Talking about being Politically Correct !

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  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,259
    Great idea for a thread, @barryt007!

    First of all, I'm down with the workplace shorts. These past few weeks, I have occasionally appeared in school wearing some knee-length shorts. At 29 °C in the classroom, Dimi isn't going to cover up, sweat like a pig and faint.

    Here's a PC rant of mine:

    Can we please still laugh at stuff?

    In my opinion, a society can only be deemed civilised when its tolerance for satire and self-referential humour is absolute. Instead, we are living in an overly sensitive world, where you have to be extra-careful not to upset, insult or mock some so-called oppressed and weak "minority".

    So please be careful. Jokes about menstruation will get you labelled a "sexist" and maybe fired. Understand that the first TinTin comic was incredibly rude to black people and truly needed that imposed censorship. Don't joke about a certain prophet lest lynch mobs burn down your embassy. Bear in mind that cartoons are serious material and could, if so desired, warrant a terrorist attack. Don't make fun of the something-something impaired, you monster. See, that's not funny.

    So what is? Buster Keaton stumbling and falling? Stan Laurel getting pies thrown in his face? No, unacceptable! They represent the stereotype of the skinny, clumsy white person--wait, no, that's racist; let's call it a "person of heavily reduced skin colour". So laughing at old Buster or Stan is wrong, sir, wrong! We should install the "OPHEARESC activist group": the Oppression of Persons of HEAvily Reduced Skin Colour activist group. We have a lot of 1930s slapstick films to censor and oh boy, censor them, we shall.

    The very people who demand equal rights--and righteously so--very often can't take even one iota of race or gender targeted humour. Call centres and websites exist where you can issue a complaint over some joke, cartoon or funny word. And people actually take that matter seriously. The reason often given is as laughable as the jokes themselves: misplaced humour reminds the people of the oppression their ancestors had suffered. Right... Always digging up past issues. I guess I'll just start burning down some Catholic Churches then because of the crimes that particular institute has committed throughout the ages. Priests mock the simple-minded by convincing them there is a god. As a member of a minority (secular atheists), I find myself insulted by all that god mambo jambo. I demand bibles censored (just throw out god and jebus and all that nitwit stuff and keep the good and exciting parts like stoning women to death in the name of justice), I want churches burned down or used as gay bars (wouldn't want the GLBT community to feel left out) and priest or nuns cannot show themselves in "outfit" in public because they remind me and my kind too much of the intellectual oppression our ancestors have suffered.

    Let's just not laugh any more, just to make sure. You know what, let's pass a law that keeps the laughter down! It's the only way we can be certain that no-one, absolutely no-one, feels insulted or emotionally hurt. Surely that will make the world a better place.

    Except for normal people, like us. But then the PC world isn't for normal people, is it?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I don't think anyone who deserves to have a consciousness would be against an open and accepting society, that's not what is up to debate here. We have simply seen a radicalism take over a base of beliefs, both political and otherwise, that is most widely associated with the left in recent times. I say all this as a man who would probably be more left of center, but otherwise refuses to label myself as a direction when it comes to complex human feelings on a myriad of issues.

    When people pick apart the social justice warrior crowd they aren't downplaying the issue of egalitarian concerns across society, they simply take issue with how these people choose to wage their wars. In a fantastic bit of hypocrisy, like the anti-cop factions of the Black Lives Matter troupe who want to burn "pig" policemen and raid their hometowns in some attempt to feel morally upstanding while calling true law enforcers criminals, the SJW crowd fight for an open society while espousing beliefs that push forth censorship.

    These safe-space craving loonies want to live in a world that caters to every unsavory anxiety they have until the world is just one special melting pot of hand-holding circles and easy smiles where nobody has to worry about anything bad happening ever to anyone or anything. The issue is that this is a hyper-optimistic ideal and, like most optimism, completely impossible to reach. These people would rather shelter themselves and others from every uncomfortable thought or feeling of another person, making them unprepared to face the tough times in life without eighty packs of bandaids on hand that they can use to heal their emotional wounds when someone calls them an idiot. If people have such thin skin, you really must worry.

    We all face some form of judgement, as that's life, but I don't think a solution should be to cower in fear or seek out areas where I won't be challenged or where I won't see the world at its worst so I can learn to appreciate the best of it and understand how to fix the bad patches. I'm not asking for the world to conform to me, or cater to what I'm comfortable with, as that's idiotic. I know that the world will constantly throw bad things at me, but I won't sit in my safe space and complain about it while it all still goes on or seek easy targets to explain all my problems as the radical SJWs do.

