Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio has forced a construction crew to stop working after workers put up a warning sign reading “Men Working.” According to the report below, the college declared that the sign was “sexist and non-inclusive” and had to be removed before any further work resumed.
A female college employee complained that she found the sign offensive. Sinclair’s director of public information Adam Murka explained that the college takes “quite seriously” its “deep commitment to diversity. I am not sure that this particular battle reinforces the serious nature of that commitment. I do think that the construction company should go with gender neutral signs like “Construction Zone” but the necessity of stopping such work over such a sign seems rather over the top to me. The concern may be that “construction zone” does not remind drivers of the presence of workers and “workers working” is a bit awkward.
What do you think?
Source: Daily Mail
“The Neanderthal dna is alive and well and ignorant of subtle messages of oppression.”
You so brand an entire human species of incapable of understanding subtle messages of oppression. The telling point: “they mingled and mated with Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East or North Africa as much as 80,000 years ago”. That the mating was possible and the DNA passed on indicates they were within the “human species” (horse-donkey-mule). What next? Africans are child-like? Culture is racial?
Don’t put the Neanderthal down, if anything we need another checkbox for the next census. “Caucasion-Neanderthal”, I’d go for it if only to give them their due.
(My tongue so irritates my cheek, I hope it so irritates you)
As a woman, I have no issues with “Men at Work” or “Men Working” signs. I am all for equality, but this is like saying that “peace for all man kind” should be changed to “peace for all human kind” because it excludes women. And if you have ever studied foreign languages, if there is a mixed sex group, you use the male form of the group word. Is this also sexist??? If this is all this person has to complain about in life, than she should be thankful.
The Neanderthal dna is alive and well and ignorant of subtle messages of oppression.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1987568,00.html
excerpt:
“Comparisons with DNA from modern humans show that some Neanderthal DNA has survived to the present. Moreover, by analyzing ancient DNA alongside modern samples, the team was able to identify a handful of genetic changes that evolved in modern humans sometime after their ancestors and Neanderthals diverged, 440,000 to 270,000 years ago.”
I like the European approach of using pictures which are independent of language.
I explain poorly. The massed retribution in fact and in threat which certain segments of society inflicted or threatened Lindsey Stone with does detain others from protesting, in general and specifically as she did.
Conformism is not new. And some would say that it is assisted all too well by the support of those who would use it for their purposes, such as worship of the military, which restricts critcism of it and our wars.
That is one reason that I despise religions—-all of them. And they also inflict not only mind death but the stultification of the society which they influence heavily, such as all the sorts of “fundamentalism” that dominate thought in America.
Jeez, two who can discuss, and meaningfully too.
Just to have something to add:
“For whatever reason, it offends some standard that society in general sets.” You have just addressed all laws. If you mean offending some standard not enforced by laws, a standard that leads only to some shaming or ostracism by society in general, fine. Even that is usually only done by a segment. And that’s done by and in all societies. It still isn’t blasphemy.”
No, but it still kills freedom of speech when you do what Lindsey Stone did, and I defended. I want the ultimate. such as one of the pioneers of the internet counseled. “If something offends or is wrong, don’t try to right it, Just ignore it.” Let a thousand tongues speak.
Killing people for behaviour of thought deviation is not the ideal society.
BTW, have seen the signs outside of Mecca, but went up to Taif anyway which was permitted.
Perspective and knowledge are such precious things. I have little but treasure that I have. To enter a mosque in Cordoba, and see in the column arches the palm tree fronds of Mhhds first preaching place in Medina repeated here in the mosque..
CAIR is a good source for American muslim problems addressed with Ameican ideas and justice tools by the group.
Absolutely, all sings like this with short explicit (sexist) messages should be changed.
Here is a possible rewrite…
“Some unknown quantity of People (some possibly men, some possibly women, some possibly gay, some possibly straight) Working (well not always working, sometimes they are on lunch break or asleep at night, or perhaps its a day off) Ahead.
That should be easy to read while driving at 60 MPH or walking by.
Ridicules.
