Seattle removes offensive words 'citizen,' 'brown bag' from vocabulary

[Irving Cowboy]

http://now.msn.com/seattle-says-words-citizen-and-brown-bag-could-be-offensive
Seattle removes offensive words 'citizen,' 'brown bag' from vocabulary
1 day ago

Sorry Seattle residents, but citizens are no longer allowed to brown bag it, because city officials have decided that the words "citizen" and "brown bag" are offensive. The Office for Civil Rights has circulated a memo encouraging government employees to stop using those terms. Memo author Elliott Bronstein suggests using "residents," "sack lunch" or "lunch and learn" instead. (Because everyone will start asking co-workers "Are we hitting Subway or did you lunch and learn it today?") Bronstein says that brown bag could be misinterpreted as a reference to skin color, while citizen isn't inclusive enough. "A lot of people who live in Seattle aren't citizens but they are residents," he said. "[Citizens] doesn't include a lot of folks."

J. F. C.

 

[Jon88]

That's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Bluenoser]

What a waste of time and resources.

 

[Iamtdg]

Holy Christ.

 

[2233boys]

That's retarded

 

[JBond]

I posted this story on a political news forum I am part of. MSN ripped this from FOX news. The rest of the story MSN ignored was just as bothersome.
========================================================

Seattle, however, isn't the only city with an eye on potentially disruptive words.

The New York Post reported in March 2012 that the city’s Department of Education avoids references to words like “dinosaurs,” “birthdays,” “Halloween” and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests because they could evoke “unpleasant emotions” among the students.

Dinosaurs, for example, conjures the topic of evolution, which could rile fundamentalists and birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Halloween, meanwhile, suggests an affiliation to Paganism.

Officials said such exclusions are normal procedure, insisting it’s not censorship.

“This is standard language that has been used by test publishers for many years and allows our students to complete practice exams without distraction,” a Department of Education spokeswoman told the newspaper last year.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...nsive-language/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2axCOaFxy

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

I thought this was from the Onion at first.

 

[JBond]

I thought this was from the Onion at first.

Funny, those were my exact words on the other site.

 

[Iamtdg]

People are inherently fucking stupid.

 

[peplaw06]

Those words aren't offensive...

But the headline is misleading.

The Office for Civil Rights has circulated a memo encouraging government employees to stop using those terms.

It's a memo. Not a new law.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

peplaw is a brownbag.

 

[Jon88]

And he's a citizen.

 

[dbair1967]

WTF?

 

[JBond]

This is the quote from the genius that came up with this crap.

"For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people's skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event or to come into a party that was being held in a private home," Bronstein said.

 

[Jon88]

Douchebag

 

[Jon88]

 

[boozeman]

I applaud Seattle's politicians for taking a stand for the hurt feelings of hypersensitive fucktards everywhere.

 

[VTA]

I applaud Seattle's politicians for taking a stand for the hurt feelings of hypersensitive fucktards everywhere.

You fucking citizen. You probably brown bag it too.

 

[dbair1967]

This is the quote from the genius that came up with this crap.

"For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people's skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event or to come into a party that was being held in a private home," Bronstein said.

#Imafuckingretardloser

 

[2233boys]

This is the quote from the genius that came up with this crap.

"For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people's skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event or to come into a party that was being held in a private home," Bronstein said.

Never heard that before. Wow.

I'm off vacation tomorrow and heading back to work after a month. I'm brown bagging it.