    These are the kinds of folks who say that I'm not allowed to talk about my problems because I'm a "privileged" white male who has never faced any struggles worth discussing. Who say that I can't comment on the racist actions of people from other races because I'm white and have never been judged or degraded by someone from another walk of life based on my own skin color. Who say I can't debate gender issues because I am part of the male gender that has "oppressed" the female population through that dreaded patriarchy for centuries. The radical SJWs will focus on trivial and idiotic issues, like calling for book burnings when a man wears a t-shirt with a pretty girl in a bikini on it or target video games every time a woman is badly characterized in a new release (while ignoring the male characters who are drawn the same way) instead of standing up to fight things that matter and that can pave the way to true change, like worldwide civil rights issues that oppress actual women and groups of other races.

    There's a reason this crowd are the butt of endless jokes. Their overreaction and outrage culture bullshit has made it so that people can't say anything even 1% controversial for fear that they'll get death threats for speaking an opinion by the nutjob followers of this radical belief system. These are the people who have comedians refusing to perform at places like college campuses because they know how much universities are against open expression with their list of "words you can't use" like "lame" and "crazy" (I wish I were joking) because they could offend a person if used.

    We're creating a culture where people are already not communicating properly because they just text at each other instead of looking each other in the eyes to have actual conversations. If you add in all the SJW influence that is now making people reticent to say anything about anything because it's just not worth the trouble you get by telling a simple joke or being honest about some observation you see in the world, that we are communicating even worse than ever before. The radical factions of the SJWs, feminists, Black Lives Matter troupe and all the rest of the groups seeking representation at the expense of everyone else are the new villains of our time, and can do damage with just their words and attitudes in a fashion that would make some terrorists jealous.

    This is why I hate our current time.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Restaurant worker claims she was sacked for refusing to wear a bra while on shift.

    A restaurant worker has claimed she was fired for refusing to wear a bra on her shift.


    In a Facebook post, she alleged an "inappropriate sexual remark was made to me" at the Bird and Beer, in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

    The post racked up hundreds of shares, comments and likes in a short space of time.

    A day after it was uploaded the status had 464 shares and 943 likes - along with 302 comments on the matter, reports Hull Daily Mail.

    Her post started with: "So I've just got home after being sacked from my job, for refusing to wear a bra.


    "This was said to me in front of three other staff members and customers. Leaving me feeling body shamed and completely shocked that the blame was being put onto me that I had been sexually harassed at work.”

    She claimed she was called “stupid and silly” for being upset.

    "I am absolutely disgusted, with the unprofessional-ism, and blatant lack of respect for my right as a woman to wear whatever makes me personally comfortable,” she continued.

    "Nobody should EVER feel the need to hide themselves in order to stay away from unwanted sexual comments/behaviour.”

    The restaurant was forced to turn off the comments section on its Facebook page after the remarks sparked fury on social media.

    Some were so outraged they began leaving bad reviews for the establishment on Google.

    But the Bird and Beer has denied the claims and said nobody has been sacked from the restaurant.


    They released the following statement: "In response to the recent alleged allegations towards Bird and Beer, we wish to make the following statement.

    "We can confirm that no employees have been dismissed from the company regarding these allegations.

    "We have a duty of care to protect all of our employees from any discrimination or sexual harassment within the work place and we take any comments towards our employees very seriously and act upon them immediately in a professional manner."


  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    edited June 2017 Posts: 5,131
    barryt007 wrote: »
    This is a great place to put your PC stories or comments into,or have a rant or a laugh at PC situations .

    For example ,this just in :

    Man sent home from work for wearing shorts in 34C heat goes back to office in his mum's dress


    Temperatures have soared across the country this week and hit highs of 34C in London.
    While the heatwave is lovely if you're out in the park or at the seaside with a drink in your hand, it's not so nice in the office, as 20-year-old Joey Barge from Aylesbury found out.

    The call centre worker had enough of wearing suits in his hot workplace, so he opted for a lovely pair of smart shorts instead.

    Knowing what office dress codes are like, Joey was even questioning if he would be allowed to wear them before he got to work on Monday.
    At 8.47am he shared a picture of his outfit and wrote: "If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?"


    Less than half an hour later, he had his answer.
    Joey said: "The office is so hot and I sweat so much and feel uncomfortable.


    "I'm fuming. A quarter of the office are wearing vest tops and skirts/dresses..."

    Rather than changing in to a full-on suit which would leave him sweltering in the hot sun, Joey decided to take a rather different approach.

    Using the logic that women in the office were allowed to wear dresses, he decided to go for one of those instead - and raided his mum's wardrobe.
    Really, the dress flashes the same amount of leg as Joey's smart shorts...

    He predicted he would be home again soon, but his tactic appears to have worked - at least partially.


    Joey later tweeted a photograph of an email he had received, which read: "Due to the extremely warm temperatures currently, it has been agreed that... gentlemen in the office are permitted to wear 3/4 length shorts."
    The e-mail also stated they could be black, navy or beige only.


