Very PC and all, but remember after Oklahoma, everyone was shouting 'Arab,' until McVeigh and his cronies were picked up. Ultimately, I doubt that it'll be anyone other than Al-Qaeda, or an off-shoot, but even if it is someone or some other group absolutely not connected with the Middle East, they too should be/will be called terrorists. A moot point really........
this one is so obvious to be done by Arabs after all we have all those shops in Edgware Road owned by Jews
Need to call a spade a spade; if it were Muslim terrorists involved in London bombing, then they should be specifically blamed and there is no need for politically-correct speech in the slightest! Terrorists!
you are a funny guy.... I'll be sure to take your advice and address criminals by their race and religion not their name or their organization names .... anyways kudos on totally missing the point I was trying to make!
Actually (and sorry to spoil the party) this has nothing to do with being "PC". This is a direct result of the language used in the Beeb's governance charter, which forbids the organisation from reporting on events using what is termed as "pejorative language". In other words, the Beeb should always strive to report facts in a value-free manner. Naturally, some instances will arise where that leads to outwardly pernickety use of language (i.e. changing "terrorists" to "bombers") but that's a tiny price to pay for maintaining the organisation's freedoms, granted by that same charter. But hey - the "it's PC gone mad" spiel is more fun I suppose. Worn out, repetitive and reactionary ... but more fun.
So basically what you are saying is blame it on the British predisposition to be tight-a$$es ? It all makes sense now
Yes. it's only fair this way after all American sense of humor was blamed for the crap they said on FOX news about these attacks!!
But see FOX is garbage and the BBC isn't. But I do give you credit for the light speed FOX is evil defense
and the love that I harbor for BBC... I'm gonna name our first child George and see to it that he'll become a plumber....
Well the George part I can understand As for him being a plumber, I suppose it's a good trade. See I'm not a plumber, I work in IT which you could draw parallels to plumbing I guess in that there are times I unclog the pipes if you will, but kudos to you for being the 1,235 person to make that incorrect assumption
lighten up buddy it was just an easy word that had "plmr" in it... but the true kudos again goes to you for counting the ppl who made that mistake!
You'll have to explain to me why one wouldn't refer to the perpetrators of the bombings as "terrorists."
Actually, the Beeb will have to explain that. I call them terrorists too. But I can appreciate the (entirely technical) point that doing so before the investigation has been concluded falls under the category of "pejorative language". I never said it had to make sense, nor that we should all follow suit. I was merely having a little tinkle on the right-winger/PC blah blah before it gathered it's usual frothy, unstoppable momentum.
Main Entry: pejorative Function: adjective : having negative connotations; especially : tending to disparage or belittle I still can't wrap my head around how calling them terrorists is wrong. They bombed innocent people, of course whatever we call them is going to have a negative connotation, but "terrorist" is no more pejorative than "bomber." Why not just get it over with and call them "a bunch of ****sucking cowards who need to have their nuts removed by a wood chipper?" But the BBC is too civil for that. Where's Fox News and Brit Hume when you need them?
Don't worry, it's just that I'm wasting value "PC" ranting time. George is a busy man - Oprah's on in a minute.
Matt, what's it like to be a c0ck holster ? Unless she's on Bloomberg or CNN, I don't think I'll get to see her Thank god for Tivo however. I sure hope that Dr Phil is on today. Or better yet that Tom Cruise fella !
Well like I said, it's one of those anomalies of a codified way of communicating that are the by-product of having a charter which does as much as the BBC Charter does for ensuring that the Beeb is the excellent output broadcaster it is. Of course it's silly, but it's also just formulaic, automatic and largely inconsequential. Only if you immediately create a mind's eye vision of a load of wishy-washy apparatchiks going "You can't say that" and sending each other tortured memos can you acutally eke some form of a story out of this.