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Is There No End To This Ridiculous Political Correctness?
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There have been a number of these stories lately -- the Daily Mail has mentioned most of them, I think -- and it's been kind of frustrating to watch. The problem is that behind the easy-to-satirise over-reactions there is a serious message. Society, in general, has not been particularly good at acknowledging or even caring about how other people might react to the majority's actions. Now, the people who in the past would have had to put up and shut up don't have to any more.
And yes, like I said, there is a legitimate complaint. It depends largely on your motivations, but it's not uncommon that a subtext of dressing up in the "fancy dress" of another culture would be something along the lines of "look at me, look at how stupid I look", and if for some people the exact same outfit is a matter of tradition and pride, that is pretty disrespectful. If, on the other hand, you were thinking "look at these wonderful clothes, I'm wearing them because of how wonderful they are", then there is, or should be, no offence caused. I would venture to suggest that for most people at this party, they had in mind something closer to the latter.
Anyway, it seems just common courtesy to be aware of other people, and how they might feel about what you say and do. Also, with respect to cultural icons, and what people have said and done in the past, we shouldn't be so eager to view our ancestors through rose-tinted lenses while portraying everyone else as complete ***. Whether or not that means knocking down memorials to them I wouldn't care to say -- it depends on the specific case, right? -- but, again, people have to acknowledge that symbolism is powerful.
I don't think these two themes -- more respect for others, and a more honest appraisal of the past -- are that unreasonable, and these are at the heart of what the current movement is about. Are some in that movement going too far, or getting too aggressive? Very possibly, yes -- the Daily Mail hasn't included in its article a link to a recent story about students wanting a statue of Queen Victoria to be removed, and when I saw that in the Times a couple of days back I stopped what I was doing for a minute or two out of amazement. What I'd ask people reacting to these stories to do is not to let the excesses of the movement detract from the more sensible parts of it.
And yes, like I said, there is a legitimate complaint. It depends largely on your motivations, but it's not uncommon that a subtext of dressing up in the "fancy dress" of another culture would be something along the lines of "look at me, look at how stupid I look", and if for some people the exact same outfit is a matter of tradition and pride, that is pretty disrespectful. If, on the other hand, you were thinking "look at these wonderful clothes, I'm wearing them because of how wonderful they are", then there is, or should be, no offence caused. I would venture to suggest that for most people at this party, they had in mind something closer to the latter.
Anyway, it seems just common courtesy to be aware of other people, and how they might feel about what you say and do. Also, with respect to cultural icons, and what people have said and done in the past, we shouldn't be so eager to view our ancestors through rose-tinted lenses while portraying everyone else as complete ***. Whether or not that means knocking down memorials to them I wouldn't care to say -- it depends on the specific case, right? -- but, again, people have to acknowledge that symbolism is powerful.
I don't think these two themes -- more respect for others, and a more honest appraisal of the past -- are that unreasonable, and these are at the heart of what the current movement is about. Are some in that movement going too far, or getting too aggressive? Very possibly, yes -- the Daily Mail hasn't included in its article a link to a recent story about students wanting a statue of Queen Victoria to be removed, and when I saw that in the Times a couple of days back I stopped what I was doing for a minute or two out of amazement. What I'd ask people reacting to these stories to do is not to let the excesses of the movement detract from the more sensible parts of it.
jim360
/// Anyway, it seems just common courtesy to be aware of other people, and how they might feel about what you say and do. ///
Can you name me any other country in the World, who are so paranoid about not offending other cultures?
Time we stop apologising for what we did in the past, after all we where not alone, what country have not got skeletons in their cupboards from their past?
Perhaps some countries should appreciate some of the many good things that the British did for their countries.
/// Anyway, it seems just common courtesy to be aware of other people, and how they might feel about what you say and do. ///
Can you name me any other country in the World, who are so paranoid about not offending other cultures?
Time we stop apologising for what we did in the past, after all we where not alone, what country have not got skeletons in their cupboards from their past?
Perhaps some countries should appreciate some of the many good things that the British did for their countries.
