Black board...over PC?

Question

I'm white in colour - i couldn't care less though but if someone says i'm white - i am like "Yeah". In Britain (can't vouch for other countries) we can't sing ba ba black sheep, say "black board" (though can say white board) - I am aware this is way over the top i'd like some peoples opinions. How ludicrous exactly is this? Does it not in fact have the opposite effect - making out like black is something negative that shouldn't be whispered? People should be proud and happy about the gift of the colour on their skin right??? Is their ANYONE in the world that disagrees and if so - why? (Aside from racists-but im sure ill get a few of them replying)

great, cheers muisuis or whatever it was - one stupid an useless "answer" i was actually interested in peoples thoughts concerning this as i genuinly dont understand how such rulings come about if i can find no-one who agrees with it. Your comment is pathetic on a website where the purpose is to seek out other peoples opinions, you look like an adult from your picture, which is rather suprising.

Thank you for the real response, appreciated. My assertion was not that there is a ban but “In Britain we can't sing ba ba black sheep” what I should have added was “without feeling guilty” – I think with all this PC business people are genuinely confused and I have witnessed and felt this confusion more than once. So, what im really trying to figure out, is where it all comes from, from what angle and do people not think that this general idea is ludicrous and this PC business needs sorting out! I would have been interested in the views of someone who disagreed with me really, which is why I believe I have only had one response. I disagree with your comments about opinions, I believe that is exactly what this site and is also the beauty of it - yes it's called yahoo answers, but its also a discussion board, i put forward a strong opinion, you come back with an answer. I would choose the most well founded and rational response as the best answer.

(apologies for this line - "i genuinly dont understand how such rulings exist" i did not mean to say rulings...i meant ideas or something along those lines which may have led to your confusion about my views)

Answer 1

Give it a rest.

ADD-ON
Point taken. However you have not backed up your assertions with any evidence, and so your "question" makes you sound just like one more reactionary, whining on about untrue government prohibitions of the word blackboard and the nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep".

So, my more measured response, is for me to assert that this supposed national ban is completely untrue, and that your question lacks any validity. Also, you need to be aware that this website is about sharing knowledge, and not, as you seem to think, opinion. If it was merely about opinion, then you'd just select, as best answer, one that agreed with you. However, here is your chance to prove that you are above all that.

The ball's in your court now, my friend .....

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
1. Don't feel guilty, because it's all PC nonsense, and 20 years out of date, at that. So, go ahead and write on the blackboard, and sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" to your kids, and drink black coffee, and blackmail the local Catholic priest and whatever else you feel like doing.

2. Most black people have always laughed at white people being so strung up about it. They use these words without a second thought, because they see that there is no value in the whole exercise.

3. The idea, that the use of the word "black" should be avoided, was devised in the 1980s by (supposedly) well-meaning, white, middle-class, farty, liberal intellectuals at Islington dinner parties. It came at a time when supposedly sexist language was being challenged, and we had to handle such wonderful new words as chairperson and foreperson. However, avoidance of the word "black" is a preposterous concept for the following reasons.
a) It makes the assumption that black always implies negativity, and whereas that may be true of blackmail and blackleg, it can hardly apply to blackboard or black coffee.
b) It assumes that the negative uses of black have their origin in racial prejudice, whereas they come from Christianity. Christians are supposed to be wary of Satan, the so-called "Prince of Darkness", whereas God is light. Find a Bible and read the first few verses on John Chapter 1, and you'll see just one good example of light meaning good and darkness meaning evil. All bad things are supposed to happen under cover of darkness - Dracula leaves his coffin, witches come out on Halloween etc.
c) From the 1960s onwards, African American activists were using the word "black" in a positive fashion - "black is beautiful", "black power", "Black Panther Party".
d) Black people in the UK were not consulted.

3. It soon took off, and developed a life of its own.
a) I remember an Islington Gazette report about an under-five being suspended from a local nursery during the 80s for singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Although the London Borough of Islington officially denied that there was a ban, clearly some of its officers acted as though it existed.
b) RAT courses (Race Awareness Training) became a growth industry, and avoidance of the word "black" was an important feature of the training. Unfortunately some unscrupulous black intellectuals used it to further black causes, to antagonise white trainees, and to poor scorn on the idea that there was discrimination against some of the other minorities, especially Jews. This was exposed in a Channel 4 RAT parody which appeared in one of their black issues TV programmes, in the second half of the 1980s (I think it was the Bandung File). Then people smelt a rat, and that kind of training came to an end. Have a look at this article (which I have only just come across).
http://www.veredus.co.uk/veredus-view-article.aspx?articleid=3
c) More recently, in March 2006, the Baa Baa Black Sheep controversy re-appeared in Oxfordshire nurseries. So there are still some people with ideas that are no longer in vogue. There are various webpages on the Oxfordshire events.

4. One thing that amuses me, on the subject of politically-correct terminology, relates to the very definite idea that we must not use the expression "coloured people". That's a clear "no no". However, the leading civil rights organisation in the USA, and still going strong after nearly 100 years, is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Rosa Parks who began the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott was an NAACP activist.
http://www.naacp.org/

5. The real problem with the politically-correct movement is that it concerns itself with the superficial - it is all about form and not substance. Very few fundamental, positive achievements resulted from equal opportunities tinkering with appearances during the 1980s and early 1990s. It was all just whitewash, for which we have to blame those white Islington trendies, many of whom are now Blairite MPs. You may have noticed now that the term "equal opportunities" has been dropped in favour of "diversity".

6. Finally, although you might disagree with my comments about opinions, it is Yahoo! policy. Here is what the Community Guidelines say. "Yahoo! Answers is a place for people to ask and answer questions in order to share knowledge ...... If you prefer to have discussions or chat with others, please use one of Yahoo!'s other community services, such as Yahoo! Groups". So you are wrong - it is definitely not "also a discussion board". It looks like you are going to have to report me, and I am going to have to report you.

Answer 2

Err... A black everlasting pen from faber castell, A black felt tip pen, A black pencil field, which include countless black ink pens. A black keyboard, A black bag packing a tough force, Some black wires, Some black mounting board, Edit!: The extra natural type... My black hair, My black eyes, My black eyebrows, My black eyelashes.