Comments

PC is a computer — 84 Comments

  1. I have no issue with calling it holy Thursday. While the PC crowd are at it, they should consider that Thursday is infact a mutilation of Thor’s Day. Likewise Wednesday is a corruption of Odin’s Day. So if we are going to remove the catholic references why not the Norse Pantheon as well? Fuck it, Day1, Day2, Day3…etc.

    Bland boring shite, I’m not especially averse to offending people (particularly if they deserve it) but I don’t see that Holy Thors Day is a problem for anyone, at least it cannot be called monotheistic :-).

  2. Hi Sneezy – It wasn’t a personal attack. As I said, I completely agreed with you. It was the alternative that scared me. Do you think they would have any problem with Good Frigg’s Day?

  3. I know it wasn’t. I just pointed it out so the Catholics aren’t the only ones to come shouting for my head – I want the whole lot shouting for it. After all, blessed are the cheesemakers isn’t meant to be taken literally – it refers to all manufacturers of dairy produce.

  4. Ack, I hate, HATE pc’ness. I thought it was an American thing. Sorry to see it’s taken over the world. The generation of children growing up are going to be wussies because we can’t hurt anyones feelings. Where and when did this all start anyway? It seems one day we just woke up in this PC world, hate it!
    I find it funny though that you can’t say St. Patrick’s Day over there and have to call it Green Day,lol…It is still safe for us to say St. Patrick’s Day, or at least for now.
    Have you ever heard Larry The Cable Guy read politically correct fairy tales? It’s hilarious!

  5. Tanya – No. It’s still called St Patrick’s Day/Paddy’s Day over here, but I believe some of you lot have started calling it Green Day?

    K8 – That’s the spirit!!

  6. In school admin terms ….. you should try writing a policy!

    Equal Opportunities (Equal Access) policy

    Pupils with differing needs policy

    Code of Behaviour policy (behaviour sounds sooooooooo much better than discipline)

    Visitors policy

    Healthy food policy

    and so on and so on …..

  7. Paddy – Simple…..
    Those who are equal will be treated equally.
    Those who are different will be treated differently.

  8. Amen brothers and sisters! The County in which I reside, Greenville, South Carolina, decided behind closed doors to rename our St. Patrick’s Day festivals, Return to Green or Green Day as Grandad put it. So, they wouldn’t offend the myriad of other ethnic backgrounds in said county. Bunch of pansies! I am so freaking tired of this politically correct nonsense.

    Tanya, consider yourself lucky. 🙂

    I would gladly wear a politically incorrect badge! 🙂

  9. ……. that’s the po Grannymar … only policy there is to ensure that there is no over shooting or over flowing! 🙂

  10. ‘Holy Thursday’ is a shibboleth, like the way one pronounces the letter ‘H’ in the North.

    It’s Maundy Thursday in the CofI – from the Latin ‘mandatum’ meaning commandment.

    We object to the term ‘Catholic’ being used exclusively of Roman Catholics, but I never object too loudly because at 3% of the population of the Republic the label ‘Church of Ireland’ is overstating the claim ever so slightly. Also many of my colleagues in the North would refuse to recognize that Roman Catholics could even be Christians.

    Protestants are very good at being non-pc, I don’t mean the slightly anaemic Dublin liberals, but the full-blooded country version. All male societies, dinners etc.

  11. Ian – I was just being politically incorrect 😉 I agree about Rome hi-jacking the Catholic term, just as I object to Americans hi-jacking God.

  12. I was going to say, ‘Here, here old man’ but realized that would be both ageist and sexist.
    Then I was going to say ‘Good job, Grandad’ but realized that would also be ageist and sexist and this would diminish the value of the work that preceded his and show no respect for all the hard work done by Sneezy and others on this issue.
    So in deference to all please allow me to sincerely state…
    Fuck off you stupid mick cunts!

  13. Haitch? Aitch? Who [Oo?] cares?

    Brianf is a Yank, whichever. He insulted me by calling me a mick, and I have been crying ever since.

  14. A yankee redneck ? No such thing Grandad. Yankees are northeners and rednecks are southerners. (Pretty much.)Although we are all yanks.

