Why did this happen?

I don't know why I'm asking, since I know why, but I'm asking anyway.

We're riding home on the bus after my birthday dinner (Afghan food is yummy. By sheer effort of will, we managed to have no leftovers. So worth it), and Ana's getting a bit hyper - I've agreed with her that as long as she behaves, she doesn't need a nap, so she hasn't had one for a few days. And it was about bedtime. Unfortunately, you can't always just get off a bus because the kid is being a brat (believe me, we would if we could), so we went with option two: distract her by pointing out the pretty colored lights. Red lights, green lights, yellow lights! Red hands! People!

As we neared the boat, Ana declared, thrilled (we were trying to keep her to her indoor screams here) "RED HAND! MAN!" and I point out, unthinking "Yes, honey, that's a white man."

Of course, at this the driver starts snickering into his steering wheel, and I'm just sitting there going "Well, that sounds wrong. That man is white? No... It's a chalk outline, sweetie?"

Now, consciously, I know why it sounds wrong - white in this sense automatically doesn't mean the color, but the race, and declaring it like that is either rude (because we Just Don't Talk About That) or pointless (white's the default, sad but apparently true) or both. But why can't it just mean the color? Or why can't they have made those stupid stick figures green to begin with?

(Mommy tried telling me that it could be a (white) woman, but that's absurd. Everybody knows that woman all have pretty triangular skirts on all the time!)

*sighs*

Don't even bother clicking. This is the most saccharine article I've read in a while.

I'm only posting the link to ask why, if the website fro the Special Olympics only says that they're for people with intellectual disabilities, this article repeats the phrase "Special Olympics is an athletic contest modeled after the Olympic Games but intended for mentally or physically handicapped people. It's stated purpose is to help people with disabilities develop self-confidence and social skills through sports training and competition".

I'm all confused now. Well, not really. Instead, I'm quite certain that the person who wrote this article had no idea what they were talking about.

*checks out Special Olympics site again*

Interestingly, there it says that the goal of the Special Olympics is to "empower individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition." Which I suppose is similar to helping people with disabilities develop self confidence and social skills. Kinda.

I wouldn't even bring that last one up, except that it's on a page that links to this article. If the person writing the first article had even done a quick, very quick google search, they would've not conflated the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. If somebody (me) who knows nothing about the subject can automatically say "Hey, that's not right!", I'd expect people with the power to do *real* research to be at least slightly better at their sinecure jobs.

And this has been my pointless rantling of the day. Must run, I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!