Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
This stamp got me thinking...
I wonder how this stamp would go over today?
I'm not sure if people would appreciate the "hint" or not by the government?
It must have been quite provocative back in the day? Maybe? Not sure...
But apparently they debated it's release for 5 years.
It's part of my Topical Medical Stamps album.
JR
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I don't remember too much being said about it. I do remember discussions of downsizing families to just two children.
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This one upset my kids, who asked me why I would collect this stamp because the “R” word was forbidden in our family. (My mother’s brother suffered a brain trauma and never progressed beyond the mental capacity of an 8 year old, and was taunted with that word through his life). It was a HUGE issue for me growing up and cost me a least one job when I objected to my boss constantly throwing out that word when we disagreed about issues.
I had to put it into historical context for my daughter and explain the good intentions - but currently “incorrect” word usage (Oddly, our friend who is a Psychiatrist and renowned autism expert uses that word constantly and unabashedly).
Anyway, these examples are all very interesting to compare “now and then”.
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Many stamps have had a social message.
This one was somewhat controversial since it says "You can beat it". The trend now seems to be not wanting to risk offending anyone.
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"The trend now seems to be not wanting to risk offending anyone"
I think that Ralph Nader, good old politically correct(but changing) said it best in a quote in regards to "trigger warnings" on campus :
"I mean, you repress people, you engage in anger, and what you do is turn people into skins that are blistered by moonbeams."
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Hi all,
LOL!
I'm glad you guys posted those next two stamps, cause they are also in my album!
Yep, I guess they were the social messages of the day.
Interesting to see.
Thanks,
JR
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Must be something to the family planning thing...in 1967 their were 90 kids getting on the school buses in my neighborhood ..many families had 5 kids..i doubt if they pick up 20 kids nowadays.
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Hi Phil,
I was just doing the numbers in my head, but I think nearly 100% of my friends have 3 children, with a few that have more.
My children were home schooled and in a very large home school group of about 50 families (Michigan is very receptive to home schooling). Most of those families were huge, sometimes as many as 10 kids, LOL, but they are absolutely not the norm, that is for sure!
Whew! I'll stick with my 3 kids. 
JR
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I actually appreciate the USPOD and USPS trying to be socially responsible.
Bringing up a topic allows people to talk, and talking might bring new options. Family planning, for instance, seems like a perfectly good place to start. Why not examine options?
Occasionally, a word's baggage changes: "retarded" is one such word. We don't use it any more, but the PO's intent was good: don't discard the child.
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"I ... appreciate ... USPS trying to be socially responsible...Bringing up a topic allows people to talk ... Why not examine options ... Occasionally, a word's baggage changes: "retarded" is one such word. We don't use it any more, but the PO's intent was good: don't discard the child. "
Totally agree David! I am far from being a politically correct guy, but still own (and assertively express) my personal "trigger words".
I think the USA has done a phenomenal job of advancing social issues through stamps and I like to use these as lessons, moreso than self-righteous lectures - including how the verbiage has changed over time.
And also, on the "don't discard the child" comment - remember that The Holocaust Stamps Project (Canada) is all about collecting 1.5M stamps - one for every child whose life was thrown away because they were considered expendable: a Jew, a disabled person, and so on.
Loving the respectful feedback on this "somewhat stamp-related" topic.
Dave.
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Some slogan postmarks have been pretty bad too. In the 50's Canada had one that said 'accidents are caused by people like you.' Meaning anyone can slip up and cause one so be careful. But, it seemed sort of insulting.
The worst one was one I've seen used in the UK as late as the 60's: "Spastics can be helped'. That term seems jarring today.
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Interesting that the term spastic changed to mean something totally different, almost like a hyper teenager. In the 80's it was a term that meant "hey man, calm down, you're getting all crazy!", a far cry from it's original intent (to describe a cerebral palsy sufferer).
And to take it a bit further someone created a caffeinated lip balm (in a place so cold that coffee freezes too fast!) called SpazzStick.
