Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep....

Squid

Squid

Suck my dick.
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
3,512
Location
Australia
Gil
0
Ok Political Correctness has gone way too far!!!

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-new...t-out-to-pasture/story-e6frfku0-1226012652386


BLACK sheep are on the endangered species list as some children in north Queensland learn to sing Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep.

The English nursery rhyme may have survived for 200-plus years but political correctness could finally put it out to pasture.
Some schools in Britain have banned the song for being racist, but Pelicans Innisfail Child Care allows children to sing about black sheep or rainbow sheep.
Director Pam McLaughlin said some teachers sang the changed lyrics, and some children already knew the changes.
"We just go with whatever the children want," Ms McLaughlin said.
"The kids are just singing and having fun. Some sing black sheep, some sing rainbow sheep. It's just a song.
"We don't have anything that says, 'You have to sing it this way'."
The BBC reported in 2000 that Birmingham City Council had banned the song for being racist. It was later overturned after a backlash from parents.

The council said it had obtained the guidelines, which stated: "The history behind the rhyme is very negative and also very offensive to black people, due to the fact that the rhyme originates from slavery".
Six years later in 2006, a nursery in Sutton Courtenay in Britain banned the nursery rhyme.
In other examples, the principal of a school in NSW last year adapted the lyrics from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree so children would say how happy, rather than gay, his life must be.
In 2009 the Birmingham council took creative licence to change the ending of Humpty Dumpty from couldn't "put Humpty together again" to "made Humpty happy again".
Golliwog dolls have been taken off shelves because of racism concerns and passages have been removed from Enid Blyton books because of perceived homosexual undertones between Noddy and Big Ears.
Australian National University social psychologist Michael Platow said he doubted Baa Baa Black Sheep would teach racism.
"I don't know why a child would associate a black sheep with a black man," he said.
The Office of Early Childhood Education and Care associate director-General Zea Johnston said no direction had been given and centres were responsible for their own education programs.
Pelicans has indigenous and non-indigenous children, and recognises diversity. Children play with white dolls, darker-skinned dolls and dolls of both sexes.
Ms McLaughlin said she thought changing the lyrics was a bit confusing for children. "You can get a black sheep but you can't get a rainbow sheep."
Click to expand...

So what do you think about this? Do you think singing about a black sheep is racist? Or do you think people are becoming way too sensitive and PC?
 
:se7: rainbow sheep disapproves!

But in seriousness, it's getting ridiculous how political correctness is changing everything. I mean, growing up with these rhymes I never associated them with racism or homophobia or whatever, tbh it's only adults that are going to think that way.
 
As Damon said, it's silly. I've heard this rhyme for so long and I didn't even know the origins. There's no way a child would hear this and think, "This is definitely talking about black people." They have no reason to. People do these types of things because they think that they are protecting children by doing so, but it's not making any difference.
 
I still remember my mother singing 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' to me back when I was a young child. Why should I abandon one of my childhood memories for the sake of political correctness?

I'm getting really fed up of seeing people having to watch their words with even seemingly innocent statements. If I ever have a family of my own, I'll be singing them the same nursery rhymes I grew up with.
 
Oh aye, till I turned 14 I NEVER had to watch my words for worry of racism etc, it's stupid how things have gone the past few years for the sake of not getting people butthurt over purely innocent statements :hmph:

Same with nursery rhymes really, ask any kid what they think of nursery rhymes and I highly doubt they'll say something like 'Baa Baa Black Sheep is racist' etc

And while i've not read the book, from what I watched of Noddy, I didn't see anything really homosexual between Noddy and Big Ears, if anything it looked more like a Grandfather/Grandson type relationship to me O_O and I was a teen at the time.
 
Its because Noddy was like "I am feeling a little bit Queer" and he went and slept in bed with Big ears, Hahaha I guess that is kinda funny and dodgy, but no kid is going to think of it as anything other than noddy feeling ill!
 
Maybe I was just sheltered growing up but I didn't know what 'queer' meant till I was in Secondary school :wacky:

But ya, to a kid it might be something like queer=queasy or something, since the start is similar etc, at that point it's down to the parent, should the kid ask what it means :hmmm:
 
To expand upon my earlier point, I feel that there is a very fine line between censoring something because it is controversial outright, and censoring something because a very small minority find it controversial.

