POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

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Political correctness is an attack on free speech, clear thinking and discussion. Political correctness is perpetrated by the left in politics as a cover for their flawed ideology, a sort of cultural Marxism. Political correctness is an attack on all the cohesive elements of our society using the grounds that they are repressive and need liberalising. Political correctness is Marxism without the gun. It seeks to inhibit personal freedom of speech and action, replacing it with a Marxist dogma that we are all supposed to embrace. In reality though, Political correctness has done untold damage to our society by giving supposedly 'repressed' groups freedoms without any sort of balancing responsibility.

Political correctness has made common sense a thing of the past. If you catch a burglar in your house then it's best to help the poor soul by carrying your possessions to the front door lest he should trip up and hurt himself and it's you that ends up in court! The Police have been effectively neutralised by the fast tracking of university graduates whose only experience of life has been obtained in the liberal atmosphere of education. Just in case any real policemen still exist, the Politically Correct Brigade has turned the Police Force in on itself by claims of institutional racism.

If they do actually succeed in getting a villain into court then the Magistrates hand out such lenient sentences (as laid down by the very Politically Correct 'sentencing advisory panel') that there is no deterrent. If you do end up in prison, the prison officers are told to call you by your first name and not say anything that may upset you! Just in case you get bored, you can keep yourself amused by repeatedly taking the prison governor to court over trivial matters that you think violate your human rights, all paid for by legal aid! Travellers can descend upon your area, dump old cars and shit everywhere with impunity. You try doing it in your front garden and see what happens.

Illegal immigrants (if caught) are rarely deported. Have you got a long way to come to get here? Why not hijack an airliner for the trip? Don't worry, we'll still let you stay! Would you like a black coffee? NO! You can't say that! It's coffee without milk and Local Authorities spend a fortune of our money on making their employees attend courses on Newspeak! Our British humour has suffered badly. We can't tell jokes anymore in case it's considered racist or it upsets anyone. Try organising an event or trip and you find yourself tied up in the endless red tape created by the Health & Safety Executive. These people are all part of the 'Nanny State' which insists in sticking it's nose into every aspect of our lives and telling us how to live it!

Sailors have been banned from using salty language in a Royal Navy attempt to eliminate racism, sexism and prejudice from the fleet. The instructions forbid them from making ‘derogatory remarks', insulting comrades or ‘name-calling'. There are also rules which order an end to ‘sexually suggestive' pin-ups, boasting about conquests or asking ‘unwarranted' personal questions of shipmates. The equality code also appears to defy the Navy's most hallowed traditions with its instruction that there shall be no ‘personal comment about someone's physical appearance'. Defence officials said yesterday that the code, entitled Diversity, Equality and You, is intended to bring rules up to date with ‘new equality and employment legislation that governs all workplaces'. Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said, "We live in politically correct times and what these rulebooks do is keep the bureaucrats happy."

Humour has been banned by the PC brigade. Which is a particular blow for me personally as for as long as I can remember I have revelled in it. As a child I read comics, watched Morecombe & Wise and Benny Hill and often cried with laughter. My father was always larking about and a general theme of good natured humour ran throughout the family. Laughter is the best medicine and I grew up a happy child.

The 1970's and 1980's produced some wonderful comedy. Fawlty Towers, Only Fools & Horses, Black Adder etc (the last of these co-written by Ben Elton). In the late 1980's Ben Elton appeared on a great late night show called Friday Night Live. Now Ben is a wonderful comedian and writer and he has his own 'motor mouth' style of delivery and an absolutely foul mouth. I suddenly noticed he was doing one of his 'rants' about 'sexism' and it was obvious he was taking a thinly disguised swipe at poor old Benny Hill. This was often repeated by him in subsequent shows and was taken up by others. That was my first experience of 'Political Correctness' applied to humour!