  15. TT – Brianf is sort of half way between a Northerner and a Southerner. So he’s a bit of a mongrel?

  16. Couldn’t agree with ya more Grandad! Except if you slag off 24 year old white females from Southside, Dublin, Ireland. Then I might get a bit offended. But it’s fine for everyone else 😀

    I keed, I keed of course.

  17. If I may, I was pondering your post of yesterday. “Young people today” and what’s wrong with the world. Much as I agreed with what you said about the problems we have; we dwell on them and possibly forget that every generation has its troubles. “A whole generation butchered and damned” comes to mind.i.e. WW1; 50,000 dead in one day. WW2; Korea, Vietnam, Ulster etc. Life has its woes I guess.

  18. Annie – So long as you’re not a Nortsider!

    TT – There always seems to be wars. It must be one of the laws of the Universe. But what I’m talking about is the sheer disregard for humanity that seems to exist amonst the younger generations. Of course it is only a small minority, but where you get to the stage where teenagers kill a bloke because he won’t buy them cigarettes or a drink in the off-licence? That is stooping to a new low.

  19. Isn’t just saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Year easier?
    “Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.”

  20. Has anyone read Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” lately? The ultimate result of political correctness there was book burning and the abolition of “real” education. Think what applying a similar remedy could do to blogs! Anyway, Bradbury’s is my favoirte satire on political correctness, among other things.

  21. “Bring back the Politically Incorrect. Bring back the colour”

    missing an ‘eds’ there at the end boss.

    Class.

  22. Arlo Guthrie did ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ in protest against the Vietnam war. We need the same kind of bloke to start up a protest about sodding political correctness. I’m actually wondering how long it’ll be before blogging becomes totally tamed, for fear of offending one person somewhere on the planet. I’m sick of bowing down to fucking minorities with big egos & sod all else between the ears.

  23. “So long as you’re not a Nortsider!”

    Eh…hem! Grandad – now you’re really being non-PC!

    Parts of the Nortside are very nice, thank you very much and so are the people who live there!

    btw What do you call a Nortsider in a suit?

    Answer: The defendant! 😀

  24. Ahhh the minstrels….! those were the days…there hasn’t been a car won since those goons in Lyons went PC on us.
    Right with you Grandad/Grandparent/Grandperson.
    X

  25. Why did a southsider marry a bloke from the Northside?

    To get her purse back.

    Brianf,

    If you go outside of the red states on the east and west coasts, is there really much PCness?

  26. Thank God for Oz where women are sheilas, blokes are blokes, red heads are blueys, a fool is a drongo or a boofhead. A gay is a poof and a kid an ankle biter and the intellectually disabled not the full quid! A muslim is a towel head, an asian looks like a powerpoint, a black’s a boong and I’m a mongrel convict! Aussie Rules is aerial ping pong a Queenslander’s a Banana Bender, everyone’s a bastard, so stop cracking a fat over being PC you yanks, pommies and micks and stick that lot in yer budgie smugglers!

  27. The panel for the inaugural meeting of the Politically Incorrect……..

    Marlys – Cultural advisor

    Baino – Lexicologist. You are to sit down forthwith and draw up a list of terms for Irish use. This is your chance to go down in the history books and dictionaries.

    Jayne – You are hereby commissioned to come up with an anthem.

    Brianf – You have the job of the disclaimer.

    Hangar Queen – Proof reader?

    Steph – Want to be the Chairman?

  28. Hmmm….in NY St. Patrick’s Day remains St. Patrick’s Day…with all the drunk firemen riding in the parade to prove it.

    As for the rest, we’re not allowed to decorate for any winter holidays, the list of which was increased this year to include Yule, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan. Perhaps we’re afraid that the atheists will get insulted? I’d gladly decorate my office for their holidays as well, since we have decorated for all of the above, with Christmas and Hannukah as well, all at the same time! (It really did look quite lovely on our four big windows, I swear!)

    In rebellion, my desk has been decorated for St. Patrick’s Day since last year….and no one can complain as my mam came over on the boat! ;p

    Pretty soon, we won’t be able to wish someone a good day, as we may be forcing our beliefs on them…….

  29. Hiya Catherine, and welcome! Surely you meant ‘drunk firepersons’? We wouldn’t want to offend the female firemen?

    Instead of banning all those holidays, why not celebrate them all? I’d be quite happy to celebrate all the above.

    As for wishing someone a ‘good day’? That might offend Satanists?

