How far will political correctness go?

[mistermack]

I just read a thread about a Welsh woman fined for racist abuse.
She called a woman an " English cow " in a row.

This precedent means that the entire crowd at a Scotland/England football match would have to be arrested.
Unless there were some confused Americans present.

I wonder if " fat cow " would have been prosecuted?

Or "Cornish cow"?

It's funny that the politically-correct persuasion is creeping further and further into all of the aspects of life.
The English and the Welsh are clearly of the same race, but nobody in the establishment sees anything wrong with calling this racist. It would have been ridiculed just ten years ago.
PC is like an ink, that is slowly soaking into the fabric of all aspects of life. What we laugh at now, will be illegal in the near future.
You can call this a loony decision, or mad, or crazy now. In ten years time, you will probably get arrested for it.

If my dad came back to life now, he would probably get arrested within days.

How far will it go?

[laklak]

My Dad would be so far under the jailhouse they'd have to pipe in sunlight.

[mistermack]

It's not just my dad.
I once told my favourite uncle, an Irish farmer, that my girlfriend was black. ( a Mauritian nurse )

Without batting an eye, he said " does there be a smell out of her? "

This from a man who never had a shower or bath in his life up to that point. It was stand-up washes in those days.
I just said " yeh, she smells nice ", and let him know how fresh HE smelled, which didn't bother him in the slightest.

[laklak]

My nephew was dating a girl of mixed race, an absolutely gorgeous girl. Dad asked "Is Alex still dating that nigger?" Mom said "She's not a nigger, she's a mulatto".

They were products of their time, I guess.

[klr]

My nephew was dating a girl of mixed race, an absolutely gorgeous girl. Dad asked "Is Alex still dating that nigger?" Mom said "She's not a nigger, she's a mulatto".

They were products of their time, I guess.

Indeed they were. I dare say we could all recount similar tales involving our elders (including those no longer with us) if we trawled through the memory banks hard enough.

[colubridae]

My nephew was dating a girl of mixed race, an absolutely gorgeous girl. Dad asked "Is Alex still dating that nigger?" Mom said "She's not a nigger, she's a mulatto".

They were products of their time, I guess.

My mum is now 94.

After the Japanese tsunami she said "I know It's a terrible thing that's happened, but I don't feel sorry for them after what they did to ours boys during the war"

The following day she came down to breakfast and said, "I shouldn't have said that about the Japanese Tsunami, there were women and children killed as well".

I couldn't stop myself. I said "yeh, but mum, remember what they did to our boys"
To which she then replied "Yes you're right I don't feel any sympathy"

I'm going straight to hell!

[tattuchu]

Not sure how far it will go but it's already gone too far. It's reached the point of absurdity in which you can't say or do anything for fear of offending someone. What annoys me? Constant apologies. Someone in the spotlight says something, someone else takes offense, shitstorm ensues, first person apologizes profusely, then media constantly reminds us of said "inappropriate" or "insensitive" remark, when in fact the remark wasn't inappropriate or insensitive in the first place, or even if it was, SO FUCKING WHAT.

[mistermack]

My nephew was dating a girl of mixed race, an absolutely gorgeous girl. Dad asked "Is Alex still dating that nigger?" Mom said "She's not a nigger, she's a mulatto".

They were products of their time, I guess.

Yeh, I don't think my dad KNEW any other word than nigger, for black people. I certainly never heard him say black people, or blacks. I can't clearly remember what I used to say in those days.

It wasn't nigger, so I suppose it might have been black. But they were nearly always Jamaicans in Gloucester at the time, and I can remember using that. I would have normally said, my Jamaican friend, rather than my black friend.
And Pakistanis were ALWAYS called Pakkis. It wasn't considered racist at all, until the late sixties/early seventies.

[mistermack]

Double post. I must get a new mouse.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I just read a thread about a Welsh woman fined for racist abuse.
She called a woman an " English cow " in a row.

This precedent means that the entire crowd at a Scotland/England football match would have to be arrested.
Unless there were some confused Americans present.

I wonder if " fat cow " would have been prosecuted?

Or "Cornish cow"?

It's funny that the politically-correct persuasion is creeping further and further into all of the aspects of life.
The English and the Welsh are clearly of the same race, but nobody in the establishment sees anything wrong with calling this racist. It would have been ridiculed just ten years ago.
PC is like an ink, that is slowly soaking into the fabric of all aspects of life. What we laugh at now, will be illegal in the near future.
You can call this a loony decision, or mad, or crazy now. In ten years time, you will probably get arrested for it.