Prf
Sling Trebuchet,
“Blasphemy by different names..” I understood your point, but using blasphemy so broadly destroys the meaning of the word. Find other words or you are left with all is blasphemy by my estimation of your words.
Back to a related point: My wife bought a cross in Vatican City. She isn’t a Catholic, yet she could go into Vatican City without issue. Barging into the Holy See or the quarters of the Pope might have led to an escort out. So…
Yeah, there is a square miles issue. A whole city where all religions are banned but one is a square miles issue. It just isn’t equivalent to some inner sanctum restricted to believers only. To carry your argument to the absurd, if all religions but one where banned from an entire continent that would be equivalent to not letting non-Mormons into specific areas of a Mormon Temple.
“What I meant was some action (not directly related to God/Religion) that called down some retribution from society around. For whatever reason, it offends some standard that society in general sets.” You have just addressed all laws. If you mean offending some standard not enforced by laws, a standard that leads only to some shaming or ostracism by society in general, fine. Even that is usually only done by a segment. And that’s done by and in all societies. It still isn’t blasphemy.
Blasphemy in the context of Islam, or even Christianity a hundred years ago, carries the weight of law and punishment accordingly, as well the shaming and ostracism of the society.
” The construction industry’s a tough nut to crack. ”
Because most women don’t want to crack it. A lot of men don’t either. I did construction before going into the military and during college. Digging ditches, clearing heavy debris, forming concrete, doing roofs with asphalt, doing roads with asphalt, doing the really back-breaking work of construction (I’ll ignore mining) isn’t something most women want to do. Some yes, and they should get the opportunity, but the pool of women willing to do the work is so much less than pool of the men willing to do the work that it can’t be ascribed solely to sex bias.
Go to a mall and see who’s doing the retail work in most cases (I neglect men’s suits, though at Nordstrom’s a woman did the fitting for me), and it isn’t because men are turned away in droves through sexism.
There is a sex bias. Sometimes it’s actually by choice.
Peace 🙂
“That’s a far cry from where a State bans all other religions from whole cities. ”
A Holy Temple can be just a large Depths
A Holy City can be just a large Holy Temple.
It’s the same principle. There isn’t a ‘square miles’ rule I think.
Blasphemy by different names..
What I meant was some action (not directly related to God/Religion) that called down some retribution from society around. For whatever reason, it offends some standard that society in general sets.
If a politician/official loses their position because of an affair, it doesn’t much matter if the retribution comes direct from a religious source or from a more general public (?)current fashion(?). They haven’t broken any law, but they are punished.
SlingTrebuchet, (I duck to your moniker)
“The idea of some tribesman in a PAK mountain valley “hating our freedoms” is quite frankly ridiculous.” Have to agree, which is why I wrote they don’t hate our freedoms and have never used that phrase. I didn’t before your post and won’t now. Frankly, it’s stupid.
They have a different concept of what is freedom. Just as we did, for example, when Cleland and Joyce were banned, and Miller got you charged with obscenity by mail. You really have to wrap your mind around both a different culture and religion, both having different antecedents to European culture and religion.
European Christianity, which co-opted the cultural paganism, is what was left when Islam went on the march. I do believe the warring nature of Europe gave Christianity its flavor but also gave it a willingness to except science in all areas, while fighting it at the same time. Islam imported medical technology and military technology from Europe from roughly the 15th Century on even though Europe was second-world at best compared to the Islamic countries. Europe was a back-water for most of it’s history. The Roman Empire wasn’t as far reaching as the Islamic. Look at a map for that period and after 700 CE.
All that aside….
“The US has ‘blasphemy’(s) but under different names.” No, because you’ll find all that you wrote everywhere. Blasphemy is specific.
All that you listed after that could be from any Western country, even more so out of that sphere. Within that sphere, you could find abuses from Sweden to the UK depending on the subject. Any country, or culture or religion, judged in a vacuum, will not stand up well. They’re all bad, equally so, if judged adolescently.
