CuriousHamster has a great post about political correctness, and how he (as a bit of a lefty, mind) feels that it is true to an extent that political correctness stifles political debate.
I tend to err away from criticising political correctness, simply because the phrase, “I think it’s political correctness gone mad,” is little more than a proxy for “I’m a foaming racist, me!” However, I agree with CuriousHamster’s post so much.
Certain truths have become untouchable. Certain groups have achieved victim status and their actions have, therefore, become beyond reproach. Fuck that. If someone is behaving like an arse then they’re behaving like an arse, no matter their religion or the colour of their skin. Political correctness does at times hinder our ability to recognise and confront that, in my opinion, and that isn’t healthy.
They were talking about political correctness on the radio the other day, and one of the guests defended political correctness by saing, “It’s just a form of politeness.” Bollocks to politeness, I can’t stand that shite. If I think something’s a piece of crap, I’ll just go right ahead and say it. I don’t even see how polticial correctness is even about politeness. I don’t even think it exists in the sense that The Daily Mail would have you believe — but that’s another post for another time.
Back to the original point, though, about CuriousHamster’s post. The example I think of is from a couple of years ago which I blogged about a very long time ago (back when I still used Blogger, so no link; if you’re desperate to find it, you’ll get there yourself).* Beenie Man was nominated for the Mobos and Peter Tatchell decided to protest against his nomination because of his lyrics which advocate executing homosexuals. I think when somebody incites the murder of anybody, that is pretty damn indefensible.
Not for some though. Apparently Beenie Man only dislikes homosexuals because of his culture. In other words, it’s okay if he wants gay people to be executed because he’s black. Well, fuck that. I don’t give two hoots about the colour of his skin, or the culture of where he comes from. What matters is what he says. It’s the culture in many white working class areas to be a racist thug, but does the fact that it’s their culture make it right? Of course not. Beenie Man is an adult with responsibilities, and he uses his status to advocate the killing of homosexuals. It’s simply not on.
* That post was also the first time a bunch of snidey anonymous message-boarders decided it was okay to talk about me and not my post. Apparently I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about because (paraphrased), “I bet he is neither black nor gay.” Hmm. Then another person found the picture of me and said, “You’re right, he’s not black. He’s just some scrawny ginger guy.” So there we are: my views were discounted because I was ginger (I’m don’t even think I’m ginger, but what do I know?). That’s just racism if you ask me…