  30. @Ian – I live in a purple state. And, I’m undefinable. Just call me a Homo sapien! 🙂

  31. Grandad, It’s after 3p.m. on Good Friday, I haven’t had my daily does of HeadRambles.

    Are you okay ?

    Is there no internet connection in the church/pub ?

    I’m stuck in work, while even them Eastern European Big Issues salegirls have the day off.

    A little bit of your daily madness helps the day go by.

  32. What a load of shite this post is, and how disappointing the comments too. People who object to ‘political correctness’ simply dislike having to take other peoples’ feelings into account in their own lives, and fail to understand the real damage these attitudes can do. I can take being insulted as a woman, but I know the same people who do this won’t employ me or sell me a car either, let alone take my political views seriously which means I’m excluded from democratic processes. And it’s funny how people who object to being PC about OTHER people suddenly get very sensitive about their OWN rights when they are threatened. So, Grandad, I’m for the removal of all pensions and all health care and housing for old people. Throw them out on the street, ignore them, and then lets’ see how PC YOU suddenly get.

  33. Jimbo – All will be explained, at some stage. I hope.

    Nick and Jenny – I’m sorry if you have been offended by my post, but I think you miss the main thrust of it. I abhor any kind of discrimination, and will never condone any pejorative use of an expression. I am simply stating that Political Correctness has gone too far. We have to tiptoe around conversations now in case someone may be offended. How can the use of the word “Christmas” offend anyone? How can the word “Chairman” offend anyone?

    Jenny – I am at a loss to understand what you are saying? Where did I say anything about removing peoples rights? Removal of pensions, health care and housing? What? You have completely misread what I wrote.

    As for being offended by words, I cannot see why anyone should be offended by being called bald, blind or deaf [instead of follicly challenged, visually impaired or aurally impaired]. The old words are not pejorative, so why change them? The meaning is precisely the same, yet it is non-PC to use them.

  34. I SO agree. I think it’s a case of live and let live. I don’t want to celebrate Hannukah or Passover or whatever, but I’m very happy for anyone who wants to do so to get on with it, put up flags, send cards, wear a hat, not wear a hat, paint their nose, whatever. Equally, if I want to celebrate Christmas, I expect to be given the right to do so without some busybody tosser telling me I’ve got to call Santa ‘Parent Christmas’ or being told he’s an ageist relic or cruel to reindeer or whatever.

    Oh, and just an aside: my Mum told me that when she was little, the polite term for a black person was ‘coloured’. A lot of her generation think they’re doing the right thing only now to be reviled as racist, which is the last thing she’d ever want to be. Maybe all these PC campaigners would be better employed teaching the world some bloody tolerance. xx

  35. I still want to know what we are going to do about this Norse (and roman and generally pagan) pantheon that are besmirching our weekday names 😉 How about project management speak: W10D3?

  36. E Mum – In my day, Negro was a perfectly acceptable word. Then it was Black. Then it was Coloured. Now I don’t know what it is. The irony is that there is a series of programmes on BBC2 at the moment called “White” about white people in the UK. I don’t hear any complaints about that. Should they have called it “Caucasian”? Surely someone is offended??

    Thrifty – M03D21 ?

  37. Hey Baino, I thought y’all in Australia just banned Santa from saying “ho ho ho” this past Christmas? That’s what we heard over here anyway!

  38. English Mum talks about teaching tolerance, but her post doesn’t tolerate anyone who is different from herself. And it’s interesting that she’s so much more restrained in her comments on Nick’s blog than she is here. And by the way, people change. That’s why ‘coloured’ was acceptable once in England and isn’t now. It’s not rocket science, but it does keep the Daily Mail in profit.

  39. To Nick but more so to Jenny,
    If you were American I would refer to you folks as ignorant Yew Nork liberals. The invasion of PC into our language is wrong and serves nothing but to dilute and confuse.
    Grandad put it best when he said he was tired of ‘tiptoeing’ around a conversation.
    The best case in point is the last teaching position I had. The people I was working for went to great lengths to teach us all about sensitivity! What a crock! We were told in no uncertain terms NEVER to use the word ‘click’ when referring to using a mouse because deaf people don’t know what the sound click means. Without exception every single deaf student I had thought this was the most stupid and offensive thing they ever heard but Deloitte insisted that not not doing so would be offensive to the deaf.
    I guess when my neighbor whished me a Happy Easter I should have castigated him for not wishing me a Happy Purim and a Happy Prophets birthday too.
    Politically Correct is wrong.
    And Jenny why didn’t you put your blogs URL in your comment?
    http://southbelfastdiary.blogspot.com/

  40. Ouch. I see I’ve come in for some of Jenny’s acid tongue lashing too!! Someone’s certainly got her machine gun out today. I was restrained on Nick’s blog as I’ve never posted there before and was politely expressing my view that Grandad is a LEDGE.

