The "G"-Word"? What in the world might that be? This excerpt sets you straight:
"Don't call me Grandma! That is the advice from new-age grandparents keen to break with tradition. The latest generation of first-time grandparents have declared titles like Granny, Gramps and Poppy too old-fashioned. Leading the naming revolution are baby-boomers demanding the children of their sons and daughters call them something more "youthful". Mima, LaLa, Ducky, Honey, Bubba and Guapo are names gaining popularity. Hollywood actor Goldie Hawn prefers grandson Ryder to call her Lola. Older People Speak Out president Val French, of Brisbane, said families were keen to avoid the stigma accompanying grandparenthood, and the grandparent-grandchild relationship was far less formal than it used to be. Grandma and grandpa really belong to a generation that's gone," she said."
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I kid you not.
Another "insensitive" book about American Indians
Hoosier author, James Alexander Thom, is nationally known for his Indian-related historical novels. But his novel "Follow the River" is now coming under fire from a few American Indians. Excerpt:
"The novel is also well-credentialed -- a heavily researched, fictional account of the true story of Mary Ingles' capture by Shawnee Indians in 1755 in Virginia and her survival and eventual escape, told from the white woman's perspective..... Thom's account misrepresents and even maligns Indians, said Debra Haza. She is a Columbus resident who serves on the city's cultural diversity committee and is a member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. "We are portrayed as savages and squaws. An Indian man is described as having a snakelike appearance. He (Thom) has all these misconceptions going through her (Mary Ingles') head," she said.... Denning's objections include Thom's liberal use of the word squaw -- as offensive as any racial slur, she said"
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Gasp! Fancy referring to an Indian woman in pioneer days as a "squaw". No doubt everybody in those days referred to her as "Madam". And we no longer say "savages" for savage pre-civilization people, of course. They are "people in harmony with nature". The fact that they killed off most species of the original large animals of North America and the fact that they kept murdering one-another in inter-tribal wars is just a patriarchal hegemonist myth (or something), of course.
I have got absolutely nothing against American Indians, as such, but the nonsense perpetrated in their name by (mainly) whites is another matter.
America's Most Unmentionable Four-letter Word: Race
Vincent Sarich, a molecular anthropologist who has been at the centre of many of the most newsworthy DNA discoveries of recent decades including the molecular clock hypothesis, the "mitochrondrial eve" hypothesis and the discovery of the genetic closeness of humans and chimps has now published a book rubbishing the claim that "Race Does not Exist". Speaking about humans and chimps, recently it has been found that the gap is wider than first reported a decade or so ago
