From sports teams to personalized licence plates to how places came to be named, they have all been the recent subject of complaints and calls for change.
Okay sure, it’s 2017 and the need seems to be there for the world to become more inclusive, but sometimes the bias and politics all of this ‘correctness’ is more than a bit far-fetched.
Why can’t we all just get along and recognize these names for what they are — part of the historical record of this country or sometimes it’s JUST a name.
Let’s start off the most recent ‘controversy’ that cropped up last week when an Alberta First Nation called for several towns, cities and significant Canadian landmarks be changed to reflect what they mean and signify in this particular nation’s aboriginal language.
Alright, just for the sake of argument, if this were to take place it would cost each municipality along with the province and the federal government thousands upon thousands of dollars. And, that’s just for the changes on stationary, letterhead and signs.
Not to mention all of the advertising and promotional material out there, the rebranding of entire entities plus all of the confusion it would cause around the world given the international significance of places like Banff, Calgary and other places that were suggested for changes.
Toss in the abrupt opposition by yet another area First Nation — noting it has no issue with the current names but that if changes were to be made it is their language that should be used since it is the rightful historically correct one for the region — and you’ve already got tongues wagging about something that has no business being discussed.
Then there’s the ongoing saga regarding some sports team names — a certain Alberta one in particular comes to mind — in hopes that someone of any clout will take the very silly and extreme politically corrective view of changing the well-known monikers.
Clouding this specific issue now, is the fact that linguistic professionals have gone geek on the topic, explaining the actual meaning behind the current team name is quite different than what has been perceived for years. Now while there might be some team names that might be over the line nowadays, the only way things change is with cash and with fans still supporting these clubs, there is no incentive to change.
Turning to the final overt, over the top ‘correctness’ that has been hoisted upon the public lately is the issue of an individual’s last name being dumped from his personalized licence plate after decades of use.
This person’s name has been in the news for more than a year, since the province of Nova Scotia decided to act on a complaint about it being ‘offensive’ to public decency.
Now if you have that kind of thinking, sure the man’s surname could be described as a terrible act against a female — especially since people have taken to ‘going viral’ with saying it on live television and a certain pumpkin haired person south of the 49th parallel made it famous years ago.
However, it’s been on his and his father’s licence plate for a long time, plus its on the plate of his son in another province that has no issue with it. So, what’s the problem and why has it taken lengthy court action to get this settled, sometime in the future.
While agree there are some things and times when the need is there to be sympathetic and attempt to find a compromise, at other times people simply need to stop being unreasonable with their requests for ‘correctness’ and just get along.
But that is…just an observation.