Thursday, April 12, 2007

Political Correctness Running Amok Yet Again? Yes.

When will some of my fellow progressives realize that by straying into the territory of extremist views on equality, brotherhood, fairness and justice and by allowing themselves to stand for overzealous, politically correct views that are ridiculous to the average person they are doing the very causes they wish to help a great deal of harm?



A case in point -

Portland Maine, April 9, 2007

"With snow still surrounding the stadium, the Portland Sea Dogs (a minor league baseball team) on Monday unveiled a 9 1/2-foot-tall bronze monument depicting a family of four heading to the ball park to enjoy America’s favorite pastime.
...Initially, the six-figure gift was met with a cold shoulder after artist Rhoda Sherbell’s preliminary model ran into opposition from members of the city’s public art committee.

The vice chairman of the committee declared that he was not enthused with designs featuring “white folks on pedestals.” Another committee member said Portland already had too many statues depicting “white, Anglo-Saxon people.” The committee also didn’t like the fact that the “family” wore clothing with the Portland Sea Dogs logo. The committee voted against accepting the gift, based on photographs of a “maquette,” a small, preliminary clay design of Sherbell’s vision for the project. But the City Council ultimately voted unanimously to accept it."

What what what? They wanted to reject it because we have enough "white people on a pedestal." This is the kind of thing that reasonable people, sane progressives and people on the right read and shake their heads at. It also undermines the credibility of real issues of race and representation in the USA, you know, like the fake rape case at Duke.

Racial breakdown in Maine:
Population, 2005 estimate
1,321,505

White persons, percent, 2005 (a)
96.9%
Black persons, percent, 2005 (a)
0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2005 (a)
0.6%
Asian persons, percent, 2005 (a)
0.8%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, percent, 2005 (a)
0.0%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2005 (b)
1.0%

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