Political Correctness gone mad??

[[FnG] Lazz]

It seems that every week I read some story about someone having to hide away their St George's flag or Union Jack simply because it "might" offend someone.

A few examples:

"Recently, Ben Smith, an English football fan, decided to show his team support by displaying the flag of England - the red St. George's Cross - on his car. Mr. Smith was pulled over by police on a routine traffic stop but the gist of the stop was far from "routine" --- or is it?

Ben was stunned to be told by the policeman that his Flag of England was racist and "offensive to immigrants" and that he would be fined £30 if he refused to remove it from view. "

http://theopinionator.typepad.com/my_we ... en-sm.html

" Fire chiefs have provoked a storm of protest after banning crews from flying the flag of England.

They were told to take down the Cross of St George from fire stations and engines because it might offend people of other nationalities. "

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-183615958.html

"Armed police patrolling Heathrow Airport have been banned from wearing tiny Union Jack badges in support of British troops.

Top brass claimed the tie-pin badges - which cost £1 with proceeds going to the Help for Heroes charity - were offensive. "

http://www.hmforces.co.uk/news/articles ... nion-jack-

(according to the bbc this ban has recently been lifted)

There are many other examples on google but I will stick with these for now. I really don't understand this offensive stuff. One of my friends, who as admittedly very right wing, said "its ironic that some of the people who come to this country for protection are the people who claim our flag is offensive". Is that the case though?

I don't know any Muslims but the place where I work has about maybe 150 or so people and around half of them are easten European and I dont think any of them find our flag offensive.


These are of course just examples to do with the flags. Another one I read about was that a guy complained to the council to stop calling black bin bags black bins bags because someone might find it offensive. Due to this complaint, that particular council now has to refer to them as 'refuse' bags.

[[FnG] Hanno]

Spot on. But what you've got to consider is that there are people making money out of this nonsense.
eg lawyers out of stupid sueing suits, and PR consultants 'solving' non existent problems.

Maybe we need a national poll - Which is more offensive the union Jack/George Cross or Gordon Brown
then we can ban the loser?

[[FnG] F'nor]

That is a bunch of bull hockey . The british flag has flown across more of this world than probably any other flag. It is a symbol that should be proudly displayed. I say fly it proud!!!
It is the same here in the states. If you do anything that is Patriotic it is considered offensive.
Stand on what you believe is right and let God sort it out.

-buzz

[[FnG] Sphinx]

Just dont even get me started Lazz - this whole PC thing has got way out of hand and is utterly ridiculous. I am sorry, but us Brits should have every right to fly our own flag. How can it be offensive to anyone??

A couple of years ago, there was an article in the paper, about a a group of about 15-20 Wolverhampton council employees attending a PC course, at a cost of about £1500 per person for 2 days ...... They were "taught" that expressions like "ship shape and bristol fashion" were rascist as it referred to the slave trade ....

Sadly I can't remember any of the other expressions that were deemed rascist/offensive but they were all expressions that had been used for a long time and were definitely NOT rascist or offensive. As Hanno said, plenty of peeps making money out of it.

[[FnG] 7uh]

There are a couple of phrases that I stopped using when I found out where they came from, the main one being "rule of thumb."

Of course, in that case I'm not using a phrase because it offends ME. Although I certainly understand and agree with people not wanting to be subjected to racist and violently offensive language, at some point we're going to need to realize that the world isn't getting any smaller, and someone is going to be offended by SOMEthing during every hour of the day.

Saying something insensitive is not really a crime. (Hitting someone over the head with a Coke bottle and taking their iPod, now THAT'S a crime.)
(Although now I do have this really nice iPod.)

[[FnG] LcNessie]

What was that thing Penn and Tellers said again?

Oh, I remember, something along the lines of: The right of freedom of speech is mutually exclusive with the right of not being offended.

I rather be offended a couple of times, than have to watch my words any and all the time...

[[FnG] ParanoiDinHELL]

the fear of PC isn't all that either.. with all the bullshit going around here with blatant lies and feelings of fear being spread because nuance is deemed to be rated political correct. I guess xenofobia is too easy not to be exploited...

[[FnG] James]

It's no better here in the U.S.

If anyone would be in favor of political correctness, it would most likely be me, and I am not in favor of it (at least not what it has become).

7uh, is absoluteley right in that saying something that offends someone is not really a crime, in-fact our soldiers fought and died for that right of free speech.

Everyday I see it more and more that we are turning into a nation of overly-sensitive, whining crybabies in the name of being politicaly correct.

That being said however, there is the other extreme in which people have no common sense of respect or decency towards eachother and say what they want without a thought, so I guess it can go both ways... however finding a happy medium in today's polarized society is almost impossible.

[[FnG] spim]

in a nutshell ... it's insane

hitting someone, stealing their stuff, poking them with a sharp stick, etc. is something that is done *to* you

"Taking Offense" at something said or done is something *YOU* do yourself

you know what? .... I take offense at people NOT flying the Union Jack ... so - now what do we do?

...

should we all be slaves to the stupidest, most-childish people in our communities, countries, and now the world with this instant, global communication Intarwebz thingie?

or perhaps should we hope that others can be freakin' grown-ups and understand that not everyone grew up here like the Scarecrows over there of different shade?

are we *really* slaves to the mere whims of the *WORST* among us?

[[FnG] Neecap]

This kind of stuff happens all over Europe but not in asia or africa. Why are we so obsessed with being PC here? It blows my mind how some people can feel that a national flag is offensive. :S