Political Uncorrectness please

[LewPaper]

Watching a programme on political correctness last night brought it home to me how restricted we've become in the way we express ourselves. Nothing is exempt from extremely detailed criticism and in-depth analysis concerning the use of certain words, phrases or practices. Certainly there are expressions which any normal person would consider unacceptable but this list is growing exponentially. The word black has almost disappeared from our language; words containing the syllable 'men' have been castrated. Prince Harry had to apologise for using a certain word in relation to a friend, who wasn't even offended by it. Why? because someone decided the word to be offensive. Surely something's only offensive if it offends and what was this word that had women reaching for their smelling salts - the first few letters of his nationality, Pakistani. If this is offensive why not ban the words 'Brit' or 'Scot'. If people are so sensitive to what they THINK is offensive to others - tough. There are London boroughs who now avoid the word 'Christmas' in case it upsets their growing non-Christian inhabitants. It's now getting rather ridiculous and out of hand. I'm all for religious tolerance as I am for any tolerances, but it's a two-way street and let's not forget the words of President Truman when he said 'If you can't stand the heat etc. etc.' Employers can't engage who they feel is the better man (oops, sorry) for the job for fear of being labeled sexist, ageist, homophobic or xenophobic and this in the land which promotes free speech. I refuse to acquiesce to these narrow-minded busy bodies who take it on themselves to be the conscience of the nation. I'll continue to say what I feel is appropriate allowing my upbringing and NATURAL sensitivity to restrict my vocabulary rather than to subscribe to the machinations of those with too much time on their hands or the intellect to use it wisely.

[brionon]

jake-the-peg
Couldn't put it better. well said.

[Mrs.Sippy]

You've got two email addresses then Jake?!

I refuse to believe there's two people scraping an existence with such low levels of iq. Perhaps brionon's been the recipient of jake's brain. Hope he's kept the receipt.

[Mr Chipps]

BlackboardBlackboardBlackboardBlackboardBlackboardBlackboardBlackboardBlackboard.
There I've written it. So what? If a board is black then it's a blackboard. I would never knowingly offend a board - ever.
To all you students out there...is blackboard such a derogatory term? We use it enough on our websites without the world caving in on us don't we? Get a life guys.

[Everhelpful]

Couldn't have put it better myself,lew.!!

[LewPaper]

Mr Chips: D'yer feel better now? I hope you don't react in such a manner in front of your class when someone says something you don't understand which is obviously a common occurrence with an intellect such as yours. Hang on a moment while I pick up your toys you've dropped from your pram. Tell whoever it is who looks after you to have your doses increased - significantly.

[LewPaper]

Thanks Everhelpful