The PC Deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Reading the excellent thread on decks that didn't make it, made me think about a PC deck... Rather than fill that thread, his is another. Let's take a PC view of the various cards I'll kick off with the Queen cards: This name is banned as they indicate monarchy, and therefore perpetrate the concept of one being born differently, and the concept of one being above another, and is therefore elitist. In addition, the name 'Queen' could be offensive to certain individuals of a particular gender, and is genderist. The term Queen is often seen in the context of marriage, and therefore offensive to those who are marriage-free. Finally, Queen may be confused with age, and is therefore sexist. Queen should now be called Experienced Female.

Imagemaker	19 Nov 2004
I like it! Has a gift and shadow interpretation (skillful maturity vs "been around the track too many times"). LOL. Not a very catchy title, though. Many would substitute Crone--or is that too old?

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Maybe just 'Female' then?

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Swords: this title is now banned. It is overtly militaristic, it overtly male, it is ableist, in that you need arms to use it, and implies dexterity. Therefore, despite the possibility of it being seen as ableist, the word 'Pen' should be used. The ink of the pen should be as neutral as possible, blue is best.

Imagemaker	19 Nov 2004
And the pen is mightier, too, of course!

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Imagemaker wrote: And the pen is mightier, too, of course! Of course, and it's also a rather mental activity, hence the choice.

Eco74	19 Nov 2004
Going on with the Page/Princess This is confusing already. The Page is a servant with basically no right to any privacy while the Princess is born into her status and can do pretty much as she pleases as long as she also agrees to follow the standards required of her rank (like marrying whomever her father chooses)... The "traditional meaning" does indicate a young person and a budding flare for learning so instead the Page/Princess should be called simply: Youth All for the sake of gender neutrality...

WolfSpirit	19 Nov 2004
And what will we call the Fool ? The Logically Challenged ?

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Eco74 wrote: the Page/Princess should be called simply: Youth All for the sake of gender neutrality... However, a Youth means a young man, and a Maiden is a young woman, therefore either name is sexist. Also.. a page is a position, a role. Therefore, to call a page a young person is ageist. However, if the page is seen as the lowest order of management, which effectively he is, then maybe the term 'assistant' is better. Yet, even this has PC problem, because an assistant could be seen as meaning a lower order position, because they 'assist'. Trainee could therefore be better, as they are learing a new role?

Osher	19 Nov 2004
WolfSpirit wrote: And what will we call the Fool ? The Logically Challenged ? I think the PC term is 'Differently Able'? This term is usually used for those we normally call handicapped though, so maybe 'Free Thinker','Self-Expressive, 'Unattached', would be better?

Eco74	19 Nov 2004
WolfSpirit wrote: And what will we call the Fool ? The Logically Challenged ? The Detached?

Osher	19 Nov 2004
Eco74 wrote: The Detached? Hey! That's brilliant!

Eco74	19 Nov 2004
Osher wrote: However, a Youth means a young man, and a Maiden is a young woman, therefore either name is sexist. Also.. a page is a position, a role. Therefore, to call a page a young person is ageist. However, if the page is seen as the lowest order of management, which effectively he is, then maybe the term 'assistant' is better. Yet, even this has PC problem, because an assistant could be seen as meaning a lower order position, because they 'assist'. Trainee could therefore be better, as they are learing a new role? But there is also 'Youth' as in "the time/age between childhood and adulthood". Trainee feels like it could work aswell though and is more apt for all ages (anyone of any age can draw any card after all). Maybe Student could be an option though since it indicates self-chosen learning rather than learning by "following a master" which a trainee does in most cases...

fairyhedgehog	19 Nov 2004
We need to get rid of all sexist titles, and all titles that pander to a particular religion, patriarchial titles, etc. So: the High Priestess becomes the "person with access to secrets that other people could have access to as well but they don't at the moment" The Emperor - no patriarchy here! "person in a position of authority at this moment in time who nevertheless was elected by a democratic process and could be superceded at the next election" Why don't I think it will catch on? (And I'm in favour of PC language on the whole! But you can take things too far.)

RedMaple	19 Nov 2004
Trainee? Assistant? I vote for Gofer. Queens are definitely Old Women With Attitude

Shalott	19 Nov 2004
And we have to remember to spell "women" "wymmin"... :D great thread!

CreativeFire	20 Nov 2004
interesting ideas here for the titles ;) RedMaple wrote: Trainee? Assistant? I vote for Gofer. How about 'Apprentice'? CF

rabble	20 Nov 2004
Osher wrote: Swords: this title is now banned. It is overtly militaristic, it overtly male, it is ableist, in that you need arms to use it, and implies dexterity. Therefore, despite the possibility of it being seen as ableist, the word 'Pen' should be used. The ink of the pen should be as neutral as possible, blue is best. Isn't 'Pen' actually sexist? Look at it!! It's got to be implying maleness! And why blue ink? Why not pink? Blue is also thought as being for boys. Pens with blue ink are most definitely not PC!! :)

Shade	20 Nov 2004
"Experienced famale", how egregiously sexist! Persun (son is sexist) who is not necassarily biologically male at this time wold be a far better choice. And "trainee", now that just screams pyramid scheme and social cannibalism, also the notion of conferring titles upon a person to set them up against their fellow people! I just shudder. Persun who at this time holds no currently recognized social rank irregardless of society's judgement of their worth might do. Now High Priestess.. that just has to go... where to begin. Madyabe it could be saed by making it "One who chooses to mediate inner truth and knowledge to those persuns who seek such things but could do so on their own if they so chose at this time". Yes that sounds right.

