No Ho's in Australia

[DanaC]

Yah, but it's rarely the actual legislators making that error. Often it is local officials getting terribly risk averse and not wanting to offend anyone. Often, though, it is completely apocryphal. I cannot tell you the amount of times people have said to me, "They wouldn't allow Christmas lights in Bradford last year in case they offended the muslims". This has become repeated by people so many times it has become 'truth' despite the fact it is utterly untrue.

Another classic: went into a shop that sold toys and noticed a rack of Golliwogs....I was slightly startled. I asked the woman behind the counter "are people still allowed to sell those?"....she said "Oh yeah, but you can't call them golliwogs they're Gollies now". I looked unconvinced, she said "They're not racist, they're just a nostalgia toy'. I said "But of course they're racist....they're a caricature of black people".

She said..."No they're not. Besides, anything's racist these days. You can get in trouble for saying blackboard or asking for a black coffee in a cafe".

Again.....something that's been repeated so many times it has become 'true'. This ludicrous idea that people get in trouble for asking for their coffee black, or for describing a black object as black, is something whch people have repeated to each other, usually accompanied by the phrase "it's political correctness gone mad" so often they've made it true in their own minds.

There are so many letters to newspapers, or political leaflets which propogate these lies that they become reality. They're not reality. They are just people's made up bullshit to justify their own feelings of racial animosity towards other parts of the community.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Yah, but it's rarely the actual legislators making that error. Often it is local officials getting terribly risk averse and not wanting to offend anyone. Often, though, it is completely apocryphal. I cannot tell you the amount of times people have said to me, "They wouldn't allow Christmas lights in Bradford last year in case they offended the muslims". This has become repeated by people so many times it has become 'truth' despite the fact it is utterly untrue.

Another classic: went into a shop that sold toys and noticed a rack of Golliwogs....I was slightly startled. I asked the woman behind the counter "are people still allowed to sell those?"....she said "Oh yeah, but you can't call them golliwogs they're Gollies now". I looked unconvinced, she said "They're not racist, they're just a nostalgia toy'. I said "But of course they're racist....they're a caricature of black people".

She said..."No they're not. Besides, anything's racist these days. You can get in trouble for saying blackboard or asking for a black coffee in a cafe".

Again.....something that's been repeated so many times it has become 'true'. This ludicrous idea that people get in trouble for asking for their coffee black, or for describing a black object as black, is something whch people have repeated to each other, usually accompanied by the phrase "it's political correctness gone mad" so often they've made it true in their own minds.

There are so many letters to newspapers, or political leaflets which propogate these lies that they become reality. They're not reality. They are just people's made up bullshit to justify their own feelings of racial animosity towards other parts of the community.

There may be some truth to what you state as an observation among people and converstation. The news is FILLED with acts of Political Correctness Gone Wild. It is out of control. Minority groups and individuals should not have the power to change things for the majority unless there is a good reason for it. Becasue you are easily offended by a display, a flag, owr whatever doesnot mean people should fall down and make you happy. Screw that.

[Kitsune]

Just for fun, I did a search for "political correctness gone mad". This one is hilarious.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The news is FILLED with acts of Political Correctness Gone Wild. It is out of control.

I agree -- why does the out of control news media even report on this? They actually perpetuate the problem by turning non-taboo issues into fake ones, pushing the buttons of people that are easily whipped into a frenzy by these reports that treat them as a person attack. It isn't as if these ridiculous ideals are actually accepted by society.

Now, if people simply ignored these self made "problems"...

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

I agree -- why does the out of control news media even report on this? They actually perpetuate the problem by turning non-taboo issues into fake ones, pushing the buttons of people that are easily whipped into a frenzy by these reports that treat them as a person attack. It isn't as if these ridiculous ideals are actually accepted by society.

Now, if people simply ignored these self made "problems"...

That is the point...