Ugh

[labellementeuse]

We really need to talk about politics in wellingtonnz some more, because I'm so starved for the internet rage that I'm picking fights in lj_biz and that's just not good for you. also, I don't really have the context to respond to someone who things the USA is a nanny state. !!!

Coincidentally, I'm quite perplexed by the use of the phrase "nanny state" in comments over there, to the extent that I'm wondering if (despite wikipedia) it is actually used differently elsewhere. Here "nanny state" is used to describe socially paternalistic laws, including but not limited to welfare/social security, occupational health and safety, and drug and alcohol laws. In other words, a state is a nanny state when it treats its adults as if they were children (& therefore unable to take care of themselves/make sound decisions).* However, people seem to be using it over there to literally mean the state as a nanny - i.e., the state taking responsibility for the upbringing of children whose parents are disinclined to bring them up in a certain way (this is about LJ's new age policies which are icky, IMO). Is this a consistent usage over there? or are these people just grabbing on to a phrase they don't understand (like political correctness) and misusing it?

*NB: I am pretty relaxed about the nanny state, FWIW.

Comments

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

In my experience, the term 'nanny state' is not widely used in the US. "Welfare state" would be the quivalent, I think. And in the US in the 90s the question of whose responsibility it was to raise children was a high-coverage issue. So I wouldn't be surprised if 'nanny state' had been understood by some Americans to be specifically about little ones.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Right, that makes some sense. Thanks!

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

In my experience 'nanny state' is just another political cliche invented by the right but often (sadly) used by people on the left, along with 'political correctness'. That being said it seems to usually be used when the government legislates on moral issues, rather than economic ones. That is, hate speech laws and the anti-child abuse laws are part of the nanny state, while the unemployment benefit and free healthcare (while they may be despised by the right) aren't.

It seems that the second use of the term is a more narrow definition of the first. Most people would agree that government control of parenting is an aspect, but only one aspect, of a 'nanny state'.

I wonder if a way to turn the phrase around would be to talk about a 'mother state'. After all, I'm pretty sure the word 'nanny' was used for its connotations of being old fashioned and needlessly fussy.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with everything you say here (except maybe welfare systems - at the least, the unemployment benefit.) *handwavy*

[miriamus.livejournal.com]

I've never heard nanny state used for anything but the first meaning.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Mm, me either.

[guttednz.livejournal.com]

Aunty Helen is sucks. John Banks for PM! Those bloody maori's!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

hahaha