"Brown bag" And "Citizen" Deemed Offensive Terms In Seattle

Public information officers for the City of Seattle have been advised they might want to avoid using the terms "brown bag" and "citizen" because some find these words offensive.

Elliott Bronstein, with the Office for Civil Rights, began by addressing the offensiveness of "brown bag."

"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."

"A lot of people who live in Seattle aren't citizens, but they are residents," said Bronstein. "They are legal residents of the United States and they are residents of Seattle. They pay taxes and if we use a term like citizens in common use, then it doesn't include a lot of folks."

I heard this guy on the radio today, and wanted to share. I really enjoy the host of the show, Dori Monson and I thought he basically showed this guy for the jackass he is.

How would you like me to describe a brown paper bag from now on? And let's be real about the citizen thing, he isn't talking about respecting people who are transplants to Seattle, he's talking about illegal immigrants.

The more we bend to this nonsense, the worse it's going to get. I was reading some hate filled feminist nonsense the other day, and apparently now calling something/someone stupid is considered ableist (I had to Google it too). It's insulting to stupid people. Seriously. If I say that was a stupid comment, it may offend someone who is mentally handicapped, or just your run of the mill stupid person with enough smarts to be aware of their stupidity.


Link

P.S. I think this is stupid.

And slowly...ever so slowly, it creeps up on us.

Dont say that...Say this!
Dont do that....Do this!

We've got the Jackbooted thugs of Orwells 1984
This is Huxleys Brave new world creeping in.

reply to post by Domo1


It seems that every thin skinned, whiny little prima donna type we all knew in school and quietly (or not so) wished would shut up and stop kissing the teacher's hiny like it had whipped cream has come to run cities, counties and states.

Every crazy, nut filled idea to 'feel' warm and fuzzy and just full of happiness to everyone and everything ever part of Gods ...err.... "The Universe's" creation is being rolled out to try.

It would be amusing to watch fail...if it weren't being done in so many places and ways at once? Failure pretty well clobbers ALL of us in one way or another.

Oh, and I hope all the citizens of Seattle brown bag their lunches for a day, just to make the point. ...and I mean every word, too.

And here I was thinking that brown bagging had something to do with ugly chicks . . .

That sure was an eye opener!

-FBB

How about when a Seattle school renamed Easter eggs 'Spring Spheres'? Thanks, will be sure to use those terms when next I visit.

Seattle is infested with Fibrillating, Palpitating, Foaming-at-the-Mouth, hyperventilating, Hyper Focusing, Ultra-Liberal Super Left Wing Fanatical Radicals.

I wonder what THEY are hiding under their pillows ?

reply to post by FriedBabelBroccoli

ugly chicks

You're not allowed to say that, you monster. It's now called 'not optimal female face'.

Can ATS come up with some other names for brown bag? The more ludicrous the better. I want to send an e-mail to Monson and see if he'll read it on air.

reply to post by Domo1


So my wife says, "Honey, don't forget your brown-bag today or you'll be starving when you get home." I reply to my wife in a scolding overtone of indignation "Darling, you cannot call it a brown-bag!" My wife, with a look of fear in her eyes asks me "why not love?" Shaking my head I explain that people might thing we are equating the color of the bag with that of a human being.

In pure denial, my wife scoffs at the idea and tells me that I am nuts. I press on and explain that it would be more correct to call it a "paper food container" and that she should avoid describing its color in respect of all the "brown" people that may be in the vicinity at the time of description. She fumes for a bit then hangs her head.

"Love, here is your processed wood container, that is eco-friendly and recyclable. I hope this is clear, because if I describe its color, I may be held accountable".

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Container reminds me of containment, which reminds me of confinement, which reminds of slaves. Your wife is still in trouble.

All that I can say, and I know that it's not productive to the conversation at hand, but ########?!
smh
Actually, I have no words to add to this that would be appropriate in any setting.

reply to post by dreamingawake


You know, I looked at what you wrote there and I asked myself... 'Self? Could that possibly have happened? and believe it or not? Self answered! 'Not a chance!', Self said.