    Well played, Joey. Well played

    He should have been sacked.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Imagine all the work we could accomplish as a species if we didn't concern ourselves with innocuous and trivial bullshit like this?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,259
    I'm all for women wearing fewer bras. :)
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited June 2017 Posts: 28,694
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    I'm all for women wearing fewer bras. :)

    The best form of freedom there is. Stuff this nationalistic liberty tripe.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    On bras. I support the lack of support.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited June 2017 Posts: 18,345
    On bras. I support the lack of support.

    I supported them when they said "burn your bras" too! ;)

    bra%20burning.jpg?height=320&width=307
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Talking of the PC crowd, maybe @Thunderpussy should change his user name, as I'm afraid of thunder. As I'm at it, @Thunderfinger should also change. I know what he can do with his little finger....
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,345
    Maybe he should go back to @DrGorner again then? ;)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    royale65 wrote: »
    Talking of the PC crowd, maybe @Thunderpussy should change his user name, as I'm afraid of thunder. As I'm at it, @Thunderfinger should also change. I know what he can do with his little finger....

    I could at least change my avatar, I guess.
  • Posts: 142
    My uncle O’Brian, who fought all the way from Normandy to Berlin, used to sit outside his New York City Greenwich Village apartment smoking filter-less Camel cigarettes and taking careful note of all the eye candy that passed would say, “in America a woman should be able to dress anyway she pleases as she walks down the street, and not be manhandled by any man for the way she looks or what she chooses to show off”. In the family he was noted for his many girlfriends over the years, but was a confirmed bachelor his entire life, though he never failed to get up and help an elderly woman cross the street.
    Someone once said that “consciousness varies inversely with susceptibility to suggestion”. The PC crowd would seem to hope that everyone will drink their brand of kool-aid, and like it.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    edited June 2017 Posts: 1,053
    When I was a boy it was the norm to wear shorts both to school and elsewhere. During periods of cold weather you wore long trousers but other than that it was shorts all the way. Only when you went up to secondary school would long trousers be worn all the time. It was considered a sort of coming of age thing in those days.

    A little anecdote. During my junior school days (PC hadn't been invented then, indeed it didn't surface for some decades after) we used to go on a weekly swimming lesson at the local baths. For those - me included - who couldn't swim, we were kept in the shallow end, where we would have to practice with polystyrene boards which you used to hold at arms length while kicking your way across the pool. When you could swim a width unaided you were sent over to the deep end. The bloke in charge looked and acted Like Deryck Guyler (I guess no one will have heard of him, so I've placed a link below). Anyway, still believing himself to be a drill Sergeant, he used to stalk up and down the side of the pool holding a ten foot long pole with a hook on the end. With this device he used to randomly push the unfortunate kids who got within range under the water. If you started to drown - most likely only after coming up for air for the third and final time, He would hook you round the neck and drag you to the side, chastising you for being a weakling. We, the kids, thought nothing of it. It was certainly character building!

    I wonder how todays PC/H&S brigade would cope with that sort of thing? All the kids would sue him for a start and would have to call on the services of a councillor to help them come to terms with the trauma of it all.

    Oops, I almost forgot the link:

  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    edited June 2017 Posts: 1,053
    One more thing. As boys, almost everyone used to openly carry knives. Not for fighting (you would only ever fight with fists - no kicking) but for whittling wood and suchlike. I carried a bowie type knife on my belt for years, from about aged eight to twelve or thirteen, when the practice began to die out. There was no knife crime. Go figure.
  • Posts: 12,837
    RC7 wrote: »
    I'm not sure this exactly qualifies as political correctness, gents, just typical bureaucracy. Were they not allowed to wear shorts for fear of offending a minority then we're talking.

    Yeah, double standards maybe but don't get how this relates to being PC?

    Anyway I'm pretty torn on the subject to be honest. I don't like how we as a society seem much less able to take a joke nowadays (well normal people do, it's just online and in the media where you see all the fuss) and there are a lot of bullshit stories where people make controversy out of nothing. But equally I can't help but cringe when people do the whole "PC gone mad! Bloody SJWs" thing because for me it just has connotations of idiots using that as an excuse of thinly veiled sexism, racism, etc. I'm reminded of the Stewart Lee bit on it. "You can't even write racial abuse in excrement on someone's car without the PC brigade jumping down your throat".

    And even if that isn't the case and you have a genuine grieveance over somebody kicking off over nothing and seeing discrimination when there isn't any, these issues are still issues and I think there's a danger of downplaying them by bitching about "PC culture". Because political correctness is by definition a good thing and it's actually great how much more progressive society's gotten over the last few decades.

