Something bothered me at church yesterday.

[space_invader64]

I’m not normally a stickler for things.  I normally go with the flow.
But yesterday in church, the kids sang Jesus loves the little children.  But they changed the words to be more pc.  They took out the red and yellow back and white line and replaced it with something else.  I think political correctness has gone crazy at this point.

My view is don’t mess with the songs.  If the song bothers you, sing something else.  But don’t change our songs.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Woah woah woah, wait, they replaced the colors with something else???  My church has never done that and I did go to a recent one where they sang that song.  If that is due to political corectness, then good grief, get a life those who follow that line of bs.  I'm sorry, but I will sing the ORIGINAL version of that song.  If it offends someone, I do not care because you are then taking the song out of context.  Gosh......just shoot me.  Bad enough I can't sing some songs now without getting stares or glares, but changing a kids song...that is bs. 

King Linksr

[KingIsaacLinksr]

(If you didn't notice, I hate political corectness.  I never follow it.  Sometimes I will in public, but the whole thing is blown out of proportion.  I'm sure some relatives aren't too....whats the word, happy with that, but I don't care.  I will speak how I want.  If whatever I say/do offends you, then you are blowing it WAY out of proportion.  I'm usually a nice person who is kind, but if I say something that offends....then that is seriously screwed up.  I try not to, but it seems anything I say anymore is now no longer politically correct...Thats just how I view political corectness.)

King Linksr

p.s.  Yes I mispelled Policictal correctttness.

[space_invader64]

And I am annoyed that in Kindergarten, kids no longer sit "Indian Style."  I guess they are afraid of offending Indians.  They now sit, "Criss Cross Apple Sause."

The truth is, these changes are silly.  I went to an Indian school in 5th - 8th grade.  Our mascot was the warriors.  Some trouble makers from out of state (I'm guessing people who were non-Indian) wanted us to change our mascot so we wouldn't offend anyone!!!  How dumb.

[moyer777]

As a musician, Christian and a pastor, I have noticed that there are many different arrangements of similar songs.  I can't speak of political correctness cause I don't know who arranged or picked out the music. I know since so many of the songs we do in church are done over and over, it is always a challenge to make it fresh and relevant to an ever changing audience.  I look at it as a challenge that doesn't ever please everyone.  But like I say, I wasn't there, so I can't tell you why they changed the lyrics.  :)

Messing with classics bugs many people.   :smilie_nono: You should have seen the first time I put amazing grace to a full on blues rock n roll arrangement.  Now that raised some eyebrows!

You should check out my podcast this week.  I had the band do a cool remake of song called "Prepare the way"  it rocks,my friend Kenny did a great job singing it and my friend Tom played a great guitar-- and the song worked great with my new series called "Superhero Jesus"


Pretty fun stuff.

If you want my itunes feed PM me.

[Geekyfanboy]

(If you didn't notice, I hate political correctness.  I never follow it.  Sometimes I will in public, but the whole thing is blown out of proportion.  I'm sure some relatives aren't too....whats the word, happy with that, but I don't care.  I will speak how I want.  If whatever I say/do offends you, then you are blowing it WAY out of proportion.  I'm usually a nice person who is kind, but if I say something that offends....then that is seriously screwed up.  I try not to, but it seems anything I say anymore is now no longer politically correct...That's just how I view political correctness.)

King Linksr

p.s.  Yes I misspelled Policictal correctttness.

okay.. first of all there is no reason to misspell on this forum.. that is why we have a spell check function and second I find so many things wrong with your statement above. I typed out this long argument against your statement but then thought better of it to post it. If you believe that what you say is not offensive and that it's the fault of the person who finds it offensive then that is what you believe. Will just have to agree to disagree.

[Rico]

I can understand both points of view.  It is a tricky subject.  I think the intentions are good but I sometimes wonder how many people are truly offended by simple words in a song.  But these days it seems many groups are concerned more about image than speaking out - so they take the simple route. 

I look at it this way, since I am fortunate to live where I can personally say pretty much anything I want.  However, groups of people are another story.  They are meant to reflect a group view or opinion and therefore what they say is not up to one person but usually the group.  Now if you as an individual don't like what the group is saying you can certainly leave if it bothers you.  But you have to always keep in mind that there are big differences between how a group works and how an individual can operate.

[space_invader64]

I know what you mean, Rico.  There are no shortage of people who pretend to be offended by things for attention.

I was talking about it yesterday wondering why anyone would have had a problem with the song as is. We came up with that they might have felt that "Red and Yellow, Black and White" is very limited and would be offensive to Andorians!

[Jobydrone]

Identifying individuals by the colors of their skins is a pretty antiquated way of looking at people these days. We are in the 21st century, after all, and I can understand the reasoning behind eliminating those words from that particular song.  If I understand correctly, not knowing the song you are talking about, it sounds like they are saying something like it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, Jesus loves you all the same.  I can think of a lot of ways it could be sung, classic or not, that would convey the same message without calling Asians "yellow" or Native americans "Red".

Like Rico pointed out, if someone feels offended by those words, they could certainly just walk out.  Somehow I get the feeling that the pastor or whatever probably would rather that the people who attend his or her sermons not be offended to the point that they decide they have to leave.  

In my opinion, "political correctness" is just a label we have put on the way that we interact with each other as individuals and as groups.  Though some may not choose to acknowledge this fact, we all act differently depending on the situation we are in and the crowd of people we are surrounded by.  I know that I choose my words alot more carefully when I am at work that I do when I am surrounded by a group of my friends away from work.  And again something I might say when I am with my wife I certainly would not say when I am with my wife and her parents.  I have a feeling there are things Rico might say when surrounded by his buddies drinking Gatorade that he wouldn't say on the podcast for fear of offending someone.  My point is that we all alter and change the way we act depending on our environment at the time.  Understanding how our interactions with others work in this way, and identifying and changing behaviors that might be considered hurtful or cause pain to others, seems to me to be a positive thing and something to strive for.   

[jedijeff]

We live in a lot more Global World these days, so some things change to fall more in line with new views of society. I know a few years back, my Company changed the name of the Christmas party to Winterfest. People complained and grumbled, but moved on after a year or two, and Christmas was never cancelled because of it ;). Not saying either is right or wrong, but that somethings change and are different then when we were younger.

[moyer777]

I have to say that I am massively impressed with the way people are handling this thread.  I have never been on a forum like this - where we can talk about some hard stuff, but everyone seems to respect each other.

Way to go, and thanks for making this a safe place to share our thoughts.  Classy behavior is rare in this world.

[space_invader64]

Well, we're smarter than the average chatters, we're star trek fans!

[moyer777]

 :vulcan

Live long and prosper.

[billybob476]

IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

Star Trek fans tend to generally be some of the most open-minded people I've met.

[markinro]

I'm not normally a stickler for things.  I normally go with the flow.
But yesterday in church, the kids sang Jesus loves the little children.  But they changed the words to be more pc.  They took out the red and yellow back and white line and replaced it with something else.  I think political correctness has gone crazy at this point.

My view is don't mess with the songs.  If the song bothers you, sing something else.  But don't change our songs.

They changed the lyrics ?  People are becoming way too sensitive these days.