Still naming Europe a "continent" is Politically inCorrect backwardsness.

Read the basic definition of "continent" and look at a map of Earth. A small child able to count should be able to see the truth: There are only 6 continents*. Yet in schools they still teach us that "Europe" is its own distinct "continent". If you beg for where the idea comes from then references as far back as ancient Greece come up, but it doesn't explain WHY. The answer is simple: European Exceptionalism AKA Eurocentric Jingoism.

*Okay, fine, the child might count 7 in regards to Greenland ("the worlds largest island").

It seems to me the entire basis of "Political Correctness" is the patent rejection of social exceptionalism. Google's definition seems to back up my abstract idea here:

political correctness (noun)
the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.

More definitions to set the tone:

Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, consciously or subconsciously, in the pre-eminence of European culture. The term was coined in the 1980s, referring to the notion of European exceptionalism, a worldview centred on Western civilisation, as it had developed during the height of the European colonial empires since the early modern period. The term became prevalent in the discourse during the 1990s, such as in the context of decolonisation. en.wikipedia.org...

Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is "exceptional" (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or principles.
en.wikipedia.org...

Wouldn't Exceptionalism mean the looking down on to others?

Carrying on:

continent (noun)

any of the world's main continuous expanses of land (Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America).
the mainland of Europe as distinct from the British Isles.

Now where is the wet divide separating "Europe" from "Asia"?


There isn't one. Of course, in print there we see doubletalk "Newspeak" (a clear definition, followed by a direct contradiction):

Doublethink is the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy and neutrality. Somewhat related but almost the opposite is cognitive dissonance, where contradictory beliefs cause conflict in one's mind. Doublethink is notable due to a lack of cognitive dissonance — thus the person is completely unaware of any conflict or contradiction.
en.wikipedia.org...

Doublethink (along with Newspeak), are from George Orwell's 1984:
2+2=5 (Orwell's example)
6 continents = 7 (my example)

While relevant to the story here, that's not the main point, but here is Google's defintion of Newspeak: "ambiguous euphemistic language used chiefly in political propaganda".

Although, when this subject comes up there's probably a heavy dose of Cognitive Dissonance (similar to but distinct from Doublethink) that comes into play with those involved:

In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, performs an action that is contradictory to one or more beliefs, ideas, or values, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
en.wikipedia.org...

Next we have that word Jingoism: "extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy."

Now before you say it, war is waged in many forms: Economic, Political, Psychological, Biological and Military Conflict.

Also important to understand in this discussion:

Propaganda is a form of biased communication, aimed at promoting or demoting certain views, perceptions or agendas.
en.wikipedia.org...

Since grade school I've been annoyed by, and annoyed teachers over this crazy backwards "7 Continents Model".

So then today, while following this whole UK leaving the EU affair that whole idea came to mind, and as such I noticed this whole 'everybody must join the EU' because it's "progressive" being the jist of the counter-propaganda backlash to the UK's "Brexit" vote. This strikes me as odd given that the entire premise of there even being something "special" about "Europe" all this time (thus leading to the "European Union") is clear cut exceptionalism.

Wouldn't 'progression' be the opposite of 'backwardness', just like 'exceptionalism' is the inverse of 'political correctness'?

It seems quite obvious me.

.

Europe is exceptional, though.

Yeah. Damned right!

And north being "up". It's a lie. Don't get me started on Mercator projections.

a reply to: VivreLibre

That statement is an politically incorrect micro-aggression.

You are a bigot.

I guess North and South America where just "America" before the Panama Canal was finished.

All this due to modern world thinking. The real name of the European Continent is Eurasia . Always has been.Any 4th grader should know that.

originally posted by: VivreLibre
Europe is exceptional, though.

So is the USA. Do "we" get to be a "continent" too?

What about China? Or at least the "Orient"? But wait, that would be based on a sort of general racial appearance, no? Would that be progressive? After all, there has to be some general racial underpinnings (i.e. Caucasians) to the whole concept of Europe being so special, no?

Then there's that tricky issue of Russia, or would the Soviet Union have been one but not Russia? I still haven't decided...

Why is this even an issue?

Who cares?

a reply to: Gothmog

You smart fella.

There are historical reasons for the divide, europe was the region dominated by the western church, before that in the Greek times someone decided there was 3 continents asia, europe and africa, and there was a reason for that, Europe in general is a forest region, africa is separated by the sea, and "asia" was a desert that may as well be the end of the world.

But people likes to bitch and complain about irrelevant things so yeah, it should totally not be a continent despite the ancient traditions, as a matter of fact what are countries any ways, there should be just america, Eurasia, Africa and assorted islands, the capital of america should be in what the ignorant ancients called panama...

Really, you people don't have any trouble in your life that you need to consider this crap?

a reply to: wdkirk

Intellectual backwardness being taught on the mass scale in schools is mass scale embracing of ignorance. It's a sort of indoctrination into stupidity.

Then there's this big "progressive" imperialistic EU globalization push, which is effectively hegemonic exceptionalism (hegemony and exceptionalism both contradictory the basic tenet of PC).

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

originally posted by: VivreLibre
Europe is exceptional, though.

So is the USA. Do "we" get to be a "continent" too?

What about China? Or at least the "Orient"? But wait, that would be based on a sort of general racial appearance, no? Would that be progressive? After all, there has to be some general racial underpinnings (i.e. Caucasians) to the whole concept of Europe being so special, no?