By the latter, I'm not talking about racial minorities, but rather the type of oversensitive people that kick up a fuss at the slightest thing, often blowing stuff way out of proportion. Sadly, these people are becoming increasingly vocal and so when a genuine issue exists it is that much harder to push for a real problem to be eliminated.
 
I remember hearing about the whole baa baa rainbow sheep a while back now, it's completely ridiculous. Almost as stupid as having to call "Blackboards" "chalkboards" because it was considered racist. Kids don't sing the song and immediately see it as racist so it doesn't promoted - whoever came up with that theory is an arsehole. The whole political correctness is way, way OTT nowadays.
 
To me, it is like everything in life. It is only offensive if it is meant to be. Meaning if you are targetted or if children are singing an innocent and enjoyable rhyme. Golliwog dolls are still sold here and I have a few of my own that I am very attatched to. They were not created as a sign of racism but people on television, et cetera, started to use it to offend black people. Therefore the doll was seen in a negative light. While I think some are taking things too far and being over sensitive, it needs to be acknowledged that you will always have racists. Take away dolls and rhymes - it won't change people who are racist.

I even had a racist taxi driver drive me and my cripled mother home not that long ago after she finally successfully got her disability money (she has been trying since I was 12). I only had fifteen pounds so when my mother asked how much it would be and stated the amount we had, he said, "Don't worry, I'm not like those black b*****ds".

I almost slapped him. Too bad he was driving at the time. :/

My mother and I would have gotten out of the taxi sooner if it wasnt for the fact people who just gave her disability allowance were probably spying. It's stupid how hard it is to get it and shes terrified of losing it. So we had to put up with the git.
 
I can understand things like the program Rainbow and stuff, but not baa baa black sheep. I heard of this years ago and I still think its ridiculous.:disgust:
 
I consider Baa Baa Blacksheep the same as Ring Around the Rosie.
To me, it's just apart of history put together into a rhyme. o n o
If you think about it, most Nursery rhymes are not the most cheery of poems.

And I think it's just people trying to get more votes. : /
 
o0PinkSquid0o said:
Some schools in Britain have banned the song for being racist
Click to expand...

WTF!!!

Why do people get so worked up over calling people that are clearly black, black!!!

They wouldn't do shit if they were singing about white sheep, yet because it's black it's all so fucking outrageous! :rage:

It's a song. Kids have been singing it for ages. I remember it as a kid and I doubt anyone fucking related it to being racist.

People are getting more and more stupid as time goes on and the more they try to tiptoe around races and what they should and shouldn't say the more the whole "race" thing is going to be an issue.

People should be able to refer to a person or a sheep for that matter as a black person, black sheep without being called a racist pig. :rage:

Rainbow sheep don't exist, so next they'll start a whole other story on that issue. :rage:
 
Well tbh I doubt most children would hear the rhyme and associate it with racism. I had never even heard this theory about its origins until I read this article, and from what I can gather, the evidence for it is hard to find. However, there is also a theory that it originated as a result of a wool tax in the 13th century, which sounds at least somewhat more likely; tax collection was a popular subject in folk rhymes and stories during earlier periods in history.

However, if there is further investigation into the origins of the rhyme, and it's found to contain definitive racist overtones, then at that point I wouldn't blame them for trying to phase it out, if there's the potential for it to perpetuate an unpleasant tradition. Even if it's something that's been culturally ingrained in us for completely innocuous reasons--people merely thinking that it's only referring to an animal--in that case, it would be no different than something like the Thanksgiving holiday, where people (often unknowingly) are happily commemorating a massacre of 700 Pequot men, women, and children. Just because it's traditional and means something different in this day and age, doesn't mean it should be perpetuated if it originated for unpleasant reasons.

Also, I can't help but wonder whether attaching "rainbow" to the sheep will eventually stir up controversy based on the fact that the rainbow is associated with LGBT culture, and many parents still seem to be leary about exposing their children to anything but heterosexual culture :hmmm:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top