    “I’m very happy for anyone who wants to do so to get on with it” is what I said. Where does it say that I don’t tolerate anyone who is different from myself? I would refer her to your two final sentences.

  41. Brianf – Oh I completely take your point about deaf people and ‘click’. That’s a good example of overdoing it, assuming ‘correct’ behaviour on someone else’s behalf without actually consulting them. But where’s this ‘invasion’ you mention? Isn’t it just a question of not using words other people object to?

  42. Nick,
    “assuming ‘correct’ behaviour on someone else’s behalf without actually consulting”. Well put. That is the problem I have with PC speak.
    I’m suppose to call black folks African-American and Indians Native-Americans and then lump all Cubanos, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc. into either Latinos or Hispanics.
    I am NOT Irish-American and the Riciglianos down the street are NOT Italian-American and bud of mine named Tom (who is black) is NOT African-American.
    Hyphenated Americanism as every other aspect of PC-ism is offesive to me in that it seeks to dilute everything into neutrality.
    I’m a Yank or since I live in flyover Pennsylvania I’m a Hick, Redneck, Coal Cracker or a Hayseed. I’m also a Cracker, a Whitey and a Ginger or a Carrot Top.
    It doesn’t matter!!!
    If I call you a Pommie or a Limey I’m being un-PC but if I say either with a smile as opposed to saying either with a snarl, to me there’s a difference and to the PC crowd there is none.
    Here yet another example of PC gone wild.
    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VHSAA81&show_article=1

  43. I think the whole debate here fully illustrates how political correctness driven mad can still get people into trouble.

    In defence of Grandad ….. my reading of the man is that he is a fair, tolerant, live and let live man. He was just articulating how political correctness has gone beyond the bounds of common sense.

    This blog attracts a lot of nationalities and that in itself can lead to confusion …. what may be politically acceptable in one country may not be in another. Different nationalities can also interpret the written word differently also.

    Here we have a classic case of mis-interpretation …. Grandad meant no wrong ….. Jenny grasped the wrong end of the stick … and I’m not blaming her for interpretation of it …. that’s what makes us ‘different’. If we all had the same view/opinion this blog would be very booooooooooring.

    Grandad presents his blog from an ‘Irish’ Senior Citizen’s point of view ….. as such Grandad has a style of writing that I would consider typically Irish ….. a mix of sarchasm/seriousness/fun ….. it doesn’t belittle the topic being discussed … it’s just a method of presentation.

    The more we try to to be politically correct …. the less it helps us to be politically correct …. it’s a no win situation.

    So ……………………. let’s call it a draw! 🙂

  44. Nick and Jenny,

    With no offense intended…

    I suffer from severe hearing loss. If you looked at my profile you might, if you moved my hair away from my ears, notice a pair of “over the ear” hearing aids. Without these rather high tech pieces of micro miniature marvels I wouldn’t be able to hear a thing. In other words…I’m deaf. Please do not call me “hearing impaired”. It offends me. I’m deaf…period. Most deaf people I know feel the same way.

    I live in Vermont. This means I’m a Yankee or Yank to most folks in the UK and to all those folks south of the Mason-Dixon line here in the US.

    By the way. Although there are a lot of rednecks down south, not all southerners are rednecks. And most southerners would be proud to be called a redneck…but not all of them.

    Now I’m not a woodchuck per say. Woodchucks are those Vermonters that live up in the hills and mountains usually in trailers or a throw together house with 4 or 5 battered junk cars sitting in the dooryard, a bunch of scabby chickens running around and about 13 cords of wood in and about the property. Most of them are damn good people too and will go out of there way to help someone out. But not all of them are woodchucks.

