You couldn't make it up dept. no.58: I am tempted to say, politics as usual

[fpb]

From today's Sky News:

An Independent councillor who sold a woman with learning difficulties for sex has been given a 12-month suspended jail sentence.

Comments

[dirigibletrance]

12 month suspended means that he serves no actual jail time, right?

Well, while it's rather sick, it's not suprising. Over on our side of the Atlantic prostitution is such a big problem in many major cities that the police routinely ignore it to focus on crimes that they feel they could actually make a dent in.

[rfachir]

As long as drug addiction is financed by the "victimless crime," and people chose to destroy themselves and their children, and other helpless people like this woman, cops and social workers won't ignore it. They just have to focus their attention on the ones who are going to die first - Social Triage. Prostitution is only ignored in bad fiction.

[dirigibletrance]

Whatever. Not every cop, or every Police department, is as idealistic as you think they are.

[fpb]

If they do not work in the service of an ideal, what do they work for? If it is for a paycheck, Macdonald's offers one as well, without the danger of being shot at.

[patchworkmind]

Whoa.

revolted indeed!

[moonspinner]

You took the words out of my mouth.

"Learning Difficulties"

[jordan179]

An Independent councillor who sold a woman with learning difficulties for sex has been given a 12-month suspended jail sentence.

This line is a good illustration of why PC-speak is bad.

Why? Because neither this, nor any other line in the article, explains why her "learning difficulties" enabled him to "sell" her for sex.

Based on what happened in the story, I could guess that the woman in question was mentally retarded, or at least subnormal, but the phrase "learning difficulties" could mean anything all the way down to minor dyslexia or numerical spoonerism, either case of which is compatible with any level of intelligence, from profound idiocy to supergenius.

A similar idiocy is the term "Asian," which tells one absolutely nothing about the race of the individual save that he is probably not Negro (he could, of course, be white, since Russia is one of the major Asian nations).

Re: "Learning Difficulties"

[headnoises]

Agree on the PC, disagree on the "Asian"-- although "Caucasian" annoys me for similar reasons; the Caucasus region is between Turkey, Russia and Iran. My ancestors look nothin' like any of those groups. While admitting you have a good point, please let me explain:

I *know* that when folks say Asian they mean folks with generally straight black hair, almond-yellowish skin, dark eyes with whatever the technical term is for that bit of flesh that causes the sharper almondish shape and a general disposition to being smaller than the average American.

Given the situation, I can *guess* that the woman is one of those who is either very slow or very trusting or just down-right stupid, but I don't actually know. She could be dyslexic and of a helpful nature, talked into this deal; she could be one of those folks who just can't process written words but who honestly wanted to be a prostitute.

I can't know, which is what *Really* annoys me-- they're using language to cloud understanding, rather than to clear up misconception.

Re: "Learning Difficulties"

[fpb]

I am afraid you are incorrect. IN the United Kingdom, which is where this piece of news comes from, "Asian" generally means from the Indian subcontinent, and is most often an euphemism for a Muslim of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin. Likewise, "learning disabilities" is universally understood to mean "severely retarded, enough to need professional help". I'm afraid you just have to know the specific polite British lies.

Re: "Learning Difficulties"

[headnoises]

Biggest problem with a World Wide Web-- polite euphimisims don't carry all that well.

I can just imagine the fainting from Mr. Obama if my (now dead) Godfather had refered to him as a Marker.(he was an old Basque sheep herder-- they have one black-wooled sheep for every X number of sheep.)