The Ship Titanic and Political Correctness: Both Off Course
Has political correctness gone off course? When it first set out, it appeared like a lighthouse guiding us on a course towards sensitive speech, but things went awry when it was boarded by special interest groups. At once, they put all sheets to the wind while altering course away from sensitive speech towards ‘unindictable speech’. Banning unpopular speech is a common tactic used to effect social pressure on masses of people.
Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
— Neal Boortz
Perhaps we ought to look at the problem through simpler eyes, in this case my camper aged eyes as I attended a local day camp one summer around the age of 5. We used to sing a song, I liked this one especially:
“Oh they built the ship Titanic / To sail the ocean blue / and they thought they had a ship / that the water wouldn’t go through / … / But Uncles and Aunts / Little girls/boys lost their pants / It was sad when the great ship went down.”
When we got the “uncles and aunts little…” the girls would yell “boys!” and the boys would yell “girls!” making a cacophony of “girls/boys! lost their pants”. When we were done singing it, we laughed about how we had made the people’s pants ‘fall down’ and we moved on. We weren’t emotionally scarred. However, one day, someone or something was worried that we would be.
By the time I was a counsellor in training (age 14, some 9 years later) the song had changed yet the camp remained the same.
(For the politically sensitive, please avert your eyes way from the cover of Led Zeppelin III, the album this song is from. It won’t end well for you.)
“Oh, they built the ship Titanic / To sail the ocean blue / and they thought they had a ship / that the water wouldn’t go through / but husbands and wives / little kids lost their lives (?!) / it was sad when the great ship went down”
(?! – added J )
I remember scratching my head over that one as we practiced the songs as counsellors before the campers arrived. Was this sort of a case of “something lost and something gained?” We had lost the innocence of casually being able to talk about a tushy. Had we gained healthier children? well certainly the health of those on the Titanic wasn’t great; The song says so.
It’s not the first time we’ve sung gruesome things to children, just carefully veiled in a pleasant melody:
Rock a bye baby, on the tree top?
Need I continue? I do?
“And down will come cradle, baby and all(?!)”
( (“)!” added J )
Perhaps we sing such songs to lull the baby to sleep while conditioning the future adult for the harshness of the world? Was the composer a pessimist who was attempting a soft sell for the children’s future while lulling them with pleasant music?
But seriously, or semi seriously at least; Where does this end? You see if you don’t play the politically correct game you are instantly labelled a troglodyte lurking in a cavern of old antiquated words, idioms and ideas.
If anyone dares mount the argument: “but can’t we just take the document/speech/quote/anthem(?!) in context of the time it was written?” There are great works on the use of the Merchant of Venice in public schools along these lines. But often the political correct accuse non conformant people of being too lax, allowing of everything and anything.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
I have proof from camp. Back to age 5. Remember we’re still singing “little children lost their pants” here when we sing “The Ship Titanic” but I assure you we had standards. When senior counsellor Jamie decided to teach his troop of around 8 year old’s the following song, a line had been crossed. This song was sung every time another camp troop was chanced upon.
“Ooh me, ooh my! You ain’t got no alibi! You’re ugly, I’ve seen your Mother! She’s ugly too!”
It wasn’t long when angry mothers started calling in protesting Jamie’s unflattering assessment of their appearance. The Junior Counsellor of the troop was suddenly promoted and we saw Jamie no more. Looking back, I think that sacking him was a bit harsh — a strong warning ought to have done it — but as I recall, Jamie had more problems than song lyrics.
I think Political Correctness is just a debate tactic painted large across society. In debating it’s commonly known that:
If you control the language, you control the argument
If you control the argument, you control information
If you control information, you control history
If you control history, you control the past
He who controls the past controls the future.” – Big Brother,1984
Is it a sin to quote someone who isn’t Politically Correct? In case it is, I apologize for Wells’ use of “he” instead of “one” or “he/she”.
I needn’t waste brain power concluding this article when my own Canadian Government, reaching for the highest star in Political Correctness, has altered its National Anthem accordingly and provided me a perfect conclusion:
The House voted 225-74 in support of a bill by terminally ill MP Mauril Bélanger that will change the line “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.” Bélanger was present for the vote, which will send the bill to the Senate for debate and committee study. The Senate may not deal with it until Parliament returns from its summer recess.
— http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/dying-mp-present-as-house-votes-225-74-to-change-o-canada-1.2947565
The grammatical ‘Ginsu’ of Political Correctness has minced our anthem. “Oh, Canada” and the world, what will fall victim next?
