools so yes woman can now do most jobs men do and thank god we no longer rely on manual labour because the male race is getting more feable and not only becoming more female, but actually wanting to be female.

 

[Jacob]

Every now and again you come across a teacup with a storm going on inside it.

Usually there is a bystander wielding the spoon that started it all, accompanied by a chief stirrer who professes ignorance of the terminology in use. We have all of this here.

You mean me?
No I really didn't know what "Woke" was about. I do now. I'm all for it! Wake up everybody!

 

[Spectric]

No I really didn't know what "Woke" was about. I do now. I'm all for it! Wake up everybody!

Is that just some more male cow excrement someone has come up with to explain something that did not exist in the first place? In engineering you can have pass/fail and in life you have normal, the norm and abnormal, something which has gone wrong and nolonger fits within one of natures categories so we create a new category that has absolutely no rhyme or reason other than to make the abnormal feel it belongs.

 

[RobinBHM]

Is that just some more male cow excrement someone has come up with to explain something that did not exist in the first place? In engineering you can have pass/fail and in life you have normal, the norm and abnormal, something which has gone wrong and nolonger fits within one of natures categories so we create a new category that has absolutely no rhyme or reason other than to make the abnormal feel it belongs.

The pronoun you are looking for is "they"

 

[woodieallen]

I find it hard to argue with this, which is taken from a Facebook post wrongly attributed to Ron Howard.

I agree with that. But too many people take offence when it's not directed at them. Isn't that equally wrong?

 

[Spectric]

Ok as no one has defined Woke, so what is wrong with just saying " that guy is aware of social and racial justice" rather than saying that guy is woke! sounds bloody stupid and is another case of lazyness amongst the young who want to reduce sentences to one word.

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term that refers to awareness of issues that concern social justice and racial justice. ... In March 2021, the periodical Les Echos described the English word woke as among words adopted by the younger generation in France, that it believes to indicate a "societal turning point" there.

 

[John Brown]

I agree with that. But too many people take offence when it's not directed at them. Isn't that equally wrong?

I have no idea what that means. If people.sincerely take offence when it's not directed at them, then yes, that's wrong, but are you suggesting that they're doing it on purpose? I don't understand what point you are making.
I'm 68. My three stepdaughters refer to me as "woke" sometimes. I take it as a compliment. I think it means that I'm not a bigoted ******* who says "I've called them queers/darkies/chinks all my life and I'm not about to change my ways now".
But the people who do think like that are never going to even be receptive to the suggestion that their terminology might offend, let alone actually change. So I'm stirring up electrons to no useful purpose.

 

[John Brown]

Interesting censorship there. Only the @sshole word is deemed offensive...

 

[thetyreman]

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I am, by default, very defensive when it comes to people telling me how to think. I don't like it.

That being said, I'm not a fan of people being rude. Alf Garnet isn't my idea of a good laugh for that reason. I also didn't get the video posted earlier about Top Gear presenters - it just seemed agressive and unpleasant, although the comedian seemed to be very pleased with his thinking. However, as has been expressed by many, there is a constant fear of saying the wrong thing, or worse - thinking the wrong thing. When it comes to jokes, sometimes the very wrongness of the thought is what makes it funny. A joke is a story with two narratives, but the second narrative is the suprise - the twist that was unexpected. Sometimes the twist is forbidden thinking, which is why racists, bigoted, etc jokes work. If it wasn't funny, they wouldn't be jokes, and if it wasn't forbidden thinking, they wouldn't be funny.

As more and more thoughts become forbidden, more and more inappropriate jokes will be created from the very censorship the thought - police are trying to impose.

 

[pidgeonpost]

Meanwhile, elsewhere on a woodworking forum someone talks about wood.

I think I'll go over there and leave you all to get angry about whatever it is you're getting angry about.

Yes, feeling the same way myself. It seems that just about any thread on UK Workshop is capable of being hijacked and turned into a combat zone. Seriously thinking of heading off elsewhere.
And before someone tells me 'Well you don't have to read it', it's true, I don't, but all too often a thread that is helpful, informative, or interesting just turns into a slanging match.