If my dad came back to life now, he would probably get arrested within days.

How far will it go?

If the police get involved then you can guarantee that it will be taken to the most ridiculous lengths...like being arrested for calling a horse gay. That particular example was thrown out (lack of evidence, iirc) but sooner or later something like it will stick and set a precedent and little by little the pc rot will set in properly.
Free speech my pink arse.

[colubridae]

Not sure how far it will go but it's already gone too far. It's reached the point of absurdity in which you can't say or do anything for fear of offending someone. What annoys me? Constant apologies. Someone in the spotlight says something, someone else takes offense, shitstorm ensues, first person apologizes profusely, then media constantly reminds us of said "inappropriate" or "insensitive" remark, when in fact the remark wasn't inappropriate or insensitive in the first place, or even if it was, SO FUCKING WHAT.

And that's only on rationalia. What can it be like in the real world?

[Coito ergo sum]

I just read a thread about a Welsh woman fined for racist abuse.
She called a woman an " English cow " in a row.

This precedent means that the entire crowd at a Scotland/England football match would have to be arrested.

That's what hate speech laws get you. They are enacted to protect particular groups from abuse. The laws, however, get worded in neutral terms -- ie. they don't just protect "blacks" or "minorities" they protect against insults to race, nationality, religion, etc. So, when a Muslim or an African-Brit person are called "Muzzie Cow" or "Kaffer Cow," the English and the Caucasians feel that they are deserving of equal protection and so "English cow" becomes a violation of the law too.

Unless there were some confused Americans present.

"Confused Americans?" Hate speech.

I wonder if " fat cow " would have been prosecuted?

Or "Cornish cow"?

Well, calling any woman a "cow" would be sexist, and a "fat cow" would be both sexist and biased against the overweight. If one supports the prohibition of similar slurs against, say, homosexuals or blacks or Muslims or whatever, then on what basis does the law not also protect the heteros, whites and Christians, etc.?

It's funny that the politically-correct persuasion is creeping further and further into all of the aspects of life.
The English and the Welsh are clearly of the same race, but nobody in the establishment sees anything wrong with calling this racist. It would have been ridiculed just ten years ago.

Race is not the only protected classification in hate speech laws -- nationaity, too, national origin, etc. And, Brits, while they are often cryptic about it, do seem to describe a set of separate nations that make up the UK -- England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, etc.

PC is like an ink, that is slowly soaking into the fabric of all aspects of life. What we laugh at now, will be illegal in the near future
You can call this a loony decision, or mad, or crazy now. In ten years time, you will probably get arrested for it.

If my dad came back to life now, he would probably get arrested within days.

How far will it go?

I'm just surprised your reaction is something other than: free speech is not unlimited and this is a reasonable exercise of government police power to protect people from insults and hate speech.

[mistermack]

I don't like farcical departures from reality. If something IS racist, then that's ok. Call it racist and by all means pass laws to restrict it.
But PRETENDING that a Welsh woman calling someone English is racist offends my love of reality and truth. I find it ridiculous.

Of course you have to draw lines, but they could start by telling it like it is.

Anyway, the word "racist" is pretty much the most abused in the English Language.
The Nazis were racists. The South Africans were racists. The Ku Klux Klan were racists. They had theories about race and discriminated, not just from racial dislike, but because of racist philosophy.

I still restrict "racist" to people who have a particular philosophy about racial superiority.
All the rest is racial prejudice as far as I'm concerned. Not that that's excusing it, it's just telling it like it is.

[Woodbutcher]

I'm not sure but it could have been a racist insult to cows...

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't like farcical departures from reality. If something IS racist, then that's ok. Call it racist and by all means pass laws to restrict it.

But why do you limit the protection of the law to racist statements. The English cow is not necessarily racist, but it is ethnocentric, or biased based on national origin or nationality. Cow is also biased on the basis of sex since it targets woment.

But PRETENDING that a Welsh woman calling someone English is racist offends my love of reality and truth. I find it ridiculous.

The law doesn't just protect against racial invective, does it?

I still restrict "racist" to people who have a particular philosophy about racial superiority.
All the rest is racial prejudice as far as I'm concerned. Not that that's excusing it, it's just telling it like it is.

...still doesn't explain why you are making a distinction here about government restricting hate speech against sex or national origin/nationality as being inappropriate political correctness while restrictions on racially biased statements are appropriate.

Are you just pissed off that people are improperly referring to it as racial bias, when they should be calling it sexist and national origin bias?