STOP CLAPPING!

No trisher these student leaders don’t act on GN members like a conscience, that’s just laughable.

I wonder what will happen in student debates /talks etc now in Manchester, if some students wish to applaud and not do jazz hands? Will they be thrown out of the hall?

Student Unions seek to impose restrictions is some form or other, Universities used to be hotbeds for free speech, but sadly not any more.

lemongrove you really should find out the fact before peddling this nonsense!s

Nobody is going to be thrown out of anywhere for clapping. I posted the link to the statement from the Student Union that had to be made because the 'story' which is really a non story had been blown up by some journalists to make a political point! And some people believed it {hmm]

Are you saying it didn’t happen PECS that it isn’t an idea put forward by the student union leader in Manchester uni?
Are you saying it was totally made up fake news?
I would like to know exactly what you are saying.

Why suggest it is me only that is believing this btw when all other posts do too?
Only me ‘peddling this nonsense’........I think not!

I feel a jazzhands coming on ????????????

Iam64 I do hope someone will look at this and try to find a solution for blind people. It isn't easy to find solutions that suit everyone, but at least these young people are trying.

Lemongrove FYI “The policy was proposed in order to encourage the use of British Sign Language (BSL) clapping during our democratic events to make those events more accessible and inclusive for all. We are not banning audible clapping – we understand that some people may be more comfortable to continue using it.”

Read more at: inews.co.uk/news/clapping-ban-manchester-university-students-union-jazz-hands/

Which makes even less sense then, at an event, a lot of people clapping and some doing jazz hands.

Well, with clapping frowned upon, we now have this Carol Povey of the National Autistic Society told ABC News she understood the university’s position as “many autistic people experience sensory overload.” But her organization did not advocate an outright ban on clapping. “Hand waving might cause sensory overload for people with visual sensitivity.”.... what on earth is a poor appreciative audience to do? What's left? Any ideas?

It makes sense that a group of people tried to improve a situation for another group. It may not be the ideal solution but at least they tried and are not cynical and smug.

Nobody is going to be thrown out of anywhere for clapping.

Funny that, because when the story first broke, earlier this week, The Guardian reported "^at last^ year’s NUS conference said that students who whoop, cheer and clap should face “consequences". What consequences, I wonder?

This isnt the first time that Manchester University has made some startling statements that have been picked up by the media.

Earlier this year, the writer Rudyard Kipling’s “If” poem was scrubbed off a Manchester University building by university students who claim he was a “racist”.
Student leaders at the university declared that Kipling “stands for the opposite of liberation empowerment, and human rights”.

The poem, which had been painted on the wall of the students’ union building by an artist,
was removed by students in a bid to “reclaim” history on behalf of those who have been “oppressed” by “the likes of Kipling”.

I have read that Kipling's attitudes could be considered racist.I don't know,enough about him to make a comment on that.
My instinct is not to erase historical figures / authors etc but to use their works to explore the era. But I am open to thoughts that differ on this issue.

Q. Do you like Kipling?
A. I don't know, I've never kipled.

The poem does remind people of the "White man rules and conquers" attitude of the Colonial days in history and a time not to be proud of. I think it was mis-placed in that context and removing it was the right thing to do. I am not saying remove it from its place in studies or English Literature. Just that having it on the wall was not appropriate in that setting.

I do not think Manchester University is particularly picked upon by the media any more than any other place of learning. Students are particularly aware of issues and ethics and people's rights. It is part of their age and being a Student. It is important that they think about these things and we, no longer in a University setting, can learn from them.

‘Not appropriate in that setting’ !!
Now I have heard everything!
An inspiring poem that should appeal to anyone, especially when younger.A poem about doing the best that you possibly can and remaining true to yourself.
PC ness gone crazy yet again.

What lemongrove says.

lemongrove you sound like a Sun newspaper headline
PCness^^gone^^crazy^^yet^^again.

Why do you use politically correct as a derogative term? It is often used around attempts to improve issues of equality. I if think someone is trying to improve things , even if clumsily, then it does not deserve ridicule. Good debate is always more effective.

Rudyard Kipling's poem, 'If', is not at all racist! People nowadays think that he was a racist - just because of his poem, 'Gunga Din'. But in that poem he was actually praising Gunga Din. Yes, there are lines in the poem that would seem 'racist' today. But we have to remember that he was a poet of his time. (How could he be anything else?)

I deplore this slagging off of past great writers, poets, politicians, artists, just because their art or philosophies don't fit in with today's society.

How could they? They lived in their world, and we live in ours. That doesn't mean that we should expunge them from our history, just because their views don't match ours today.

And, incidentally, 'Gunga Din' is a wonderful poem. Well written, and very moving. Read it!

P.S. And 'If' is one of the best poems ever written - scrubbing it off a wall is absolute sacrilege. Those students need their heads banging together! Grrrr!

....and those agreeing with these daft students also need their heads banging together.

As has been said "If" has its place but why it should be inscribed on a wall anywhere is incomprehensible. There are lots more appropriate, deeper and better poems around. If poems are to be inscribed on walls let's at least go for the best, not the simply the fairly good. And Kipling has always been controversial, he was a man of his time and his time has passed. Still it doesn't surprise me that some on GN are still living in it.

Very predictable stuff from you trisher
‘If’ has to be one of, if not the greatest inspirational poems around.
Not modern enough for you? With that mindset do you view all the great artists work from the past as too ‘old fashioned’ and ‘non inclusive’. I bet you do.
Student unions are not ‘kind’ they are in it for the power.

As Janet Montefiore, a professor emeritus at the University of Kent and editor of the Kipling Journal said:
"it was “their wall” but that the decision to paint over the poem was “a bit OTT. Of course he was an imperialist, but that’s not all he was and it seems to me a pity to say so,”
Montefiore argued that Kipling was “a magical storyteller” and that his perspective
was part of history. “You don’t want to pretend that it all didn’t happen,” she said.

“Dickens said dreadful things about black people in the Jamaica rebellion. Does that mean you don’t read Dickens?”

She added: “If" is not a racist poem. It’s a poem of good advice.

It amuses me all these people who are posting about "If" who probably have never read all of it, but just know a few lines. It isn't all that inspirational. It is far too long to be inscribed on any wall. It is very Victorian. I haven't actually said I dislike any old poetry (You do like to make things up lemon). In fact here are many old poems and many new poems suitable for posting on walls "If" just isn't one of them.

It amuses trisher as she thinks posters who disagree with her have ‘probably never read all of it but just know a few lines’ classic intellectual snobbery
You are not the only poster to have had a good education you know, but do carry on showing off if you like ( it amuses me.)

Arguably it's a poem that promotes gambling (and hiding it)

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;