Monday, August 18, 2008

Oh, to be a fly on the wall for these conversations

I don't know which of these conversation I would rather be a witness to:

a) A Parent telling their child that they can't go to see one of the two concluding episodes of the Harry Potter saga because Daniel Radcliffe is naked in it, and that just isn't kosher.

b) Former Christian Rocker Katy Hudson talking to her evangelical pastor parents about the first time she heard her new song on mainstream radio after she changed her name to Katy Perry. I will not link to that song because it is horrific trash, but her parents don't like "I Kissed a Girl" for other, more spiritual reasons.

c) A representative from the NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) being told that a prominent Youtube entertainer with Down Syndrome has called for a boycott of the organization over their own call for a boycott of the movie Tropic Thunder because of the use of the word retard and variations therein.

3 comments:

Megan said...

Item C makes me happy.

Arjan said...

C would be good.
In the US they somehow try to twist and turn to find a word that is in no imaginable way offensive..
But it's just the interpretation from some people or the meaning that a word has gotten over the years that get's people jumpy.

I mean..think about what retardation litteraly means..
This is the same for many more 'conditions'.

MC said...

See, I've always taken the word retarded to mean "socially or culturally retarded" when used as a disparaging term for a trend or another person who is doing something lame. *maybe I'll expand on that tomorrow*