politically correct

Odd Pueblo: Snappy or crappy?

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, giant, concrete balls, rolled in a full 50 percent of crappy votes for being silly and annoying. Twenty-nine percent gave them a snappy, 16 percent said snap/crap and a mere 2 percent said they were too busy getting their car out of a ditch after being distracted by the balls to decide.

The latest snappy or crappy happens to carry a similar theme as the giant balls – a Hillary Clinton nutcracker doll.

Hillary Clinton nutcracker doll/AZMouse photo

Loyal reader AZMouse spotted this sweet doll at a Goodwill store in Vail, so it counts as being local. The price tag put the doll at $3.99, although we are sure it is worth much, much more.

Close up of Hillary Clinton nutcracker doll/AZMouse photo

The Hillary Clinton nutcracker doll – and other political caricatures and figurines – are just one more way for Americans to mock authority. Such depictions of our political leaders are demeaning, insulting and crass.

That definitely makes them snappy.

Don’t you just love freedom of speech?

Thanks for sending photo, AZMouse!

[tnipoll]

Close up of Hillary doll label/AZMouse photo

What do you think?

What’s the most tasteless political mockery you’ve seen?

The funniest?

Would you want to be depicted as an action figurine? Please explain.

PC for Halloween? Illegal alien costume causes brouhaha

Before you choose your Halloween costume this year, you better insure it does not offend anyone.

Rendition of controversial costume/Ryn Gargulinski

Such was the case with an illegal alien costume, sold briefly at Target and other retailers – until some folks yelled loud enough for it to be pulled off the market.

The costume isn’t even that great. It features the traditional outer-space alien mask, an orange inmate-like jumpsuit stamped with “Illegal Alien” across the front, and one accessory: a hand-held “Green Card.”

But it pissed off a lot of people nonetheless.

The costume is “distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform,” according to an e-mail sent to Target on Friday from Angelica Salas, executive director for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, as quoted in a story at WTVR.com

Americans for Legal Immigration, or ALIPAC, fought back with a widely distributed news release of its own, encouraging people to buy the thing before it was pulled and boasting that the costume sold out at online retailers before it could be removed.

ALIPAC’s President, William Gheen listed one of the costumes on eBay, the release said, until it, too, was pulled “as they may be offensive to some members.”

Target says it listed the costume by mistake, WTVR reports.

Whatever the case may be, the whole brouhaha makes a sad statement for America: political correctness is now invading Halloween.

Now we just have to sit back and wait.

Wait for fanatical religious groups to cry out about devil and demon costumes and the Satanists to scream about folks who dress as angels.

We’ll also have to stop dressing up as serial killers, as that may make some folks upset, so just you forget about the plastic meat cleavers and hockey masks.

Don’t you dare don that infamous mask of Nixon or any other president, or any other public figure for that matter. You may offend the folks who voted for them.

Get rid of pirates, as they’ve been acting up lately. How dare we perpetuate their pillaging by donning a hook arm and skull bandanna.

Come to think of it, aren’t prostitute and hobo costumes offensive, as those folks may not have freely chosen that lifestyle but have been sucked into it by bad choices and worse luck.

Seems the only thing left to do is pull a sheet over your head and go as a ghost. Unless, of course, that may be offensive to folks who have a negative run-in with those feisty spirits.

While this is written with sarcasm, the whole costume controversy is a real issue that once again helps illustrate the sad state of American affairs.

Political correctness is taking over our lives.

But the saddest fact, by far, is that no one is getting rid of all the clown costumes.

[tnipoll]

What do you think?

Are the illegal alien costumes offensive – or humorous?

Is it an outrage they were even, briefly, for sale?

Should we be mindful of our Halloween costumes to make sure they don’t offend anyone?

Unemployment and death are such ugly words

Every other day another traditional term gets rewritten into something politically correct. Not only is it silly, but it takes the reality out of situations by masking them with flowery language.

People are no longer unemployed, as pointed out by former TC staffer Renee Schafer Horton in the previous post, they are “dislocated workers.”

Folks don’t die, they “pass away,” “proceed to eternal rest,” or “go sit in the palm of Jesus’s hand with angels singing in their ears and flowers strewn beneath their feet.”

No one is short, chunky or ugly, they are “height challenged,” “blessed with ampleness,” or “uniquely featured.” I’m convinced Sears played a big part in the PC movement by calling its jeans for fat kids “husky.”

Black is African American, American Indians are Native Americans, white folk are Caucasian or, as found in some of the most recent questionnaires that include ethnicity, “none of the above.” It makes me laugh every time I have to pick “none of the above.”

Even the term manic depression, which gave rise to a kick-butt Jimi Hendrix tune, has been toned down to be known as “bipolar.”

Some of the terms are wimpy, others are downright annoying.

Or should we say some are “soft-spoken in strength” and “perky with peskiness.”

What PC term makes you cringe when you see it and why?
Has political correctness gone overboard?

"Resting eternally"/Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

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