Daily Archives: August 13, 2017

Alf Garnett and his son-in-law Mike arguing over the Christmas dinner table in a 1966 scene from Till Death Do Us Part. From left: actors Anthony Booth, Una Stubbs, Dandy Nichols and Warren Mitchell. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

Let me say this again. The words politically correct are the near-exclusive preserve of reactionary snowflakes. This would surprise any visiting alien exposed to columns about left-wing despots shutting down dissent such as that in all those columns about left-wing despots shutting down dissent. (The noise from the silenced is often deafening.)

The common opening line I suppose this is not politically correct, but suggests that those who disapprove of whats being said often something racist, homophobic or sectarian are likely to use those words when making their case.

PC gone mad is equally loaded. The implication here is that there was a reasonable movement called PC that went on to lose the run of itself. We didnt mind PC when it dissuaded youngsters from beating up foreigners in public lavatories. But now that its illegal to sing the national anthem and all TDs must be disabled women the time has come to call a halt. Its PC gone mad.

After ploughing through a few acres of this stuff, our alien would be convinced that, used approvingly, the term was rarely far from liberal human lips.

Let me say it again in a different way. Almost nobody arguing for respectful language has used those words in a quarter of a century. Before then it was occasionally uttered in Marxist circles. Michel Foucault used it to describe those who professed to communism without doing (as he saw it) sufficient intellectual heavy lifting.

In the early 1990s, a number of conservative commentators, reacting against supposed leftist tyranny on US campuses, began flinging it about in articles, books and scholarly papers.

Its hard to think of a comparably peculiar linguistic shift. An obscure phrase uttered around the mimeograph machine in a few Trotskyite squats had been reinvented as the slogan beneath which a wholly imaginary movement was alleged to march. You know who I mean: the PC Mob.

The words have now been appropriated to describe any resistance to insensitive or discriminatory language.

You found a great deal of this in defences of Kevin Myerss recent, controversial column. One writer to this newspaper approved of him for not toeing the politically correct line. Ruth Dudley Edwards admired him for calling out the nonsense that characterises the politically correct.

There was much, much more. (We should clarify that both were speaking of his work generally, not specifically of the column that led to the furore.)

The notion that some recent puritanical upsurge this thing called PC was responsible for objections to Myerss comments about Jews is absurd.

Such dangerous stereotypes have been frowned upon in most newspapers for the last century. The phantom menace of PC has, if anything, allowed right-wing commentators to open their bile ducts wider. Rude comments about vulnerable groups in society are now framed as brave resistance to the leftist bullies.

You know who I mean its the PC Mob again.

An unlucky half-dozen endured the retired major venting spleen about immigrants at the golf club bar. Hundreds of thousands gather to hear Sword of Albions racist YouTube rants about how the Mob has silenced him. PC so oppressed Donald Trump that he barely managed to become president of the United States.

It is a good thing that the media, academia and public institutions are now more sensitive about language and minority rights. The racism and sexism on television visible until as late as the 1980s now seems shocking.

A common trope in sitcoms notably in Love Thy Neighbour and the more respectable Till Death Us Do Part allowed any degree of racist abuse if the character speaking was revealed as a fool. A realistic John Cleese allowed the N-word to be cut from a recent repeat of Fawlty Towers.

Attitudes really began to change in the 1990s. It is no coincidence that the myth of political correctness emerged simultaneously. Here was a weapon to assist the restoration of the old bigotries. It hasnt quite worked.

The generation that grew up in those years the Millennials so despised by old, thick windbags has proved more tolerant, more open-minded and more watchful for discrimination.

Of course there have been downsides to these shifts in perspective. It takes no great research to find some low-hanging fruitcake offering an idiotic opinion on Twitter that plays into paranoia about the PC Mob. One or two celebrities in particular deliver on a daily basis (you know who you are).

We could do without campaigns against potentially problematic films or TV series before those projects have reached the public. But, on balance, this thing that only reactionary snowflakes call political correctness has been beneficial to western society. Were just a little nicer. Were just a little kinder. Maybe its time to reclaim the phrase.