Why did he do this? According to him of course, he didn't. Now the Benny Hill Show was one of the best selling shows ever and was sold and seen all over the world making millions for Thames TV. In 1989 Benny had a triumphant Cannes TV festival and yet when he returned and went to renew his contract with Thames TV he was told that he was sacked. Why? You work it out! Thanks Ben. Benny never recovered and died in April 1992 only months after receiving the Charlie Chaplin Award for International Comedy and while Thames TV was still making millions from his show. Was Benny Hill the PC brigade's first scalp?

As the 1990s progressed and the PC brigade became ever more vociferous, comedians seemed to take note and scrubbed out most of the usual subject matter, humour took a dive and has never recovered. Visit a comedy club these days and you may feel like asking for your money back and suing them under the Trades Description Act if they refuse. Compare that to a traditional comedian that would have you falling out of your seat.

Now imagine a team of comedians making a series about the stereotype Asian society! The clingy mother, everyone living in the same house and working in the family business, girls being second class citizens and having arranged marriages, wow the steam would be coming out of the PC brigade's ears, but what a funny series that would be. Luckily we got the series, it was called 'Goodness Gracious Me' , but why no outcry about it? Because it was done by a Asian Team! So is it OK to listen to jokes about the idiosyncrasies of other races when those races make the jokes themselves?

Now we read that the BBC is under pressure to censor old comedies in line with the PC brigade's newspeak. Following ONE complaint, the BBC has agreed to remove the word 'PAKI' from a 23 year old episode of 'Only Fools and Horses'. This policy of censorship (which the BBC say they will follow before re-transmission of all programs) will lead to bleeps or silences in most of our old and cherished comedies. Some scenes may need to be cut completely. (The Major in Fawlty Towers explaining the difference between 'Niggers' and 'Wogs' springs to mind). Why on earth should we decimate our comedy heritage just to satisfy the Thought Police of The PC Brigade?

It again smacks of the rewriting of history that takes place in all oppressive and totalitarian societies. I thought we were supposed to be a free society with free speech. Some hopes! There has been widespread outcry in the past about some of the output from the BBC and they have totally ignored it, yet one complaint from the PC Brigade and they rush around like frightened chickens. This is just PC madness! We can't make jokes about fat people - why? Peer pressure has always played a part in shaping our society so why not our people? It sounds cruel but perhaps fat people wouldn't be so fat and unhealthy if they had their blubber constantly drawn to their attention.

Why can't we tell the truth anymore? They are NOT horizontally challenged and it isn't water retention. Cake retention perhaps! (thanks to Jo Brand for that one). Now the British have a history of what we call sick jokes. There is no malice in these, no harm is meant to anyone, it is just the British sense of humour where no subject is taboo and also the British way of dealing with tragedy. I first noticed this in my schooldays when the Aberfan disaster happened and then later the Biafran famine. These jokes are certainly in bad taste but they are just jokes, no harm is done. (Source: Politically Incorrect)

A new politically-correct language guide is advising staff and members Chichester District Council, West Sussex, not to use the phrase 'man on the street' because it may cause offence to women. According to the guide, this harmless and commonly-used term is based on the assumption the world is male and makes the views or work of women invisible. The 'general public' is given as a 'positive' and less offensive alternative. It also writes off the phrase 'manning the switchboard' as sexist and suggests 'staffing' or 'running the switchboard' instead.

The council stresses that the document, which is distributed to all staff and council members, is not a rule book but a guide to help staff and members find the 'right' word. It insists it is a 'positive' part of its equality policy. A spokesman for the council said, "We introduced the guide because as community leaders we must be aware of what modern society requires of the public sector. This includes the sensitivity of various individuals and groups, and current thinking in society in general. It is easy to make fun of individual phrases or words but what we are seeking to do is to be more sensitive and responsive to the needs of others in our society."

The seven-page guide gives advice under the titles 'disability', 'gender', 'race', 'age' and 'sexuality.' Other PC suggestions include avoiding phrases like 'old woman', 'old fool' and 'old codger', which, the council said, make old people seem fussy, stupid and dependent. It suggests using the simple phrase 'old person' instead. The guide was first produced in 2003 but is updated regularly and distributed as part of council's equality training program. (Source: Daily Mail, Aug/08)