    I served in the US Navel Submarine Force during the Cold War. That makes me a bubblehead. My best buddy during that time was a man named Scott McDougal. He was tall and slim and his skin was as dark as midnight. He was black. Don’t ever call him African-American, he would have been deeply offended. He was pure Jamaican by birth. He was a citizen of the USA legally. And he proudly called himself an American despite all the things that are wrong with this country.

    I can hold a conversation with anyone without causing offense simply due to not being politically correct. This is and has been absolutely true my entire life. Most people actually consider me well spoken (the fools). 😛

    For nearly the first thirty years of my life there was no such thing as being politically correct. The idea didn’t even exist. Seems like there’s more people being offended these days than there ever was back then.

    I believe, when the situation called for it, they called it being polite. Not too sure when it got corrupted.

    So, with all due respect, how can you possibly know if you might offend any given individual or group you may encounter when we’re all so bloody different? The answer is…you can’t.

    Tell it like it is and know when to keep your mouth shut. Speak the truth if it’s appropriate and know when to keep the truth to yourself when it could do more harm than good to speak it. Each new conversation is a new experience with another person and you have to ride with that experience.

    PC is the the crutch of an insecure society.

  45. Grandad:
    I find this a very shortsighted post and was quite nauseated when I first read it. Rendered speechless as a matter of fact. So I thought about it and thought of all the reasons for not name-calling.

    I’m sure the micks and the kikes back at the turn of the last century were always thrilled to see those signs on the doors of factories in the States when they were hungry for work
    “No Jews or Irish need applyâ€?.

    I’m sure a Negro is always thrilled to be called a ‘golliwog’. And must really yearn for the good old days of white people in black face making fun of him in minstrel shows.

    I know I was particularly thrilled to be referred to as a ‘manageress’ back in the day. Manageress is a diminutive in nature, you see, and as such was paid much less than a male in the same job. Like a stewardess. Paid less.

    We are not a generation removed from the ‘dirty paddies’. Remember? The butt of every joke.

    Now it is dirty pollacks and pakis. The Irish now taking their turn at kicking the dog.

    See the whole thing with this kind of name-calling or labelling is the inherent lack of respect for the human being underneath, whether it be ‘redneck’ or ‘paddy’ or ‘nigger’ or ‘chick’. These are not respectful terms; any way one looks at it. It is a very short hop to outright discrimination from there.

    And I am one who was discriminated against on many playing fields, for being a woman, and for being Irish for starters. Not to mention Catholic.

    The playing fields need to be level for all. That’s all I’m saying. Name-calling ain’t levelling anything.

    And no, I’m not a snivelling crybaby and I’m not fucking off.

    With respect.
    WWW

  46. Oh how many sad people are there in this world of political correctness ? I shudder to think, it’s really really scary indeed that people could read your post Grandad and take offence to any part of it (The Lyons tea minstrals did frighten the shit out of me as a child though).

    At present we have a black male and a white female battling it out for the democratic nomination in the US, so it would seem that the blacks and the women are doing okay then, so ye can all stop worrying about them.

    It seems to me that the talented, educated and hardworking people in our society regardless of their gender or ethnic background are doing okay and the others instead of looking at their own shortcomings & inadequacies just shout discrimination or sexism while waving their banners and scratching their (normally large) arses.

    Of course I could be wrong (I think it happened once before) but as I am not PC I really don’t care what people think of me or say about me. I judge people on the person they are and not by their gender or ethnic background, and will continue to do so.

    Political Incorrectness is not another form of Racism, Sexism or Discrimination, it is a refusal to adhear to the demands of the lazy and insecure in our society.

    As Kirk M said quite rightly “PC is the the crutch of an insecure society.”

    Well said indeed Grandad and please keep saying it.

  47. Yes, Kirk M says PC is the crutch of an insecure society, but he also says (as I understand him) it’s only a new way of saying ‘being polite’. Absolutely. He also says “Tell it like it is and know when to keep your mouth shut. Speak the truth if it’s appropriate and know when to keep the truth to yourself when it could do more harm than good to speak it.” Excellent advice.

    And as Wise Web Woman says, name-calling usually means discrimination.

  48. Grandad’s piece of hyperbole is an attack on the denial of rights not an attack on tolerance.

    PCness does not treat groups equally, there is a mindset that certain groups must have the status of minorities and must have rights, while other groups are overlooked. Even the BBC realised that this had created problems, their “White” season from March 7th-14th was a reaction to the alienation of the white working class in England.