Excerpt from:

Political correctness hasn't gone mad. It has made us nicer - Irish Times

After voting to change the name of Jefferson Davis Highway through Alexandria, city planners now want the public's help in finding a new name. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. After Alexandrias city council voted to change the name of Jefferson Davis Highway in the city, planners are now asking for help to find a new name.

Its not that whatever name gets the most suggestions will win, its just a brainstorming process, said Craig Fifer, spokesman for the City of Alexandria.

Fifer said the City of Alexandrias Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Renaming Jefferson Davis Highways survey has already received several hundred name ideas.

So far, the city has seen a wide variety of names according to Fifer. The suggestions include local figures, others are geographic in nature and some suggest extending the names the road takes in other parts of the town, which include Patrick and Henry streets.

Alexandria resident Zach Stern supports the name change because he said the road celebrates a historical figure that he believes shouldnt be celebrated. Jefferson Davis was the president of Confederate States of America.

Stern said he believes it should be renamed to Alexandria Highway.

Roads are often named after the destination and I am proud of Alexandria, so it seems like something we can all rally around, Stern said,

Resident Amanda Curylo said she doesnt have a name idea, but she recommends another historic name which isnt as controversial.

For others, such as Chet Nagle who has lived in Old Town Alexandria for 36 years, said he still feels the name should stay the same.

Jefferson Davis was a historical figure in our country and I dont think that this political correctness movement makes any sense, Nagle said.

Ideas for the what the road should be called will be collected through Sept. 15.

There will also be public hearings to gather ideas. Theyre scheduled for Aug. 17 and Sept. 25. A final board meeting on the decision will be held on Oct. 5.

All three meetings will begin at 7 p.m. at the Community Room of The Station at Potomac Yard

Fifer said once the advisory group will make its recommendation to the city manager in October, the city manager will then pass that on to city council by the end of the year for a vote.

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Alexandria wants your help in renaming Jeff Davis Highway - WTOP

Ken Macdonald said there had been past reluctance to look into Muslim men who had been targeting white girls.

But speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Lord MacDonald said that was no longer the case after recent prosecutions.

The Liberal Democrat peer's comments come after 18 people were convicted of or admitted offences in a series of trials related to child sexual exploitation in Newcastle.

He said: "I think there has been in the past a reluctance to investigate a category of crime that people might believe attaches to a particular community in circumstances where men may be targeting young women.

SKY NEWSBBC

I don't think any of us can pretend that in the past these cases have been examined as rigorously as they might have been

Lord Macdonald

Presenter John Humphrys cut in to clarify which part of the community he was referring to.

He said: In other words, we're talking about - by and large - Muslim men who have been targeting white girls?"

Lord Macdonald replied: "Yes, exactly."

Mr Humphrys then asked if political correctness had interfered with the course of justice.

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Lord Macdonald reiterated cases has not been looked into as they should have been.

He said: I think that's no longer the case and I think the fact that these sorts of cases are now being brought successfully demonstrates that those sorts of so-called taboos no longer exist - but I don't think any of us can pretend that in the past these cases have been examined as rigorously as they might have been."

He added he hoped attitudes towards young women in these cases had changed.

He said: There's obviously a serious issue about the way young women are regarded in these cases.

Regarded as trash, regarded as available for sex, and this seems to be a recurring theme - and I don't think anyone thinks now we've got it.

"This is a major problem, it's a major problem in particular communities and it has to be confronted not just by law enforcement but by communities themselves."

Lord Macdonald said he expected more cases and added he was sure there were ongoing investigations.

He said: "I think it's a real wake-up call for communities. Not all sex crime takes place in a single community, ofcoursewe knowthat,that's obvious.

"But there is a particular issue about some men in some communities who feel these young girls are trash who are available for sex.

"We all knowthat,we've seenitin this case, we've seen it in other cases, we know it's going on as we speak.

"Law enforcement has a response, the police have a response, prosecutors have a response, judges have a response, but communities need a response themselves."

Read the original:

Asian grooming gangs NOT PROBED due to 'political correctness ... - Express.co.uk