Friday 27 August 2021

What's in a Name?

                                                                  Go whiteys! 

I've commented many times on this blog concerning the toxicity of society's emerging 'woke culture' driven by a few left wing-nuts obsessing over censoring/cauterising the best we have in our Western culture. Time and time again, the 'wokey pokey' brigade are shown to be divorced from reality and the aspirations and opinions of the reasonable majority. The masses are starting to revolt and are expressing disaffection with forced attempts of societal engineering by 'voting with their feet'. In other words, withholding their endorsement (gelt) and expressing frank disdain. Just look at instances where companies think they are tapping into the buying population's minds (read=pockets) by producing excruciating and cringe worthy adverts supposedly pandering unto the 'woke mindset'. Ill thought out campaigns of this ilk have seriously backfired in nearly all occasions resulting in a serious loss in revenue. Check out the debacle at Gillette after airing a series of bewildering 'woke ads' for the Gillette razor. The ads were blatantly insulting to men, particularly white men, and strayed into other world lands. Who can forget where the father is teaching his trans son how to shave. The backlash was swift and severe ultimately costing the company 12 billion dollars in lost revenue, overall. Advertising execs with their lattes and pony tails are so blinkered, arrogant and out of touch with the population they are trying, so unsuccessfully, to influence it borders on the insane. 

The main narrative of today's post concentrates on New Zealand's sports governing body decision to seriously consider 'removing' the informal, unofficial name for the nation's football team, 'The All Whites'. This affectionate moniker is long standing and is in accord with Kiwi tradition where national sport teams have been colourised and branded with the likes of: 'Black Sticks' (Hockey); 'Black Caps' (Cricket); 'Silver Ferns' (Netball); 'All Blacks' (Rugby); and of course, the infamous and irrepressible/irascible 'Taupe Ferrets' (National Ferret wobbling Team).  

The NZ Football Chief, Andrew Pregnell, stated that discussions were ongoing with a view to change the name of the nation's footy team. He was quoted as saying: "we are on a journey around cultural inclusivity."  The implication, of course, is that the current name can be seen as excluding non-white ethnic groups. What a sensitive bunch of snowflakes we have become. When the name 'All Whites' was first introduced forty years ago it was seen as a slight whimsy to contrast with the more popular and more famous 'All Black' rugby team. Only a moron, or more to the point someone with a political agenda, could seriously impute racist connotations to this rather bland nickname.  

But let us expand the nature of the debate for the sake of consistency and inclusivity. Notable for its absence from the discussion is the mention or inclusion (what happened to inclusivity?) of the iconic, NZ rugby team, 'All Blacks'. Surely, this is racist, highly inflammatory and deeply offensive to melanin depleted folk. Mayhap we should raise a petition demanding a change in the derogatory appellation? I'm sure the good folk of New Zealand will prove highly receptive to a proposed name change.  After all, what's in a name?  

Let me know in the comments your suggested alternative designations. To get the ball rolling, I'll add a couple of suggestions of my own: 'The Fluffy Pink Bunny Rabbits'; 'The 18 decillion varieties of colours'. You can see the fans in the stands, shouting- "Go 18 followed by 33 zeros". And my personal favourite. 'The frolicking ferrets of indeterminate hue'. Go ferrets.    










    

 

2 comments:

  1. I recall when (in a previous iteration of political correctness) there was a big tut-tut about using the word 'blackboards' in schools. That seems to have died a death, so I have great hopes of the Woke iteration of political correctness dying too. It may take some time though as too many academics and drones have attempted to make careers of it.

    Meanwhile I suggest dodging the sports team issue with humour, by calling the football team 'The Team That Dares Not Speak Its Name'.

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    1. Your suggestion has merit and appeals to my warped sense of humour. Yea, I suspect that 'wokeness' has an expiry date and will dissipate in the wind in the not too distant future.

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