Words are weird.
JR
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Here's two inappropriate (by today's standards) slogan postmarks from GB
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funny, Dave,
when I saw the upper pictorial cancel, I misread the town's name, accidetally thinking the P was a B. My pad.
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Literally laughed out loud, David! You guys are a hoot!
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I did not realize spastic was a word for someone with cerebral palsy. I have only heard it as a negative for someone uncoordinated or a klutz.
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"I misread the town's name, accidetally thinking the P was a B. My pad"
David: Very funny variation on Monty Python's "Bings Bollege Bambridge, you silly bunt". How they got that past the censors is beyond me.
Speaking of which, I have never heard "spastic" was associated with cerebral palsy or any other specific disease, and it certainly isn't a word you hear much in North America. However, it seems to be in common usage in Great Britain - in many books/movies and used by some guys I've played soccer with. I think it is a fairly minor pejorative and used more for humour - not used with real intention to harm or insult.
Maybe some Brits could weigh in on this?
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The charity "The Spastic Society" is now referred to as "Scope".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(charity)
JR
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Here's a 1965 non-philatelic cover with a "Help Retarded Children" slogan cancel bullseyed on the stamp. Probably, we would not see a cancel using the term retarded today, but 55 years ago the Postal Service saw nothing wrong with it and most people thought little about it. As noted above, times and descriptive terms change.
But speaking of change, I just noticed, the sender of this cover was not into Zip Codes yet. He or she used an old zone number.
FF
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Re: the term 'spastic'
Ian Dury released a song in the late 1970's called "Spasticus, Autisticus', which was banned from play on the BBC. Dury, who had been affected by childhood polio, wrote it as a protest against the attitudes towards the disabled.
As for the word 'retarded', I many times had to explain to my students that the term simply means 'slowed' (which you would have thought, being Canadian, they could have figured out in French class ...). Over the years the term has been replaced by many euphemisms, all of which have been gradually turned mean over the years.
We just come up with a new label for the masses to pervert.
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I’m missing something. Please explain “Bings Bollege Bambridge, you silly bunt". I googled it to no avail.
About those “Pray for Peace” cancelations, which were in use throughout the Vietnam War. I believe that truth in cancellations should be encouraged. How about “PRAY FOR PEACE, BUT GO TO WAR IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION”?
Then there’s this one: “HIRE THE HANDICAPPED — IT’S GOOD FOR BUSINESS”. A more accurate version, perhaps: “DON’T HIRE THE HANDICAPPED UNLESS YOU KEEP THEM OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND”.
Bob
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Bings Bollege Bambridge is intended to be read as Kings College Cambridge. I'll let you figure out the rest.
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Bob, just use the hard "c" sound to replace the letters B. But do not say it out loud.
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Oh. 
boB (who still believes that babies are delivered by storks)
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Gets even worse for you, BoB !
OK, enough silliness.
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Awwwww silliness keeps us young and childlike and laughing. The world needs MORE Monty Python and Terry Pratchett and good sports like Bob! 
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BTW...From our friend Google...
"...those who have an IQ between 0 and 25 are idiots; IQs between 26 and 50 are considered imbeciles; and those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 are considered morons..."
"The term retarded was used to replace terms like idiot, moron, and imbecile."
Funny that retarded became the replacement word, in part because it was considered a more apt descriptive term with no pejorative meaning like the other 3 terms. But today I would shrug off being called an idiot, imbecile or moron (I am used to hearing all three directed at me by my wife and daughters) yet when I hear someone use the word retarded (even when directed against a company policy or something non-personal) I get outraged. It stems from growing up with an uncle who had paralysis and brain damage, and was always teased with that word.
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Part of the goal to reduce labeling is to state the condition not the symptoms.
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terms that were very common at one time that we no longer use!
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Hi all,
This stamp got me thinking...
I wonder how this stamp would go over today?
I'm not sure if people would appreciate the "hint" or not by the government?