Then there's that tricky issue of Russia, or would the Soviet Union have been one but not Russia? I still haven't decided...

Are you saying the North America and Asia aren't also exceptional? I would say they are. What problem do you have with different cultures in different regions being exceptional in their own right?

a reply to: VivreLibre

Well I did just say those places are 'special' too, although before someone throws the bigot card it was for context in regards to Europe's better than everybody else'dom.

But exceptionalism is about being better than everybody else. That would lead to a majority, or rather large underling social groups (or however you want to put it). That is politically incorrect bigotry, no?

bigotry
intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.

Hmmmm...

[The English noun bigot is a term of abuse aimed at a prejudiced or closed-minded person, especially one who is intolerant or hostile towards different social groups (especially, and originally, other religious groups), and especially one whose own beliefs are perceived as unreasonable or excessively narrow-minded, superstitious, or hypocritical.
en.wikipedia.org...

Okay, here we go:

Microaggression is a term coined by psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe insults and dismissals he regularly witnessed non-black Americans inflict on African Americans.[1][2][3][4] In 1973, MIT economist Mary Rowe extended the term to include similar aggressions directed at women, and those of different abilities, religions, and so on.[citation needed] Eventually, the term came to encompass the casual degradation of any socially marginalized group, such as the poor and the disabled.
...
Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as "brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership." Sue describes microaggressions as generally happening below the level of awareness of well-intentioned members of the dominant culture. Microaggressions, according to Sue, are different from overt, deliberate acts of bigotry, such as the use of racist epithets, because the people perpetrating microaggressions often intend no offense and are unaware they are causing harm. Sue describes microaggressions as including statements that repeat or affirm stereotypes about the minority group or subtly demean it, that position the dominant culture as normal and the minority one as aberrant or pathological, that express disapproval of or discomfort with the minority group, that assume all minority group members are the same, that minimize the existence of discrimination against the minority group, seek to deny the perpetrator's own bias, or minimize real conflict between the minority group and the dominant culture.
...
According to Sue et al., microaggressions seem to appear in three forms:

microassault: an explicit racial derogation; verbal/nonverbal; e.g.: name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory actions.
microinsult: communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity; subtle snubs; unknown to the perpetrator; hidden insulting message to the recipient of color.
microinvalidation: communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person belonging to a particular group.

en.wikipedia.org...

.

Still naming Europe a "continent" is Politically inCorrect backwardsness

You think that is bad when I went to school.

I was taught oil came from dinosaurs.

a reply to: neo96

I was taught oil came from dinosaurs.

Really?
I was taught it came from forests and algal beds. Animals did not provide enough biomass. And I was in public schools through 6th grade.

a reply to: Phage

Yeah really.

I snip you not.

a reply to: neo96
Well then, I guess that explains a lot.
Did they teach you there was a global flood too?

a reply to: Phage

I was taught it came from dinosaurs as well. The public education system was very lacking when I attended.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: VivreLibre

Well I did just say those places are 'special' too, although before someone throws the bigot card it was for context in regards to Europe's better than everybody else'dom.

But exceptionalism is about being better than everybody else. That would lead to a majority, or rather large underling social groups (or however you want to put it). That is politically incorrect bigotry, no?

bigotry
intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.

Hmmmm...

[The English noun bigot is a term of abuse aimed at a prejudiced or closed-minded person, especially one who is intolerant or hostile towards different social groups (especially, and originally, other religious groups), and especially one whose own beliefs are perceived as unreasonable or excessively narrow-minded, superstitious, or hypocritical.
en.wikipedia.org...

Okay, here we go:

Microaggression is a term coined by psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe insults and dismissals he regularly witnessed non-black Americans inflict on African Americans.[1][2][3][4] In 1973, MIT economist Mary Rowe extended the term to include similar aggressions directed at women, and those of different abilities, religions, and so on.[citation needed] Eventually, the term came to encompass the casual degradation of any socially marginalized group, such as the poor and the disabled.
...
Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as "brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership." Sue describes microaggressions as generally happening below the level of awareness of well-intentioned members of the dominant culture. Microaggressions, according to Sue, are different from overt, deliberate acts of bigotry, such as the use of racist epithets, because the people perpetrating microaggressions often intend no offense and are unaware they are causing harm. Sue describes microaggressions as including statements that repeat or affirm stereotypes about the minority group or subtly demean it, that position the dominant culture as normal and the minority one as aberrant or pathological, that express disapproval of or discomfort with the minority group, that assume all minority group members are the same, that minimize the existence of discrimination against the minority group, seek to deny the perpetrator's own bias, or minimize real conflict between the minority group and the dominant culture.
...
According to Sue et al., microaggressions seem to appear in three forms:

microassault: an explicit racial derogation; verbal/nonverbal; e.g.: name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory actions.
microinsult: communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity; subtle snubs; unknown to the perpetrator; hidden insulting message to the recipient of color.
microinvalidation: communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person belonging to a particular group.

en.wikipedia.org...

.

Can you name a time period where every single culture in every region was equally exceptional?

a reply to: pl3bscheese

My guess is that I attended before you did. Perhaps it was Exxon, et. al. in later years. I do remember TV commercials to that effect.