Is free speech a thing of the past in England.

[truman]

From The Telegraph " Labour has had a chequered history with blackboards, most notably in the 1980s when several hard-Left London councils banned the word in favour of "chalk boards" as part of a crackdown on "racist" terminology "

 

 

 

Was anyone ever offended by it or was it just a stupid decision by those councils? Do you have the rest of the article?

[altus]

From The Telegraph, " Labour has had a chequered history with blackboards, most notably in the 1980s when several hard-Left London councils banned the word in favour of "chalk boards" as part of a crackdown on "racist" terminology "

Did you not post a link to the article you got that from because it's just a Telegraph columnist putting in a sly unsupported dig a Labour in an article showing Labour in a positive light for investing in new technology in schools? Even if there were "several hard-Left London councils" it's a small minority of the number of councils in London let alone those round the country.

[Flanker7]

It can become akward when you can't discuss things because then resentment can build up. It's like the lady who was called a bigot by Gordon Brown for pointing out that NHS can't cope with immigration. It is because nothing has been put into the infrastructure I think, so house prices go up taking them out of the range of many buyers and taking rents up with them. Parents can't get thier children in at the school they want. People having to wait weeks to see a GP. A&E's that can't cope. If any one mentions that, for some reason unknown to me, they can be called raceist.

 

Your spinning your own reasons into that exchange. Gillian Duffy said a number of things which came across as bigoted including broad sweeping generalisations like the one below. They were the kind statements that we heard regularly from the leavers in the Brexit campaign. Brown should have stuck to his guns and toughed it out.

 

Gillian Duffy:You can’t say anything about the immigrants because you’re saying that you’re… but all these eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?

 

And what are you going to do about students who are coming in then, all this that you have to pay, you’ve scrapped that Gordon.

 

https://metro.co.uk/2010/04/29/gordon-browns-gaffe-a-transcript-of-the-pm-with-bigoted-gillian-duffy-272835/

[Albert smith]

For instance the word gay has been deemed to be some one who now bats for the other side.

I.E. is not in a monogamous relationship as in man and wife the wife in that case being female. ,This is evidence of the English language being used to describe something that is not its original meaning.

The previous description used for folk who were gay??? was poof ,queer or homo words that are now frowned upon if used in everyday conversation , but what is the difference .I.E.Gay was always some one who was a bright and bubbly person ,who dressed flamboyantly and had no association what so ever with the Homosexual folk among us.

I hope this post is taken as an example of what is now a restriction of speech in England and is not in any way meant to be homophobic.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Albert smith

[Guest makapaka]

For instance the word gay has been deemed to be some one who now bats for the other side.

I.E. is not in a monogamous relationship as in man and wife the wife in that case being female. ,This is evidence of the English language being used to describe something that is not its original meaning.

The previous description used for folk who were gay??? was poof ,queer or homo words that are now frowned upon if used in everyday conversation , but what is the difference .I.E.Gay was always some one who was a bright and bubbly person ,who dressed flamboyantly and had no association what so ever with the Homosexual folk among us.

 

What a daft post.

[Albert smith]

What a daft post.

What a smashing reply ,it just goes to prove that free expression is alive and kicking on our forum.

[tinfoilhat]

Here you are, one for you to discuss. A blackboard apparently slights our coloured friends somehow, I have no idea why or how. It's summat you write on in school, period.

 

But here is the rub for sake of argument, the whiteboard is now the old blackboard. But hang on a minute, the term whiteboard offends me because I am white, why has the term whiteboard not been removed. That's just an illustration of how rediculous things have become.

 

Angel1.

 

Are you? Are you really offended? That's sad, now you've made me feel sad.

 

Are black people really offended or is it some white lefty being offended on their behalf?

 

---------- Post added 09-11-2018 at 16:01 ----------

 

Then why are they now called whiteboards and not blackboards.

 

Angel1.

 

Because they are white.

[Top Cats Hat]

 

And your point is -

 

 

My point is that even 40 years ago when Political Correctness was just a twinkle in its parents eyes, the use of the word 'coloured' to describe black people was seen as offensive.

[tinfoilhat]

For instance the word gay has been deemed to be some one who now bats for the other side.

I.E. is not in a monogamous relationship as in man and wife the wife in that case being female. ,This is evidence of the English language being used to describe something that is not its original meaning.

The previous description used for folk who were gay??? was poof ,queer or homo words that are now frowned upon if used in everyday conversation , but what is the difference .I.E.Gay was always some one who was a bright and bubbly person ,who dressed flamboyantly and had no association what so ever with the Homosexual folk among us.

I hope this post is taken as an example of what is now a restriction of speech in England and is not in any way meant to be homophobic.

 

Did anybody ask gay people what they wanted to be called back then?

[altus]

makapaka's right - your post was daft.

 

Let's take this bit:

I.E. is not in a monogamous relationship as in man and wife the wife in that case being female.

Going by that, an unmarried heterosexual man is gay.

 

I.E.Gay was always some one who was a bright and bubbly person ,who dressed flamboyantly and had no association what so ever with the Homosexual folk among us.

 

It's had many meanings over the years. Here's the OED's definitions:

 

• Of persons, their attributes and actions: Full of or disposed to joy and mirth; manifesting or characterized by joyous mirth; light-hearted, exuberantly cheerful, sportive, merry.
  
• Of a horse: Lively, prancing.
  
• With implied sense of depreciation: Airy, off-hand.
  
• In poetry: Applied to women, as a conventional epithet of praise.
  
• the gay science: a rendering of gai saber, the Provençal name for the art of poetry.
  
• Forward, impertinent, too free in conduct, over-familiar;
  
• Of a dog’s tail: carried high or erect.
  
• Addicted to social pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose or immoral life. Esp. in gay dog, a man given to revelling or self-indulgence;
  
• of a woman: Leading an immoral life, living by prostitution.
  
• Of a person: homosexual. Of a place: frequented by homosexuals. slang.
  
• Bright or lively-looking, esp. in colour; brilliant, showy.
  
• Finely or showily dressed.
  
• In immaterial sense: Brilliant, attractive, charming. Formerly also of reasonings, etc.: Specious, plausible.
  
• Brilliantly good; excellent, fine.
  
• ironically.
  
• to have a gay mind: ‘to have a good mind’, to be very much inclined.
  
• Of quantity or amount. Pretty good, ‘tolerable’, ‘middling’.
  
• In good health; well, convalescent.
  
• gay cat U.S. slang, a young or inexperienced tramp; a hobo who accepts occasional work;
  
• gay deceiver,
  (a) a deceitful rake
  (b) slang = falsies
  
• Brightly, showily = gaily
  
• In a gay mood, joyously = gaily
  
• Very. Also in weaker sense: Considerably, ‘pretty’. Frequent in dial. a gay few = a good few
  
• A gay lady. Also, rarely of a man, a ‘gallant’.
  
• 2. a. Anything that looks gay or showy; an ornament; esp. one that is used to amuse a child.
  
• A ‘toy’, childish amusement.
  
• A picture in a book. Now dial. (chiefly used by children).
  
• A homosexual, esp. a male homosexual.
  

(My copy of the OED is quite old now - there are others as well.)

 

As you can see, it wasn't "always some one who was a bright and bubbly person ,who dressed flamboyantly and had no association what so ever with the Homosexual folk among us". Language evolves over time for a wide variety of reasons. This is just another example of it.