[Porsche-O-Phile]

When are people going to get past this ridiculous notion that they can substitute actual parenting for putting their kids in a bubble, free from all the very real things that exist in the world - potential dangers, naughty words, evil people, pictures of boobies on the internet, etc. It's a joke. Somewhere along the line "parenting" ceased to exist. Now either both parents have to work so much they're never home (or there's only one) so they feel guilty about it or they just can't be bothered, so they feel that restricting kids' access to "bad" things is enough - or perhaps a substitute to placate their own failure. They now seem to think if they shelter their kids and Disni-fy their entire upbringings that's adequate.

Wrong.

The P.C. movement was born out of this idiotic mentality that suddenly people are these precious little glass ornaments that are fragile and delicate and can't be offended or they'll shatter - forever broken. What an utter load of horse****. While I think that civility and the rules of polite conversation dictate that a person moderate their speaking and choose words that get the point across (first and foremost) and aren't deliberately inflammatory (secondly), I believe P.C. has undermined this concept.

If someone WANTS to speak in an overtly offensive manner, such is their right. I always understood "freedom of speech" to mean just that. I have the right to say what I want, when I want, to whom I want and even have the right to offend them, and to be offended in return by them. Can't take it? Got news for you - the strong survive. Find a way to cope with it or make the offender realize they're acting outside the boundaries of civilized behavior. Don't just give them (or me) that "well, that's offensive" crap. I normally just say, "good, now I've got your attention" in response. I don't do it willy-nilly, but it IS a tactic in conversation and has its place.

I'm not Xian either and personally find 90% of what supposedly "Christian" individuals do and say to be completely un-Christ-like (and yes, I know what this means - I was raised Catholic). But I don't give a damn about calling a holiday "Christmas" or having "Christmas trees". Belief in God is a historical part of this culture and even if we've now moved past the need for it, it IS a part of what got us here and we should at least acknowledge that. Is anyone REALLY harmed by history when it's accurate?