There used to be a state psychiatric institution located where I used to live, called the Northampton State Hospital. One day, I found a map of the city of Northampton, Massachusetts, from the 1890s, and the name of the hospital at that time was the "State Lunatic Asylum." Imagine the political correction that would fly if the state neglected to change the name of that facility for the full 100 years! To use the term "leprosy" today would be analogous to "State Lunatic Asylum."
Scott Hudnall wrote:
I was watching CNN the other night, and it really hit me how much the US press "dumbs down" the news - and not just converting metric to imperial measures. Lou Dobbs did a segment on the surge in Hansen's Disease cases among illegal immigrants. In his opening remarks, he stated "leprosy, now called Hansen's Disease......" then proceeded to call it "leprosy" throughout the segment. If it is now called Hansen's Disease, why not call it such? If a measurement is stated in metric, why not quote it as such? I got more than a little frustrated with CNN on this one. I guess the "soft bigotry of low expectations" is alive and well at CNN.
--
Scott Hudnall
Seattle, WA USA
-- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA +1(432)528-7724 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