magpie9	20 Nov 2004
Shade wrote: Persun (son is sexist) who is not necassarily biologically male at this time wold be a far better choice. Terrible! terrible!! You will upset the Trans-Sexuals!! And Per-Sun still sounds sexist--better to just go with Per. For Example: Per of un-chosen gender for those still employing thier original gender, and Per of Chosen gender for those employing a different than original gender, and who wish this information to be known. After all, who are we to make the judgement that the gender (chosen or otherwise) of a Per is anybody's business? Are we to be judged by our ? In the words of the Commercial Makers of Yore, "Parts are Parts." If we go about diferentiating Parts the next thing you know, we will be barring Pers from various occupations based on what Parts they do or do not have. Perhaps it would be better to go with a simple description of the Role being filled at the moment by the Per. Per Maternal Unit, Per Paternal Unit, Per Roving Unit, and Per Learning Unit would take care of the previously ill-named "Court Cards". We could then proceed on into the more specialized fields as: Experiential Specialist Per Dexterious Specialist Per Inner-Knowledge Specialist Per Life-bearing Specialist Per Administrative Specialist Per Retro-fit Specialist Per Joined Specialist Pers And so on..................and perhaps we should not capitalize Specialist, as it may make what is mearly a passing function too importatant and lead to (Horrors!!) eliteism and other unmentionable pc errors.

Shade	21 Nov 2004
That old Death card is going to be a problem. State of not living.... no that is completely offensive to the unborn and what about reincarnatonists... "The state of not living to be entered into following a state of living as defined by an individual's indigineous culture but ocurring before a renewed state of living undertaken by a group of people who feel it is appropriate to do so."

fairyhedgehog	21 Nov 2004
magpie9 wrote: Perhaps it would be better to go with a simple description of the Role being filled at the moment by the Per. Per Maternal Unit, Per Paternal Unit, Per Roving Unit, and Per Learning Unit would take care of the previously ill-named "Court Cards". We could then proceed on into the more specialized fields as: Experiential Specialist Per (....etc... snipped for length) Such a brilliant system magpie! I stand in awe. Now we can all just wait for your new deck to come out :D

Shade	21 Nov 2004
hmm "roving unit" is terribly unfair to the differently abled! Quadrapalegics have needs!

Osher	22 Nov 2004
In the PC world (but not PC World, of course), one does not say childless but child free, the implication of childless being of course that one should have a child, and that's not fair on those who can't or won't have children. Maybe therefore death should be life-free? Maybe the Chariot would be the co-ordinator of other sapient but equal beings?

OakDragon	22 Nov 2004
Well, it certainly would not have any Macs in it. :(

Osher	22 Nov 2004
OakDragon wrote: Well, it certainly would not have any Macs in it. :( Ah, so, in addition to the PC Tarot, we need the Mac Tarot. Let me see, it will be the best Tarot ever. With just a few flicks you get everything you can perform reading miracles. It will be easy to use too, and come in a really snazzy and stylish box. It will almost never let you down, although it will cost a bit more. However... you need to read slightly differently from most, making it almost, but not quite, compatable with other Tarot decks. Someone will produce a way of using ordinary reading with the Mac deck. Despite this, only a few people will ever use one. Those that do will feel slightly superior to the rest, and like to it in about their superior deck.

magpie9	22 Nov 2004
Shade wrote: hmm "roving unit" is terribly unfair to the differently abled! Quadrapalegics have needs! Who are we to say in what manner the "roving units" rove? Some roving it is true, can be physical, and for that, (the late) Christopher Reeves and other similarly "differently-abled" have moterized wheelchairs, augmented, in many cases, with "helper-animals" --usually small monkeys. Are you going to suggest that a Physically Challange Per, with the assitance of a small trained monkey and a battery-pack, would be unable to perform the tasks of a roving Unit as well as a physically un-challanged Per? Zounds!! Horrors!! the unspeakable predjudice of it all! Roving does not neccessarily involve moving physically about under one's own power. Forms of roving may include, but are not limited to: sociatal, social, Intellectual, and emotional, and can have a great impact one the people around Per. For instance, Christopher Reeves had great impact on society's views about, and of, the "Differently-abled" and affected Stem Cell research, and other extremely important matters. I am simply astonished that you yould consider being as you put it, "differently-abled", any kind of obstacle to a Per being a Roving Unit, if Per chooses to be one!

Osher	23 Nov 2004
Should one even say 'differently abled'? Different implies that there is a normal state, or even a superior one. Maybe it should be 'equally-abled' instead?

magpie9	01 Dec 2004
Perhaps "adapt-ably abeled"?

Osher	01 Dec 2004
So, The Magician, a 'Utiliser of alternative energy sources'? I think we can forgot the Empress etc, too difficult! OK, an easier one, The Tower, or does this card represent the Western hegemony of fixed stone construction against native nomadic homes? I guess, The Structure would be acceptable?

OakDragon	01 Dec 2004
I don't think the name "The Tower" is especially bad, but that floorplan has GOT to go! Those phallic symbols are so out of touch. Perhaps the card should simply depict a large box that has "Do-It Yourself Building Construction Kit" written on it? That way you can make your own worldview or personal dogma whatever you want it to be. ;)

The The PC Deck thread was originally posted on 19 Nov 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.