"University of Ottawa: Free Yoga Classes Canceled by Student Union Over Cultural Appropriation Concerns"
From the article: "When she checked back in with the centre in September, she said she was told by them the class wouldn't be happening because some students and volunteers were uncomfortable with the "cultural issues" involved. "I guess it was this cultural appropriation issue because yoga originally comes from India," she said on Sunday. "I told them, 'Why don't we just change the name of the course?' It's simple enough, just call it mindful stretching.…"
Sooo um... Laugh? Cry? Shoot self to the moon, hope for the best?
Guess I won't be making that chicken curry tonight. That's cultural appropriation, bitch! Maybe I should call it "spicy reddish-orange chicken?"
Doublespeak. It's happening. When you do stuff like this, it chips away at the real issues that are actually hurting people. It makes people roll their eyes at anything that might be "politically correct," even things that are actually important. Like, you know, treating people equally regardless of race, religion, etc. I said I was going to retire "politically correct" from my lexicon because it's lost all meaning, but this kind of thing is why the phrase exists in the first place. So maybe we still need it, just used more sparingly. Or maybe just call this stuff what it really is: stupid. Of course we should be sensitive to different cultures, but this is just out of control. Someone will always complain. They can't always win. Common sense needs to win.
It's a great time to be a satirist, and a terrible time to be a human.
Soon even satire will lose all meaning, because who can tell the difference?