It must have been quite provocative back in the day? Maybe? Not sure...
But apparently they debated it's release for 5 years.
It's part of my Topical Medical Stamps album.
JR
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
I don't remember too much being said about it. I do remember discussions of downsizing families to just two children.
Login to Like
this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
This one upset my kids, who asked me why I would collect this stamp because the “R” word was forbidden in our family. (My mother’s brother suffered a brain trauma and never progressed beyond the mental capacity of an 8 year old, and was taunted with that word through his life). It was a HUGE issue for me growing up and cost me a least one job when I objected to my boss constantly throwing out that word when we disagreed about issues.
I had to put it into historical context for my daughter and explain the good intentions - but currently “incorrect” word usage (Oddly, our friend who is a Psychiatrist and renowned autism expert uses that word constantly and unabashedly).
Anyway, these examples are all very interesting to compare “now and then”.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Many stamps have had a social message.
This one was somewhat controversial since it says "You can beat it". The trend now seems to be not wanting to risk offending anyone.
Login to Like
this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
"The trend now seems to be not wanting to risk offending anyone"
I think that Ralph Nader, good old politically correct(but changing) said it best in a quote in regards to "trigger warnings" on campus :
"I mean, you repress people, you engage in anger, and what you do is turn people into skins that are blistered by moonbeams."
Login to Like
this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Hi all,
LOL!
I'm glad you guys posted those next two stamps, cause they are also in my album!
Yep, I guess they were the social messages of the day.
Interesting to see.
Thanks,
JR
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Auctions
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Must be something to the family planning thing...in 1967 their were 90 kids getting on the school buses in my neighborhood ..many families had 5 kids..i doubt if they pick up 20 kids nowadays.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Hi Phil,
I was just doing the numbers in my head, but I think nearly 100% of my friends have 3 children, with a few that have more.
My children were home schooled and in a very large home school group of about 50 families (Michigan is very receptive to home schooling). Most of those families were huge, sometimes as many as 10 kids, LOL, but they are absolutely not the norm, that is for sure!
Whew! I'll stick with my 3 kids.
JR
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this post
Auctions
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
I actually appreciate the USPOD and USPS trying to be socially responsible.
Bringing up a topic allows people to talk, and talking might bring new options. Family planning, for instance, seems like a perfectly good place to start. Why not examine options?
Occasionally, a word's baggage changes: "retarded" is one such word. We don't use it any more, but the PO's intent was good: don't discard the child.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
"I ... appreciate ... USPS trying to be socially responsible...Bringing up a topic allows people to talk ... Why not examine options ... Occasionally, a word's baggage changes: "retarded" is one such word. We don't use it any more, but the PO's intent was good: don't discard the child. "
Totally agree David! I am far from being a politically correct guy, but still own (and assertively express) my personal "trigger words".
I think the USA has done a phenomenal job of advancing social issues through stamps and I like to use these as lessons, moreso than self-righteous lectures - including how the verbiage has changed over time.
And also, on the "don't discard the child" comment - remember that The Holocaust Stamps Project (Canada) is all about collecting 1.5M stamps - one for every child whose life was thrown away because they were considered expendable: a Jew, a disabled person, and so on.
Loving the respectful feedback on this "somewhat stamp-related" topic.
Dave.
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this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Some slogan postmarks have been pretty bad too. In the 50's Canada had one that said 'accidents are caused by people like you.' Meaning anyone can slip up and cause one so be careful. But, it seemed sort of insulting.
The worst one was one I've seen used in the UK as late as the 60's: "Spastics can be helped'. That term seems jarring today.
Login to Like
this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Interesting that the term spastic changed to mean something totally different, almost like a hyper teenager. In the 80's it was a term that meant "hey man, calm down, you're getting all crazy!", a far cry from it's original intent (to describe a cerebral palsy sufferer).
And to take it a bit further someone created a caffeinated lip balm (in a place so cold that coffee freezes too fast!) called SpazzStick.