So I looked it up on Google, sure to find a national enquirer story. Errr....

Seattle school renames Easter eggs 'Spring Spheres'

Some mornings I wake up to read the headlines and just feel like ...Well?

Originally posted by FriedBabelBroccoli
And here I was thinking that brown bagging had something to do with ugly chicks . . .

That sure was an eye opener!

-FBB

ROFL!

In the blue collar world (at least where I come from), Brown bagging it means that you made your own lunch and took it to work (in a brown paper bag). Go figure.

The PC world just gets more and more asinine.

reply to post by DeadSeraph

In the blue collar world (at least where I come from), Brown bagging it means that you made your own lunch and took it to work (in a brown paper bag). Go figure.

Every blue collar job I've worked it had two meanings. One was lunch.

reply to post by Domo1


Touche! Ha! We should all be condemned for our lack of social adherence to the Government approved dictionary.

Originally posted by FriedBabelBroccoli
And here I was thinking that brown bagging had something to do with ugly chicks . . .

That sure was an eye opener!

-FBB

Where I come from, when you were past grade school brown bagging meant... butter face. lol

On topic, this PC BS is getting out of control. And the crazy thing is, a lot of people don't see it! I'm baffled! It's effing nutz! How can you not see it? ugh. :bnghd:

There is a difference between wording something official for public consumption and talking in everyday conversation with ones family and friends. I know that I will use different language depending on my audience if I am in an unfamiliar group or if I am writing a memo, letter or other professional document.

That being said, I refuse to censor my personal communication between me and other people who I wish to freely associate with in my daily life. This is probably one of the major contributors to me now being a small business owner and not working in corporate America anymore.

I have a big mouth!

Originally posted by kimish

Originally posted by FriedBabelBroccoli
And here I was thinking that brown bagging had something to do with ugly chicks . . .

That sure was an eye opener!

-FBB

Where I come from, when you were past grade school brown bagging meant... butter face. lol

On topic, this PC BS is getting out of control. And the crazy thing is, a lot of people don't see it! I'm baffled! It's effing nutz! How can you not see it? ugh. :bnghd:

edit on 1-8-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

Regardless, that isn't the connotation implied here. I agree that we can all recall what "brown bag" means, but in the every day vernacular of society (in the context here; American society) it means "paper bag lunch" or "bring your own lunch".

This seems like an attempt to redefine it via political means rather than the natural redefinition via the use of the phrase.

So I take my lunch in a brown paper bag everyday I go to work. Does that mean I have to come up with another term or do I switch to white paper bags for my lunch?

If I switch to white paper bags for my lunch, does that make me a racist?

Maybe I should just use a blue Wal-Mart bag. Oh wait, I don't want to be labeled as a Wal-Mart supporter, so that's not going to work.

Damn, guess I will just have to start purchasing my lunch for $10 a day.

People in the world as just plain stupid. Since I just bought 100 brown bags for my lunch I guess I'll just brown bag it for the next 100 days.

I say what I want. Brown bags are for bringing your own lunch. On Christmas it is Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays, If someone is here in our country illegally, they are illegals etc. etc. I don't want to feel like I have to walk on eggshells just to be normal! We are supposed to have free speech, so say what you will people.

This seems really funny to me on the surface. I'd like to ban pandering as both an action and a mental construct but then the entire elected populace would drop dead within an hour of enacting the law.

Before you all jump on these folks consider this: They are not very bright. In a room of 100 watt bulbs, they'd be the dim 10 watt, about to burn out, bulbs. They can't think for themselves, they don't know much beyond the bumper sticker platitudes they've been taught and they have no internal vetting process - they just talk and talk. They are sad, really they need to be pitied and in an earlier part of our history they'd be "away" somewhere, but, thanks to the "everyone is equal" reality we live in they are given a chance to govern others, others far more intelligent then they are, to show how special they too can be. Don't laugh, don't chastise, just ignore them, eventually something will happen to them - reassignment to the DMV or disability due to "people are mean" illness.