That's the whole thing about PC; touchy. But there're many good reasons. Your friend was right; that sign would not have been funny and it could have led to real trouble. You were innocently trying to be funny, and to some in the audience it might have been funny, but any person of color would have been mightily offended (and yeah, "person of color" is not offensive but "colored person" is). They would not have read past the first half of the sign before letting you know what they thought of your humor. Depending on how long ago you opened your shop you may get that now. You are Nicaraguan by birth. You've said you have an accent. I have the misfortune to be a natural mimic, which was useful when my wife and I trod the boards as actors, but to this day I have to be careful not to pick up folks' accents lest they be offended. I can do lots, and I can do them funny, and I do, but I try to be mindful of my audience, and it's not so much PC and/or not wanting to get punched out as that I sincerely do not want to offend or upset anyone. As an American born white male I carry a load of privileged baggage and I know it. Where do I get off making fun of people? My ancestors were not colonialists, not in this country anyway, but most of them were German. Wanna talk baggage? Yeeks. But they weren't German colonialists either. My great-grandfather on my mother's side was a "butter and egg" grocer with a tiny corner storefront on Third Avenue in NY. He spoke German at home along with his wife which is how their 4 kids became bilingual. Nevertheless they were harassed during the "Great War" because they were German! At the outset of WW2 they feared internment along with the Japanese!Duck wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:49 amminniev wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2018 9:38 pmI toyed with the notion of creating a Whites Only sign in Photoshop and hanging off the pelicans' log, and a sign that said "Colored" for the cormorants. I grew up with those signs everywhere, and asked lots of questions about them as a child. I'm glad the signs now are confined to museum exhibits but it troubles me that the mindset behind those signs has become resurgent with a strange acceptance.
When I first opened my tattoo shop I decorated the walls with some typical "tattoo shop" style signs; "If your Shopping, I'm not Selling", "Good tattoos aren't cheap. Cheap tattoos aren't good" and "Tipping isn't a town in China". I created one that said; "Colored people only. Or those who are about to be colored". I thought it was hilarious but I was cautioned not to hang that particular one up as it may be taken the wrong way. "Screw 'em if they can't take a joke." was my mentality but I deferred to their counsel and never put it up.
PC can be a touchy subject so it's probably wise to be safe than funny.
I think PC is just Polite Company. I love to be what I think of as "funny," but I also try to think through how something I do or say or (especially!) write may be perceived because I genuinely do not want to hurt someones else's feelings. Once it's out there it's hard to recall. As an American born white Christian (not but that how I was raised) male I am beyond lucky and I know I am perceived by many as the wicked child of colonialism, probably including Nicaraguans who, along with everyone else in South America have been cheerfully screwed over by Big Brother for most of 200 years. I bet I don't have to tell you we got Panama...