    Multiculturalism has meant that women in some minorities are treated appallingly, but to say so would be considered racist.

    And, no, I’m not some right wing horse Protestant, I remembered yesterday a gay friend who was beaten to death by Loyalist thugs and will probably have lunch tomorrow with an African friend

  49. I’m not going to say any more about this debate here, as other people have made my points better than I did (especially wise webwoman), but I will answer why I didn’t include my blog URL, as I get the implication being made. I actually thought no-one would be interested in reading it, that’s all.

  50. I can’t possibly reply to individual dissenters here. However there seems to be a common thread amongst them, both here and on Nick’s post. They are all assuming that I am promoting the use of words as insulting terms. Wisewebwoman, in particular is saying that I am promoting name-calling. Where? I am also accused of racial intolerance. Where?

    The point I am trying to make is that there is a minefield out there in the language, where we have to be so careful what we say in case we ‘offend’ someone. Invariably this concern at the implied offence does not come from that ‘offendee’ but from a do-gooder society speaking on their behalf.

    If [God forbid] I were to lose by sight, I would be blind. Fact of life. But I would refer to myself as being blind and would expect others to do the same. The idea that some do-gooder somewhere has decided that I may be offended by this and that I should be called ‘visually impaired’ is, in my opinion, not only condescending, but downright insulting.

  51. Grandad – We’re obviously seeing things from very different points of view here and ne’er the twain shall meet, it seems. One group thinks ‘political correctness’ simply means respect for others while the other thinks it means a fanatical obsession with words that’s taking away our spontaneity. Surely there’s nothing wrong with ‘being careful what we say in case we offend someone’. Isn’t that what good manners has always been about? And of course there’s nothing wrong with saying you’re deaf or blind, if that’s the reality.

    Anyway, I think we should draw a line under this debate, don’t you, we’ve all amply aired our views. I hope there are no hard feelings between us, grandad, as I say you have a brilliant sense of humour which usually I enjoy immensely and I look forward to more of it.

    Nick

  52. ________________________________________________________

    Line drawn.

    Of course there are no hard feelings. I’m genuinely sorry if I offended anyone, as that certainly wasn’t my intention [I’m being Politically Correct here].

    What a dull world it would be if we all agreed with each other. 😉

  53. @Grandad, on your last comment…

    Well said, sir!

    @Nick,

    I absolutely agree. I believe everybody had a chance to air their grief. Hopefully we didn’t alienate anyone too badly. But that’s what these kind of conversations are all about, ay? Can’t avoid them you know even if you might offend someone. 😛

    @Jenny,

    I can’t speak for the rest of them but I think I’m safe in saying that of course we’d be interesting in reading what you have to say. You’re entitled to your opinion and it’s respected. We’re actually rather decent folks here and I know at least I would want to see where you’re coming from. 😉

    Hmm, I hope I didn’t offend Grandad or anyone else by speaking for them. Okay, okay, I’ll shut up now.

  54. Hi Grandad,

    I’ve come to the topic late so forgive me for that. I do agree with you that the whole PC thing is a joke. I suspect we are in for some torrid times in this country, the like of which they had in England in the 70’s and 80’s and the like of which they had in France not too long ago.
    Racism is not healthy but unfortunately it is a very real and living threat to this fair Isle of ours.
    I for one will be getting the fuck out of here as soon as I can.

    Bald Devil loves you all.

  55. Hi Bald Devil – Better late than never? For some reason, people assumed that when I spoke about PC, that I was promoting racism. It’s a strange world. But then one of the main protagonists above had a bit of a chip on the shoulder so it’s only to be expected that I get some strange replies..

    *sigh*

  56. We all have chips on our shoulders, Grandad. I think the important thing is to know what they are and whether they’re doing any harm to other people.

  57. I’ve just read this thread and comments and I’m sorry now that I didn’t have a bucket of popcorn while doing it.

    I love a good old arguement.

  58. Nick – Of course I wasn’t referring to you 😉

    OFTR – Sometimes things are quiet here. Other times it’s merry mayhem. It all adds to the variety of life.

  59. “Political Correctness has gone too far.”