Words are weird.
JR
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this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Here's two inappropriate (by today's standards) slogan postmarks from GB
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this post
Auctions
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
funny, Dave,
when I saw the upper pictorial cancel, I misread the town's name, accidetally thinking the P was a B. My pad.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Literally laughed out loud, David! You guys are a hoot!
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
I did not realize spastic was a word for someone with cerebral palsy. I have only heard it as a negative for someone uncoordinated or a klutz.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
"I misread the town's name, accidetally thinking the P was a B. My pad"
David: Very funny variation on Monty Python's "Bings Bollege Bambridge, you silly bunt". How they got that past the censors is beyond me.
Speaking of which, I have never heard "spastic" was associated with cerebral palsy or any other specific disease, and it certainly isn't a word you hear much in North America. However, it seems to be in common usage in Great Britain - in many books/movies and used by some guys I've played soccer with. I think it is a fairly minor pejorative and used more for humour - not used with real intention to harm or insult.
Maybe some Brits could weigh in on this?
Login to Like
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
The charity "The Spastic Society" is now referred to as "Scope".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(charity)
JR
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Here's a 1965 non-philatelic cover with a "Help Retarded Children" slogan cancel bullseyed on the stamp. Probably, we would not see a cancel using the term retarded today, but 55 years ago the Postal Service saw nothing wrong with it and most people thought little about it. As noted above, times and descriptive terms change.
But speaking of change, I just noticed, the sender of this cover was not into Zip Codes yet. He or she used an old zone number.
FF
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Re: the term 'spastic'
Ian Dury released a song in the late 1970's called "Spasticus, Autisticus', which was banned from play on the BBC. Dury, who had been affected by childhood polio, wrote it as a protest against the attitudes towards the disabled.
As for the word 'retarded', I many times had to explain to my students that the term simply means 'slowed' (which you would have thought, being Canadian, they could have figured out in French class ...). Over the years the term has been replaced by many euphemisms, all of which have been gradually turned mean over the years.
We just come up with a new label for the masses to pervert.
Login to Like
this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
I’m missing something. Please explain “Bings Bollege Bambridge, you silly bunt". I googled it to no avail.
About those “Pray for Peace” cancelations, which were in use throughout the Vietnam War. I believe that truth in cancellations should be encouraged. How about “PRAY FOR PEACE, BUT GO TO WAR IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION”?
Then there’s this one: “HIRE THE HANDICAPPED — IT’S GOOD FOR BUSINESS”. A more accurate version, perhaps: “DON’T HIRE THE HANDICAPPED UNLESS YOU KEEP THEM OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND”.
Bob
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08:29:25pm
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Bings Bollege Bambridge is intended to be read as Kings College Cambridge. I'll let you figure out the rest.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Bob, just use the hard "c" sound to replace the letters B. But do not say it out loud.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Oh.
boB (who still believes that babies are delivered by storks)
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Gets even worse for you, BoB !
OK, enough silliness.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Awwwww silliness keeps us young and childlike and laughing. The world needs MORE Monty Python and Terry Pratchett and good sports like Bob!
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this post
re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
BTW...From our friend Google...
"...those who have an IQ between 0 and 25 are idiots; IQs between 26 and 50 are considered imbeciles; and those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 are considered morons..."
"The term retarded was used to replace terms like idiot, moron, and imbecile."
Funny that retarded became the replacement word, in part because it was considered a more apt descriptive term with no pejorative meaning like the other 3 terms. But today I would shrug off being called an idiot, imbecile or moron (I am used to hearing all three directed at me by my wife and daughters) yet when I hear someone use the word retarded (even when directed against a company policy or something non-personal) I get outraged. It stems from growing up with an uncle who had paralysis and brain damage, and was always teased with that word.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
Part of the goal to reduce labeling is to state the condition not the symptoms.
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re: Wonder how this stamp would go over in today's world?
terms that were very common at one time that we no longer use!
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