Mary Poppins gets a PG rating

If you had to pick a film that you think would be totally wholesome fun for the whole family, Mary Poppins would seem like a good bet. So I was surprised to learn that it is now being given a PG rating (which stands for Parental Guidance) by British censors, a step up from its previous U (Universal) rating.

Why?

Because it has ‘discriminatory language’, specifically the word ‘hottentots’.

In it, a derogatory term originally used by white Europeans about nomadic peoples in southern Africa is used to refer to soot-faced chimney-sweeps.
…

In the film, Admiral Boom, a neighbour and Naval veteran who thinks he is still in charge of a ship, uses the word twice.

The British Board of Film Classification said it classified the film in 1964 and then again for a re-release in 2013.

“Most recently, the film was resubmitted to us in February 2024 for another theatrical re-release, and we reclassified it PG for discriminatory language,” a spokesperson said.

“Mary Poppins (1964) includes two uses of the discriminatory term ‘hottentots’.

“While Mary Poppins has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned, and ultimately exceeds our guidelines for acceptable language at U. We therefore classified the film PG for discriminatory language.”

The Oxford English Dictionary says the term, which referred to the Khoikhoi and San people, is “generally considered both archaic and offensive”.

Hottentots is a word that I had heard of before and had a vague idea that it referred to a group of people but could not have told you who they were, somewhat like the group ‘Huguenots’. I learned who the Huguenots were only after reading The Three Musketeers. I did not know that Hottentots was an offensive term.

Some people might think that this is yet another example of hypersensitivity but I think that it is because the people being thus described are not as well known. But just as we now avoid labels that are seen as slurs when used for groups of people whom we know, we should be just as willing to avoid using slurs for the less well-known.

Haley exposes Trump’s weakness

Nikki Haley lost to serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) in the South Carolina primary by a margin of 60-40%. Some observers had expected that although she had vowed before the election to stay in the race whatever the outcome, that was jus bravado to keep her supporters motivated to still come out and vote for her. But after her loss, Haley gave a speech where she vowed to continue, promising to make big ad buys in Michigan that voted on February 27 (where she lost again by a margin of 68-27%) and in the many Super Tuesday states that vote on March 5th. Oddly enough, the more she loses, the more she seems to be enjoying being in the race and needling SSAT, which must be greatly infuriating him.

The media are portraying South Carolina as a big win for SSAT but I don’t see it that way. Sure winning by 20% points is pretty convincing in a normal race but not when you consider that as the former president, SSAT is like an incumbent with all the advantages that it brings. Furthermore, pretty much every member of the state Republican establishment, including its elected representatives, endorsed SSAT. Senator Tim Scott was particularly obsequious in his support for SSAT despite Haley having initially appointed him to that position. The only factor going for Haley was that she had once been the governor of that state, which would undoubtedly have helped her by giving her a lot of name recognition and familiarity with voters.
[Read more…]

Yay, we are back!

As you are no doubt aware, the entire Freethoughtsblog network has been down for a week. PZ Myers at Pharyngula has been working tirelessly to identify the problem and rectify it and finally succeeded.

He explains that the problem was an entirely spurious allegation that was made to our blog hosting service by someone who goes by the name “Deathlord Al-Zawahiri”, and how it was resolved.

This surprises me. You would have thought that getting a complaint from someone who styles themselves with such an absurd name would be cause for serious skepticism. But the people who run these places do not seem to exercise much common sense.

Anyway, thanks to PZ for his tireless work. We don’t pay him nearly enough. In fact, we do not pay him anything at all. He does this purely out of personal commitment.