The next man that makes a move, the n- gets it.

The great thing about Political Corectness is that we can now eliminate any creativity,speech or activity that might offend the most delicate snow flake.

My favorite movie as well. The versions shown on TV have been cut so many different ways over the years-at one time a few additional scenes with Sheriff Bart and Mongo were added to make up the time loss.
I saw parts of Blazing Saddles last week. They might as well stop running it, because without all the unPC words they cut, it sounds as if the actors all have speech impediments.

Still think the movie would have been better if Mr. Brooks had stood up to the studio and made the movie with Richard Pryor as originally conceived.

"When you declare one group -- or certain groups -- off-limits for jokes..."

Somewhat related; I'd argue somewhat the same about certain words.

When you declare certain words off limits (the "N" word comes to mind) you give that word more power than it deserves. The fact that some schools have tried to "ban" Mark Twain because he called the runaway slave "Nigger Jim" supports this view. They take offense at the language and seem to miss the whole anti-slavery point Twain was making.

An opposite example is the word "Chicano." Some things I've read suggest that the word Chicano was used mostly in a derogatory manner prior to the 1930s. Many Mexican-Americans took control of the word and turned it into a positive. How many folks today recognize Chicano as a slur instead of simply an ethnic identity without any negative connotations?

It does make me wonder if the PC police are really interested in improving things, or do they wish to retain the status quo? (rhetorical question, we all know they wish to keep things the same so that some politicians and others can claim "you need me to help fight for your rights!" without actually giving you anything.)

FAVORITE movie of all time!

It does make me wonder if the PC police are really interested in improving things, or do they wish to retain the status quo? (rhetorical question, we all know they wish to keep things the same so that some politicians and others can claim "you need me to help fight for your rights!" without actually giving you anything.)

This is it EXACTLY. And then there are the race-baiters like Sharpton and Jackson to keep the momentum going.

bmused, I saw it on cable a couple of weeks ago, UNCUT and UNEDITED. It was delightful!

Politically correct is absolutely wrong.

And this. I've always said that political correctness is neither political nor correct. What it is, is an excuse for people to not take personal responsibility for themselves. It absolves them of taking any responsibility for their lives. It makes it possible for those people to justify getting hand outs. And THAT, too, should be wrong.

Me, too, about favorite, along with Young Frankenstein. I didn't remember that the extra Mongo scenes were not part of the theatrical release. I own it and watch it a couple of times per year. I miss the extra Mongo scenes -- I think it should have taken more than one attempt to "woop" him.

"...but *not* the Irish!"

I went to a boys' Catholic high school in a major city in the late 60's. About half the boys were from ethnic minority groups, mostly black (although the term of art back then was Afro-American).

I am white with an Italian heritage made evident by my name. One of my teachers would occasionally call me "the WOP." It was funny. I loved the guy; he was my favorite teacher.

In an all-boys school, as you might imagine, a good old-fashioned fist fight broke out from time to time. We found them pretty entertaining; nobody was scared, and they either ended naturally (trust me, true fist fights are self-limiting) or a priest separated the combatants. Nobody made a big deal out of it.

I don't remember RACE being an issue in any of this. Maybe it was and I've forgotten. But, truly and sincerely, our school was a melting pot and nobody seemed to care about stuff outside an individual's control. What you did - your accomplishments as a scholar, a member of the debate team, a yearbook editor, an actor, a quarterback - was far more important than your ethnic heritage and your socio-economic class.

Anecdote (from the 1984 "The Book of Kisses" by Danny Biederman - check out his more recent book, "The Incredible World of Spy-fi"):

College campus in 1977. A male student - Wesley - asks Brooks if he would ever consider doing a sequel to "Blazing Saddles". Brooks says no and explained why:

"It's like kissing the same girl twice. You know how it is, Wesley...you kiss her once, that's a breakthrough. Twice, what are you trying to prove?"

"But I LIKE doing it twice," said Wesley.

"Then marry the girl, Wesley! Marry her! This time, it's for real!"