 

[Chris152]

If people.sincerely take offence when it's not directed at them, then yes, that's wrong, but are you suggesting that they're doing it on purpose?

I disagree, tho 'taking offence' may be the wrong words. If we see a wrong being visited on someone else, are we supposed to turn a blind eye, or are we right to take an interest and speak/ act accordingly? It's a pretty grim view of our society if the former's the case, I'd think.

Which sort of leads to your point, pidgeonpost - at least as I see it. I find it hard to ignore things that strike me as important, and as being wrong, based in all kinds of misunderstanding/ prejudice/ laziness/ whatever. And yes, some threads seem to degrade to such a low level of exchange that it's hard to even look at them. I guess the best thing that can be said for those threads is that they give an interesting insight into how some people think. But I agree, some of this stuff casts a nasty shadow over the whole forum.

 

[Jacob]

Ok as no one has defined Woke, so what is wrong with just saying " that guy is aware of social and racial justice" rather than saying that guy is woke! sounds bloody stupid and is another case of lazyness amongst the young who want to reduce sentences to one word.

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term that refers to awareness of issues that concern social justice and racial justice. ... In March 2021, the periodical Les Echos described the English word woke as among words adopted by the younger generation in France, that it believes to indicate a "societal turning point" there.

It's just a bit of harmless slang, like "trendy" or "far out". Interesting that it worries so many people. Maybe that's just the first step in becoming "woke"?

 

[Daniel2]

It is interesting that what is essentially a complimentary term,
has morphed into an insult.

 

[Jacob]

I am, by default, very defensive when it comes to people telling me how to think. I don't like it.

You are fairly belligerent yourself

That being said, I'm not a fan of people being rude. Alf Garnet isn't my idea of a good laugh for that reason.

Well yes it is cringe making now - people ARE more "woke" nowadays, whether they like it or not.
It was very clever satire in its day and was an awakener in itself. But some didn't get it and thought he was just a normal decent chap surrounded by an id iot family!

As more and more thoughts become forbidden, more and more inappropriate jokes will be created from the very censorship the thought - police are trying to impose.

Boys will be boys!

 

[Jacob]

It is interesting that what is essentially a complimentary term,
has morphed into an insult.

Not an effective insult however.
May be intended as an insult by some but no matter how much they bang on about it, could still be accepted as a compliment by others!

 

[John Brown]

I disagree, tho 'taking offence' may be the wrong words. If we see a wrong being visited on someone else, are we supposed to turn a blind eye, or are we right to take an interest and speak/ act accordingly? It's a pretty grim view of our society if the former's the case, I'd think.

Which sort of leads to your point, pidgeonpost - at least as I see it. I find it hard to ignore things that strike me as important, and as being wrong, based in all kinds of misunderstanding/ prejudice/ laziness/ whatever. And yes, some threads seem to degrade to such a low level of exchange that it's hard to even look at them. I guess the best thing that can be said for those threads is that they give an interesting insight into how some people think. But I agree, some of this stuff casts a nasty shadow over the whole forum.

Once again, I'm not sure what it is you're disagreeing with.
But to get back to the original question, I find a lot of the jokes to be totally unfunny. Most I've seen before, which is inevitable when you reach a certain age. Some I find slightly offensive, but I don't get depressed about it.
I personally don't think any subject is off limits, joke wise, as long as it's funny, but that's highly subjective, I know.
There appear to be a few forum members with whom I would not relish a visit to the pub, and I am certain the feeling is reciprocated, but when I ask some dumb question about wood work, the same people are helpful, kind and polite.
I am slowly getting better at keeping out of these threads. I only jumped into this one because I genuinely agree with the quote I cut and pasted, in that if you find out that a term you use hurts someone, how the heck does it hurt you to change your terminology?

 

[Chris152]

Once again, I'm not sure what it is you're disagreeing with.

The bit I quoted, and for the reason I gave.