My eldest sister
is a teacher. She's also just barely young enough to have missed the Summer Of Love and all the rest of the seminal hippie events, but she completely identifies with that group. She's blindingly intelligent, has an acid tongue when she's pissed off and has the brains to back it up. Politically correct to the nth degree, she'll jump down the throat of anyone she hears utter anything even vaguely racist, sexist or any other ist. Needless to say, I was on the receiving end of that a lot as I grew up.

Fortunately I'm a good learner.

Recently she was discussing how her students are typically inner city black teenage girls, some of whom are exceptionally smart and are aiming for higher education and professions. Her advice to them? "Don't let any guys sweet talk you into sex. Boys are dumb, just remember that- they all think with their penises."

"That's a remarkably sexist thing to say," I commented.

"No it isn't, it's true! Boys think about nothing but sex!"

"And girls think about nothing but clothing and makeup and get thoroughly irrational every twenty-eight days."

Much snarkiness ensued.

One of my sons was dating a girl with rather deep religious convictions- at least she did superficially. A good Southern Baptist girl who attended church all the time and said the appropriate words, but it clearly never really sunk into her what Christianity is all about. My sister referred to her as "that little Baptist girl" in a somewhat disparaging way.

One day the subject came up of how a study was done that showed that praying over someone in the hospital was more likely to result in the patient dying than if no prayers were uttered at all. My sister's observation (which I agree with) was that if you're being prayed over, your condition must be serious- and therefore you're more likely to give up.

"I can see that," I commented. "Imagine being in the Middle East and waking up to-" and I let out a wild ululation.

She glared at me coldly. "You know, we suspended a student not long ago for making fun of the way Muslims pray."

"Really? But it's okay to mock Baptists and Catholics?"

More snarkiness ensued.

And this is why, dear readers, the Resident Loon has such a politically incorrect sense of humor.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 19 Feb 2009, 17:56, 12 replies)

Superb stuff
You're absolutely right on all counts. I applaud your efforts in trying to show your sibling that she appears to be only selectively right on.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 19 Feb 2009, 17:59, closed)

Oh, it gets better, believe me!
When her daughter was about five, she wanted a My Size Barbie. My sister went to the store to get one, but was so put off by the blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes that she got the black version instead, with dark skin and brown eyes. She was strutting a little as she told of this, and I commented, "That was rather racist of you. Why is the color of her skin and eyes important to you?"

She may still be mad at me for that one.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 19 Feb 2009, 18:03, closed)

Yep - pure racism
Making a decision based on race.

Affirmative action or whatever you choose to call it, is as racist as the Klan, albeit with more defensible motivation.

Over here jobs in local government have quotas of disabled/homosexual/whatever employees that must be adhered to - regardless of the competence and suitablilty of said disabled/homosexual/whatever employees.

It's political correctness GONE MAD, I tell you!
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 23 Feb 2009, 13:39, closed)

Mr Loon
Having met you once briefly I am laughing very hard at the image of your wild uluation.

*click*
( djtrialprice, Thu 19 Feb 2009, 22:19, closed)

It was a pretty good howl.
In truth the only reason I did it was because I knew how she would react and was taking the opportunity to poke at her a little. And sure enough, she bit hard.

The thing that makes it funny is that she's a rabid atheist and is very critical of religious types in private, and has been known to strike a dramatic pose and thunder mock gospel in the manner of Chuck Heston when describing going to church with someone she knew. She has considerable contempt for Christian fundies- which I tend to share- but snarls if anyone makes a joke about any other religion, because it's Not Politically Correct and Might Be Offensive To Someone.

If she wishes to be politically correct, that's fine. Just be consistent with it. Don't get all high and mighty with me when you've been making cutting remarks about white Christian males, because if those same comments had been made about any other group there would have been embassies burned amid harpy screeches and day-long harangues. I have explained this to her repeatedly, but she can't see her own double standards.

Hence me needling her whenever I get the chance.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 19 Feb 2009, 22:31, closed)

My sister-in-law
Is the absolute spitting image of "Millie Tant" as portrayed in Viz (apart from the lesbianism, she's married to my bro and has sprogged 4 times) including the so-right-on-it's-nearly-off-the-map political attitudes.

She nearly blew her brain out like Millie at the last big family get-together. I played "special Ed, special olympics, grandfather die" etc while she was being told what South Africa is and was actually like, as opposed to what her hand-knitted-organic-tofu-wearing friends had surmised from what they'd read - by a white South African who was schooled there (in a mixed race school) and spoke three of the native languages.

White, middle-class activists piss me off.
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Fri 20 Feb 2009, 0:05, closed)

I think you're missing something here
"snarls if anyone makes a joke about any other religion, because it's Not Politically Correct and Might Be Offensive To Someone"

The point is, a lot of time when people are attacking what-they-say-is-Islam, what they're actually doing is attacking people for being weird foreign-looking darkies - not just for holding silly religious beliefs.

I know, from reading your posts on B3TA over years, that you're not doing that. But a huge proportion of attacks on 'Islam' in mainstream US (and European, to a slightly lesser extent) culture, from Matt & Tre all the way down into the vilest recesses of right-wing blogging and email forwards, are. And so it's hardly surprising that that criticism is perceived differently from someone like you or I who's culturally Christian (despite being actually atheist in both cases) criticising Christianity.

As a white person of Christian descent, you have more leeway to be offensive against white people of Christian descent and not be misunderstood as a bigot than you have leeway to be offensive against non-white people not of Christian descent...
(stalinism, Tue 24 Feb 2009, 17:25, closed)

Bloody brilliant
Help yourself to a click.
(_(_(_(_(_(_(_(_(_ =o.o=, Fri 20 Feb 2009, 17:47, closed)

To be fair
How many Baptists or Catholics strap on Semtex waistcoats when they get pissed off? Equality of treatment or not, when the result of mocking one particular group is a welter of dismembered limbs and gore, it makes it rather an iffy proposition to mock that group.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Sat 21 Feb 2009, 17:44, closed)

There is fucked up Christian Stuff too though...
Papal-sanctioned Catholic child-abuse cover-ups

Westboro Baptist Church's antics

Crusades

etc...
(tubeman trousers, Sat 21 Feb 2009, 23:29, closed)

Is? Present tense?
The Crusades are still going on, then?

Pedantry aside, yes, while the Catholic Church may require its employees to fuck children as a condition of employment, to the best of my knowledge it doesn't encourage its audience members, er, I mean congregation, to go out in rush hour and detonate a backpack full of C4 just because someone called one of them a bad name.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Sun 22 Feb 2009, 14:32, closed)

...so pretty much like Islam then?
Clue: four nutcases != a religion.
(stalinism, Tue 24 Feb 2009, 17:20, closed)