// Just look at most demonstrations.e.g Doctors Strike, Pembroke College demonstrations........the majority are women and or black, or both. //
put your glasses on and look again Sqad
Oh they are on ? Then take them off and look again ....
Interestingly the young lawyers at Pembroke are saying that the cancellation of the pardee is interfering with their right to break the law or else behave inappropriately
I think I might have turned up dressed in a burqa with holes in inappropriatel places and a sign - just arrived from Cologne Station
how hum - young people dont know how to enjoy themselves and party these days
put your glasses on and look again Sqad
Oh they are on ? Then take them off and look again ....
Interestingly the young lawyers at Pembroke are saying that the cancellation of the pardee is interfering with their right to break the law or else behave inappropriately
I think I might have turned up dressed in a burqa with holes in inappropriatel places and a sign - just arrived from Cologne Station
how hum - young people dont know how to enjoy themselves and party these days
Yes, but that's exactly the sort of response I mean, AOG. There's also a certain hypocrisy to it, too. Here we are, at the start of a four-month debate, where the cries of Brexiters are about how important it is to get *our* country back, make *our* own rules, decide *our* own laws, etc etc etc, free from the yoke of imperialist EUSSR (or whatever the favoured mockronym is these days) oppression. But when we marched into another country -- and, by the way, took control said other countries by force of arms, rather than because they asked ever so nicely over a protracted period of a decade or so if they could sign up to essentially equal membership of a union from which there was a democratic means of withdrawal -- the resulting people whose control we took away from them, and at times fairly brutally, should be "grateful" for the opportunity to have us run their country and treat their land as if it was ours? What a hypocrite you can be at times!
There's another reason this movement exists. Whenever somebody offends you, or threatens to take at least some control away over what you say, or do, or co-opts your symbols for their own ends, you get aggravated, bothered, and complain rather loudly about oppression or censorship, in one form or another. When someone else responds to similar (and, frankly, rather more significant) provocations, they have to "grow up" and accept it, and how dare they complain about it frankly. Well, those double standards aren't going to wash any more. Either stop being offended yourself, or allow others the right to be.
There's another reason this movement exists. Whenever somebody offends you, or threatens to take at least some control away over what you say, or do, or co-opts your symbols for their own ends, you get aggravated, bothered, and complain rather loudly about oppression or censorship, in one form or another. When someone else responds to similar (and, frankly, rather more significant) provocations, they have to "grow up" and accept it, and how dare they complain about it frankly. Well, those double standards aren't going to wash any more. Either stop being offended yourself, or allow others the right to be.
// Perhaps some countries should appreciate some of the many good things that the British did for their countries.//
oh you mean like the Irish AOG ?
some of their revolting students are celebrating the Easter rising 1916
in which I recollect the Irish erm celebrated the advantages of the then glorious British Empire
oh you mean like the Irish AOG ?
some of their revolting students are celebrating the Easter rising 1916
in which I recollect the Irish erm celebrated the advantages of the then glorious British Empire
-- answer removed --
I used to consider our Universities as centres of excellence for the educated and privileged elite. I was in awe of my sister and many of my family who teach or once taught at Swansea University. Quite frankly students are just becoming too much like the great unwashed with too much time on their hands. I reckon I could give them a good game of Trivial pursuits but I wonder if they could understand the rules.
Call it a perceived subtext, if you will. But Most of the time I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to draw that conclusion. It's exhibitionist and attention-seeking, and while that's not meant as criticism in itself the point is that fancy dress in this manner is often meant as parody, in one form or another.
Peter Pendant.
\\\put your glasses on and look again Sqad
Oh they are on ? Then take them off and look again .... \\\
http://
For Christ's sake Peter Pendant, this picture is with my spectacles on.
I must agree.......what is happening to the health service.?
Do you want me to find a picture of the moaning students at Pembroke College ?
\\\put your glasses on and look again Sqad
Oh they are on ? Then take them off and look again .... \\\
http://
For Christ's sake Peter Pendant, this picture is with my spectacles on.
I must agree.......what is happening to the health service.?
Do you want me to find a picture of the moaning students at Pembroke College ?
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