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Square Dance Drama
Apr. 20th, 2012 11:29 amCALLERLAB officially announced yesterday that the Advanced call "half-breed thru" is being renamed to "brace thru." There has been low level grumbling for many years that the term "half-breed" was demeaning and insulting; I have cringed every time I've had to use it, and have taken great pains to avoid using the call unless absolutely necessary. Personally, I'm relieved it's being renamed to something innocuous.
I suspect a huge portion of the square dance world would shrug its shoulders, realize very little has changed and move on as though nothing had happened. Of course, those who object to the renaming are incredibly vociferous in their objections --after the fact.
I find the basis for the objections a little odd. For the most part, there are three lines of argument.
1. "I'm not insulted by the term 'half-breed,' therefore no one else could be. This is just political correctness!"
2. "I'll have to redraft *all* my choreo cards!"
3. "Change?! I demand a vote!"
Argument #3 is easily dismissed. Calls are determined by program lists issued by CALLERLAB; each list is maintained by a particular committee with open membership. Want something changed? Join the committee, lobby for your change and vote in committee. There is no cost except time. These things aren't done in secret by a cabal in a secret chamber in some faraway island. If you didn't know the change was coming, you weren't paying attention. And now that the change has been made, the same process can be used to change it back: those complaining have every right to join the committee, propose the change and vote as they wish.
Argument #2 is also pretty easily demolished. It's just a name change: there was no change to the definition or the program list where it resided. One can either just scratch out the old name and scribble in the new one, or just leave the cards as is and mentally substitute the new call on the fly. Any caller worthy of the title should be able to do this.
Argument #1 seems to be the most common reaction on the callers' email list currently. As you can guess, I don't give it much credibility. Whether a term is insulting or not is subjective, not objective; just because a handful of people don't find it offensive doesn't mean others can't. Social context matters a great deal too: an intimate friend calling me a 'dumb bitch' over cocktails at happy hour is a world apart from, say, a manager at a business meeting.
As square dance callers, the words we inject into a microphone are amplified by both the sound systems and by our position as community leaders. Verbal missteps by dancers are forgotten in seconds, missteps by club officers in hours or days, missteps by callers might as well be etched a mile high on the side of a mountain for eternity. What we say to whom and when matters enormously. Even if one could imagine a world where 'half-breed' wasn't an insult, the universe isn't static: there was a time the infamous n-word was commonly heard in even polite conversation but few would accept it today.
I think there may be an age split on the 'brace thru' renaming issue, but it's hard to tell. My perception (and it is only that, a perception) is that no one under the age of 40 has objected while those who complain the loudest are 50+ years of age. However, this may be because the number of callers under the age of 40 is miniscule compared to those aged 50 or more.
In any case, I follow CALLERLAB rules and heartily embrace this particular list change. And I can finally use the call without cringing.
I suspect a huge portion of the square dance world would shrug its shoulders, realize very little has changed and move on as though nothing had happened. Of course, those who object to the renaming are incredibly vociferous in their objections --after the fact.
I find the basis for the objections a little odd. For the most part, there are three lines of argument.
1. "I'm not insulted by the term 'half-breed,' therefore no one else could be. This is just political correctness!"
2. "I'll have to redraft *all* my choreo cards!"
3. "Change?! I demand a vote!"
Argument #3 is easily dismissed. Calls are determined by program lists issued by CALLERLAB; each list is maintained by a particular committee with open membership. Want something changed? Join the committee, lobby for your change and vote in committee. There is no cost except time. These things aren't done in secret by a cabal in a secret chamber in some faraway island. If you didn't know the change was coming, you weren't paying attention. And now that the change has been made, the same process can be used to change it back: those complaining have every right to join the committee, propose the change and vote as they wish.
Argument #2 is also pretty easily demolished. It's just a name change: there was no change to the definition or the program list where it resided. One can either just scratch out the old name and scribble in the new one, or just leave the cards as is and mentally substitute the new call on the fly. Any caller worthy of the title should be able to do this.
Argument #1 seems to be the most common reaction on the callers' email list currently. As you can guess, I don't give it much credibility. Whether a term is insulting or not is subjective, not objective; just because a handful of people don't find it offensive doesn't mean others can't. Social context matters a great deal too: an intimate friend calling me a 'dumb bitch' over cocktails at happy hour is a world apart from, say, a manager at a business meeting.
As square dance callers, the words we inject into a microphone are amplified by both the sound systems and by our position as community leaders. Verbal missteps by dancers are forgotten in seconds, missteps by club officers in hours or days, missteps by callers might as well be etched a mile high on the side of a mountain for eternity. What we say to whom and when matters enormously. Even if one could imagine a world where 'half-breed' wasn't an insult, the universe isn't static: there was a time the infamous n-word was commonly heard in even polite conversation but few would accept it today.
I think there may be an age split on the 'brace thru' renaming issue, but it's hard to tell. My perception (and it is only that, a perception) is that no one under the age of 40 has objected while those who complain the loudest are 50+ years of age. However, this may be because the number of callers under the age of 40 is miniscule compared to those aged 50 or more.
In any case, I follow CALLERLAB rules and heartily embrace this particular list change. And I can finally use the call without cringing.