BTW, I was raised Mormon, if only and solely because my mother forced it on me during summer visits. I can step onto the property, even enter the Temple, but can’t go into the depths. That’s a far cry from where a State bans all other religions from whole cities. Even Utah doesn’t do that; it allows Hindu Temples and Islamic Mosques in Salt Lake City. I don’t understand how people can make equivalence when there is none. The Mormon prejudice I do understand, just like “A Gentleman’s Agreement”. It never ends…
Check the Arab countries, there’s no comparison.
Perspective is so damn important to overcome insularity. Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra, thus Britannius.
Ariel,
I can see the guy circling Mecca in the 3 million crowd.
The guy beside him says “Wow! You just came from America? It sounds awful. I just read this: http://jonathanturley.org/2012/01/15/10-reasons-the-u-s-is-no-longer-the-land-of-the-free/
The idea of some tribesman in a PAK mountain valley “hating our freedoms” is quite frankly ridiculous.
That is unless they call the drones “Freedoms”.
“Hate our freedoms” is simply something made up to deflect the credulous from wondering why anyone would take it into their to attack the US.
The US has ‘blasphemy'(s) but under different names.
A politician discovered to have had an extra-marital affair has done something like it.
A construction company that puts up a “Men at Work” sign has done something like it.
.
When was the last time that you walked into a Mormon temple? (( assuming you’re not a Mormon ))
Should a Mormon be upset at not being allowed into Mecca?
People are the same the world over and through history. Civilisation-du-jour is a thin veneer.
It’s not really all that long since some US citizens had to sit in the back of the bus or could not get served in some establishments – in the US – and it was supported by law.
If a US citizen were abducted and tortured by a Muslim organisation there would be uproar and retaliation from the US Gov.
If the US do that to somebody, it’s not really a big deal apparently.
Have you seen the photos from Abu Ghraib?
Have you heard about the CIA black prisons?
Have you watched the slaughter of civilians in the Collateral Murder video?
How do you feel about drones attacking houses and funerals on the basis that an AQ leader might be present in the crowd of men, women and children?
How do you feel about drones returning to attack the same target a short while later in order to get the rescuers?
The ‘civilised’ West is just as capable of organised savagery as is the Mid-East.
Deep down, we are all the same overall in large groupings. We just wear different veneers.
.
Is there something less than uplifing about http://jonathanturley.org/2012/12/05/new-york-subway-killing-raises-new-questions-concerning-the-no-duty-to-rescue-rule/ ?
“They hate our Freeways”
No, wealthy Islamic countries have a lot of Freeways. Ever seen the signs regarding Mecca and Medina in SA with the “non-muslims” need to exit before? Ever seen the Freeways? They have really low gas prices too.
You can make light of it, but there is a big difference between what Islamic countries think of as “freedom” and the Western Industrialized Nations, which includes Asia as it isn’t just Europe and it’s colonies.
Blasphemy laws are big in the Islamic world today, want to do a buy-in on that? They have a different idea on “freedom” or “liberty” than we do because Islam is different in structure and history than Christianity. We gave up blasphemy laws; they still call for them and issue “Fatwas”, with monetary reward, to justify killing the blasphemers. Christians at their worst today do not go so far.
As an aside, the Islamic world fought ending slavery into the 1960’s. It should give you pause…
Yet, my children’s endocrinologist is a Syrian Muslim. He can’t say anything positive about the Islamic Arabic world other than we need to keep it in a third-world perspective. He is a member of an American Muslim group with emphasis on understanding Islam through American political values.
A humorous moment with him was when we had to face we had two children with Type I diabetes (my third child can’t store glycogen in her liver so she fights hypoglycemia). After the diagnosis he said he would be unavailable for two to three weeks and my wife immediately worried and asked how we could contact him if there was a problem. I did the “leave him alone he has to been on vacation sometime” to my wife. He responded “I’ll be in Mecca”, I said “so Hajj?”. And he gave this great American Muslim response: ” you know Hajj? [yes] It isn’t a vacation, I’m going to be circling Mecca with 3 million other men. I’d rather be home with my wife and children.” You had to hear the tone in his voice to get the full meaning.
Sign should read: Men At Work-Texting College Brats Beware Or Be Square
How about:
Road work.
or
Digging for you—–reminiscent of the ubitquitous ConEd signs in ’59 in NYC.