    Possibly the most overused meaningless sentence in the English language. Reading this post and the subsequent comments was like entering a time warp. At least we’ve discovered the last man on earth who yearns for the return of the golliwogs. A lot of you actually have a point in some of your criticisms; it’s just that you blow it by seeing your stance against political correctness as not a free speech issue but the right to return to the age of wogs, queers and chinks.

    “Someone might have a nervous breakdown at the mention of St Patrick’s Day so we call it Green Day.”

    Do we? I can honestly say that this is the first time in my near 28 years on this planet that I have come across the term ‘green day’. When did this begin exactly and who uses this reference? Are you sure we aren’t in ‘black coffee’ territory here?

    “And if you are offended by any of the above, then fuck off. You snivelling little cry baby.”

    People who tend to set off on Littlejohnesque rants often assume that the right to free speech includes the right to gratuitously cause offense merely for the sake of causing offense. In a way I can appreciate how people who hold such a crude view would be unable to make the distinction. However, it is the fool’s idea of a principled argument and only serves to denigrate free speech. Take the controversy around the offense caused to Muslims a few years ago by the ‘Jyllands Posten’ cartoons. Whatever your thoughts on the humorous quality of the pictures they did nevertheless constitute the use of the satire to make a political point and Muslims in the democratic world had the right to respond to them. A different kettle of fish altogether would be for me to approach a black person in the street and call him a nigger, backing up my quip with the line, “And if you are offended by that, then fuck off. You snivelling little cry baby.” Would that be exercising my right to free speech? And I’m not a PCer. Take a few seconds to look at my blog and you’ll notice that a recent post of mine was a defence of the right of Holocaust revisionist David Irving to speak on RTE and at a public meeting at UCC. I didn’t gain many new friends with that one, believe me.

    Free speech? Yes. The right of intolerant halfwits to vent their frustration on the vulnerable? No.

  60. Hi Johnny and welcome.
    You make a lot of points so I will try to address them….

    Golliwogs – I have explained this one in a post I have just put up today. The concept of returning to “the age of wogs, queers and chinks” is yours, not mine. I never suggested any such thing.

    Green Day – The town of Greenville, South Carolina. I quote from an e-mail I received from a resident there –
    Greenville, South Carolina, decided behind closed doors to rename our St. Patrick’s Day festivals, Return to Green or Green Day as Grandad put it. So, they wouldn’t offend the myriad of other ethnic backgrounds in said county.
    I wonder if the “myriad of other ethnic backgrounds” were consulted, or whether they complained?

    The last line in my post? – See todays.

    With regard to things like causing offence through gratuitous political cartoons, I would assume that common sense would dictate that these be moderated. I have nothing against moderation, just the concept that I be dictated to as to what words I may, or may not use.

    Everyone is assuming that I am advocating that we should all go around insulting people. If you can show me where I said that, then I will apologise.

  61. I’m caught. Anyway, this is going over old ground really the way yourself and Jenny are replying to each other. No harm in that of course and it hardly warrants a ‘once and for all’ charter of blogging in Ireland.

    I agree with both Webwisewoman and Jenny but that doesn’t mean I can agree with you on other matters, like how nice a good cup of tea can be. And for what it is worth, I think age (being a proxy for experience) has little to do with this.

  62. 73man – As I said before, it would be a sad world if everyone agreed with everyone else. The only reason I continued the ‘debate’ is that some pretty awful things were being attributed to me.

  63. Johnny: Would you mind explaining what’s wrong with giving offence? Oops, sorry: offense

  64. Sémus <IMG class=fs_flagicon title="UNITED KINGDOM" height=11 alt="UNITED KINGDOM" src="http://headrambles.com/wp-content/plugins/firestats/img/flags/gb.png" width=16> on said:

    Dear grandad.
    As soon as I see ” Iam not a racist” I think ” vucking racist”,this is normaly confirmed with there follow up gripe about benfits,affirmitive action ,other stuff ,[the classic but my friend is……..] that is in place to aid individuals to overcome the racism [ sexism] in our cultures,institutions etc.

    If words are ‘meaninless’ ,not like sticks and stones, then lets recall their use in demonising groups before the onset of ethnic cleansing at worst or the marginalising of groups like Travellers. Things do change I never minded been called ‘paddy’ but my English born sons will break your nose if they here you calling me one. They know its true meaning when used by some english people. Is mise le meas Sémus

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