    Well said. Ultimately no one is perfect so people will be overly sensitive or not sensitive enough. Communication is key and what it boils down to is empathy. Understanding someone's point of view and actively listening to it. That's not the same as agreeing with it or even accepting it. It just means recognising it and not dismissing it. As a white, middle-class, straight, able-bodied male it costs me nothing to recognise other groups who have felt oppressed or persecuted in the past as they voice their grievances. There are systemic and learned behaviours that are so insidious we may not even realise the bias and myth confirmation that it encourages. I for one will try to listen to people - whether I agree with them or not. Because I think people just want to be understood. Whether as a person or their point of view or even why a certain Bond film is their favourite.

    Brilliant post and I agree completely. It's easy to say why can't such and such group take a joke but usually there's a valid reason behind it. I'm black and I'm lucky in the sense that I grew up in a fairly diverse community and even family (me, my brother and sister were raised by two white people). Apart from the odd idiot, I can't say I have experienced much prejudice in my time. But many others from certain minority groups have. It's easy to have a go at someone for not being able to take a joke now but equally you don't know what them or their family have been through. Given how much prejudice there still is in the world, it's more than likely that they had every right to be offended even if it was meant in jest. It is all about understanding the viewpoint of the other person. Equally that goes both ways: ignorance should be challenged but if something is clearly meant as a joke, a quiet word about why you don't find that okay is better than going online and getting a lynch mob together. It is, as you said, all about understanding the viewpoint of the other person. And complaining about PC isn't doing that, and neither is accusing anyone who makes a stupid joke of being an intolerant bigot. Neither extreme is helpful imo.



    The full Stewart Lee bit for anyone who's curious. But the key point to take from it is this: "there are problems with it (political correctness), but it's better than what we used to have". It's easy to criticise someone for not being able to take a joke nowadays since society as a whole is fairly peogressive, but as he points out in the video, it wasn't that long ago that things were a lot worse, something that a lot of people within minority groups would remember experiencing firsthand (or have family members who had), which I think should be kept in mind when accusing anyone of being overly sensitive.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,011
    "You can't even write racial abuse in excrement on someone's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat."

    This bit never fails to make me laugh.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,084
    In a move to improve the political correctness of the species, the 'Great White' Shark will now be known as the, 'Moderately okay Caucasian' Shark...... :))
  • mattjoesmattjoes Pay more attention to your chef
    Posts: 7,058
    I take offense with this thread, and its use of the term 'PC' without there being any computer-related talk in it. I call for a thread-burning. At a Ku Klux Klan cookout.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    pc.jpg
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,001
    pc.jpg

    #ThatImageSoWhite
  • edited June 2017 Posts: 142
    Sensitivity in the PC world is an odd concept. For instance, if three people of the same racial background hear a racially charged joke from someone from a different race the reactions of the three can be markedly different, ranging from absolute outrage and anger, to mild indifference, to laughter and acceptance. If I’m the one telling the joke, who do I respond to, the one in outrage or the one who finds the joke as funny as I do. The guy who laughs sees what I see and perhaps can even laugh at himself the one in outrage assumes that I don’t accept or appreciate his racial difference, while the one expressing mild indifference and I are best of friends.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    pc.jpg

    Of course it's an all white image. You goddamn white supremacist bastard.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,360
    Would you like some perfectly safe saltine crackers and vitamin water to go with that image while harmless Thomas Newman music plays in the background? =))
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Murdock wrote: »
    Would you like some perfectly safe saltine crackers and vitamin water to go with that image while harmless Thomas Newman music plays in the background? =))

    My safe space always has a supply of saltines and water on hand, so I'm good. I could use more bandaids though, in case someone stops by my safe space and makes an off color joke at me. I could just cry!
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,360
    Murdock wrote: »
    Would you like some perfectly safe saltine crackers and vitamin water to go with that image while harmless Thomas Newman music plays in the background? =))

    My safe space always has a supply of saltines and water on hand, so I'm good. I could use more bandaids though, in case someone stops by my safe space and makes an off color joke at me. I could just cry!

    I hope you carry bandaids in all sizes because I want big ones to fit my body image. Regular small ones trigger me and are ableist.
    41VteMddoAL.jpg
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/13/london-tube-scraps-ladies-gentlemen-make-announcements-gender/

    I'd love to say they must be making this up but I've actually got the e-mail from TfL management ordering this latest step deeper into the depressing quagmire of PC totalitarianism.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,360
    Too bad that wasn't there when Skyfall was made, It would have been hilarious to see Bond and Silva get rainbow paint on their clothes. ;)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,011
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/13/london-tube-scraps-ladies-gentlemen-make-announcements-gender/

    I'd love to say they must be making this up but I've actually got the e-mail from TfL management ordering this latest step deeper into the depressing quagmire of PC totalitarianism.

    'Campaigners had said the phrase "ladies and gentleman" - which is commonly used by drivers - was “outdated”.'

    jon-stewart-confused-what.gif
  • Posts: 19,339
    So what are they calling us instead then ?
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