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Passive-aggressive bullshit

04 May 2008 in Human Nature, Notes, Politics by Stilgherrian | 3 comments

Cartoon of Merlin Mann

What does “family friendly” mean? Merlin Mann, who writes at 43 Folders, explains it well: “I don’t mind people saying something is ‘not appropriate for kids,’ but declaring it’s not ‘family friendly’ is passive-aggressive bullshit. Almost anything can be ‘family friendly’ if your family is awesome and you’re not a normative dick.”

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  1. bernard’s avatar

    bernard on 04 May 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Actually, isn’t the emphasis on “Hard working Aussie” families these days?
    (and think one of the tags is not-quite-right)

    Reply

  2. Stilgherrian’s avatar

    Stilgherrian on 05 May 2008 at 7:15 am

    @bernand: The current political phrase is “working families”. Wikipedia says the phase originated in UK politics in about 1995 Its usage is a propaganda technique known as a glittering generality.

    Reply

  3. Quatrefoil’s avatar

    Quatrefoil on 05 May 2008 at 9:06 am

    The rhetoric of the ‘family’ is really starting to get up my nose, to the point that there’s a serious essay brewing. Aside from the question of what actually constitutes a family anyway, the assumption behind it is that people who aren’t in families (for which I think you can read families with children at home) don’t count. Could we stop talking about ‘working families’ and start talking about ‘working people’? Julia Gillard, of all people, should know better. All of the stuff about work-life balance and needing to make ends meet applies to people without kids too.

    Reply