I teach college history: Western Civ, World Hist, and American. Hi Tam – caught this over at Google+ - this topic is a question I face in my “day job” every day. I don’t need to go to a safe space to listen to soft music and play with Play-Doh with my pajamas on and a vegan soy mocha latte. If something offends me, I suck it up and go on with my life. I just ignore all the liberal thinkers and haters and listen to and read what interests ME. The most disturbing thing about all of this banning and shaming, is that the ones doing it listen to rap – the most racist and hateful type of “entertainment” there is, and adulate the purveyors of it. ![]() Should we not play “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, or read “Uncle Remus” by Joel Chandler Harris, or “Little Black Sambo” by Helen Bannerman, or read Native American stories and legends, or read about Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox? How about “My Antonia”, or “Little House on the Prairie”, or “A Christmas Carol”? All of them depict the thinking of the day about other ethnic groups and socio-economic groups. The word has lost all of its meaning and become a political weapon. Now days you are called a racist because you can tell the difference between a black person, a white person, and an asian person. Should we throw away all of our books? Should we re-write all of our songs and plays? Should we burn all of our movies and cartoons? How about magazines and newspapers? Do we get rid of all of them, too, because we don’t like what they said? We have a rich history in this country – good and bad – and writing out whole portions of it because some little snowflake is offended by it is ridiculous. Political correctness is trying to change history and make everyone homogenous. She enjoys hearing from you, sharing ideas, forging friendships, and exchanging guest blogs. For all the Girl in the Jitterbug Dress news, give-aways, events, and excitement, make sure to join her list and like her FB page! Join my list ~ Facebook page She shares her love of this genre through her novels, blog, and short stories. Tam Francis is a writer, blogger, swing dance teacher, avid vintage collector, and seamstress. Allen has to say about censorship in art. What do you think? What would you do? Read what Anne R. I would love to hear opinions of folks wiser and more experienced than myself. Is this a slippery slope that ends in all lyric censorship and or book burning mentality?.If I err on the side of caution am I giving into societal pressures?.Does usage and intent play into whether its racially offensive?.Should Swing DJs NOT play this song EVER?.Why would Ella pick that song when she was so sensitive to racial inequality?.As a writer should I err on the side of caution and pick a different song?.Do we censor our art? Are song lyrics Art?.Was this a case of censorship, or self-censorship?.At what point does political correctness become censorship?.I awoke asking myself questions I still don’t have answers for: ![]() I went to sleep that night with my mind swirling. When Charlie Chingee make his sing song swing ![]() The song is Ella Fitzgerald’s Sing Song Swing. My kids loved it, I loved it, and it had a nice simple, swing rhythm that was easy to dance to. I had been listening to the song for years. After posting a link to reddit (scary over there–talk about an odd form of censorship or bullying), it was brought to my attention that a song I had chosen for one of my chapter titles and listed on my Soundtrack page contained very offensive, racist lyrics.
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