No More "Drunken Sailors" in PC UK

[TaoJones]

The following is from a BBC News report datelined last Friday, 30 January 2009:

" 'Drunken sailors' have been removed from the lyrics of a nursery rhyme in a [UK] government-funded books project. "

Here's a link to the full story:

BBC NEWS | Education | Drunken sailors left out of rhyme

A "grumpy pirate" is certainly a different image than a "drunken sailor," and isn't it comforting to know that innocent little ears will be shielded from early knowledge of the evils of excessive alcohol consumption?

It is interesting to learn the true meaning of "put him in the hold with the captain's daughter."

TaoJones

[starfish62]

The PC movement is a scary thing. Bruno Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment talks of the necessity of a little blood & gore in the classics, and I agree. Sheltering children from words, while well meaning, leads to stepford children who will be overwhelmed by the trials and challenges of real life. Presumably the PC crowd would then medicate the kids so that they would act in normal ways.

[DavidGC]

Let's see . . .
We're going to edit out "drunken sailors," but pirates -- people who were historically (and still are, in the modern version) murderers, rapists and thieves -- are just fine for our little kiddies to sing about?

How is this a PC improvement?

Just further going to prove --- you can't fix stupid.

DavidGC

[waverider]

Well I never thought that is the song was a nursery rhyme. It is and always will be a Sea Shanty. Most of the nursery rhymes have a negitive or violent meaning behind them. They must be having a field day with " Rock a bye Baby". I know my kids in school sing a different version of "Ring around the Rosie" then I learned in school.

My personal feeling is that we should leave historic songs alone and keep them original. Politicly Correct is a pain in the ass and people should spend there time doing so good in the real world ( poverty, cancer, aids, etc.). How many millions will get spent on being Politicaly Correct, send food to Africa instead.

[BadFish]

That's ridiculous... I love being a drunken sailor.

Cheers

Bill

[Captn_Black]

Yea, I heard about this also!
Well just proves I made the right decision in leaving this messed up nanny state...
And I'm very rarely grumpy when drunk, usually only when sober in fact!

[anotherT34C]

Even in America, a country founded on the principles of Life, Liberty, and the reckless persuit of Happiness (even at the expense of life and liberty)* we're not immune to the human preference for security over freedom, especially when "the children" are involved.

*from The Onion

[perchance]

Get em while they're young. You can't start too soon to get them used to censorship.That way they'll grow up to be nice compliant conservatives.

[oceansoul63]

Originally Posted by DavidGC

Let's see . . .
We're going to edit out "drunken sailors," but pirates -- people who were historically (and still are, in the modern version) murderers, rapists and thieves -- are just fine for our little kiddies to sing about?

How is this a PC improvement?

Just further going to prove --- you can't fix stupid.

DavidGC

Agreed 100 percent!

The PC mentality is ridiculous, and the UK is getting quite mucked up in it.

[David M]

Shouldn't it be the job of parents to protect their children as they see fit?

[Alexei]

Originally Posted by perchance

Get em while they're young. You can't start too soon to get them used to censorship.That way they'll grow up to be nice compliant conservatives.

*blink*

You lost me on that one.

Conservatism is, by definition, an ideology that promotes individual liberty and individual responsibility (as opposed to the notion of collective rights and nanny-state-ism), and (in the US) a respect for the Constitution as written.

Censorship is most definately NOT a thing of conservatism.

[starfish62]

You're confusing conservatism with libertarianism. Conservatism, especially the neocon movement in the US, is at its core fundamentalist, racist and sexist. They have repeatedly attempted to alter the constitution in order to serve very narrow and divisive interests.

[DavidGC]

Originally Posted by starfish62

You're confusing conservatism with libertarianism. Conservatism, especially the neocon movement in the US, is at its core fundamentalist, racist and sexist. They have repeatedly attempted to alter the constitution in order to serve very narrow and divisive interests.

I would amend that statement thus:

The American press has done a remarkable job at creating the illusion that the conservative movement at it's core is fundamentalist, racist and sexist.

[starfish62]

There are six conglomerates that control 90% of the media in the US. If one watches Fox News, they are thinking what Rupert Murdoch wants them to think. Not to mention Rush Limbaugh. Those are the voices that have created the accurate impression of what the GOP is at its core. The conservative bias in the media is overwhelming.

[Southern Star]

Oh boy, here we go. Editing this shanty in the belief that it somehow makes it more appropriate to children has nothing to do with conservatism, libertarianism, liberalism or the American press. It is just another sad example of do-gooders gone wild, whatever their political bent.

Brad