NationStates Jolt Archive

So here's the deal. A week or two ago there was an article in the newspaper saying that either my local council or my county council (can't recall the scale of it prescisely) has basically banned the use of the word 'Christmas'.

'Christmas' lights now aren't - they have to be called winter lights or even celebrity lights apparently. Shops aren't allowed to ahve 'Merry Christmas' signs in their windows. The list goes on.

Now I'm not sure exactly how much the community is adhereing to this, but the point remains the same. It's all apparently because it 'offends' people of different beliefs/no beliefs. Even though the leader of the Muslim community (or one thereof) here said it was ridiculous.

Personally I think this is just insane. It's like in an effort not to 'oppress' anyone else's culture we're destroying our own. To ensure that we don't 'offend' Islam or Judaism we're destroying Christianity. So far there's no mention of Jews being banned from making mention of Bar Mitzvahs, or Muslims of Hajj.

Please don't interpret this as me trying to keep other cultures/religions kept in the backlight, but I don't think that, in an effort to appear multi-cultural, we should eradicate all elements of our own culture. After all, if you went to, say, Indonesia, and said 'you can't go on about Muslim holidays in public because it offends Christians' you'd be laughed at, but apparently if you tried the same thing here (nouns reversed obviously) the government has collective apoplexy and smites every religious organisation in sight!

Phew. Rant's pretty mucg over now I think. Still, the irritation at the stupidity of some things remains. Don't get me wrong if this was reversed and it was Islam being removed from the public eye I'd be just as outraged - I'm no fundamentalist hypocrite or anything - but since it's happening with Christianity that's what I'm talking about. What next? Will we have to destroy all churches and cathedrals and move the services into peoples houses, and make sure no-one can see or hear anything that goes on? And if so will this be extended o other religions?

Basically my point is that this is nothing short of... well... not racism, but whatever the word is for religious prejudice of that sort - descrimination I suppose, against Christianity. And yes, shock horror, it is possible to be descriminative against a majority (even though Christian numbers in Britain are apparently falling).

So any thoughts? What's next? Is this right or wrong? Descrimination or not? Anything at all? I put my trust in you, the good people of NS General. Don't let me down guys :)

In a truly egalitarian state political correctness does not exist, therefore it is utterly unnecessary, and loathed for the most part.

I totally agree. We have stuff like this every year. the idea that one religions festivals might offend another is absurd. the strangest thing is that the most common religion (christianity) is always the 'offensive' one.
I'm an atheist but and this jind of crap still pisses me off.

What next? abolish the monarchy to avoid offending american tourists? Abandon capitalism incase chinese students cry?

Jesus Fucking Christ.

I totally agree. We have stuff like this every year. the idea that one religions festivals might offend another is absurd. the strangest thing is that the most common religion (christianity) is always the 'offensive' one.
I'm an atheist but and this jind of crap still pisses me off.

What next? abolish the monarchy to avoid offending american tourists? Abandon capitalism incase chinese students cry?

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Excuse me there, Jesus is insulting to other faiths.... tut tut tut:p

Multiculturalism gone amuck. Or more like perverted and the gone amuck.

So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chaunukah, Kwazy Kwanza, and a Solemn and Dignified Ramadan.

Tell me--did you write that yourself, or did you just copy the drivel that comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth? Or better, did you rip it from John Gibson's new "book" on the subject?

Let's see--no city named, no newspaper article actually linked to or cited so those of us with Lexis/Nexis can see if such an article appeared, in fact, no corroborating evidence whatsoever. Yep--smells like bullshit to me.

Political correctness is and has been just gone mad for years. Another example is in the British police force - they have a handbook on politically correct words. One women had just been hit by a hit and run driver, and been knocked down (and I think quite hurt). She described the man as 'fat', and she got an icy look from a policewoman who said she couldn't describe the man like that - she felt she was being regarded as the criminal after being knocked down.

Tell me--did you write that yourself, or did you just copy the drivel that comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth? Or better, did you rip it from John Gibson's new "book" on the subject?

Let's see--no city named, no newspaper article actually linked to or cited so those of us with Lexis/Nexis can see if such an article appeared, in fact, no corroborating evidence whatsoever. Yep--smells like bullshit to me.

Hm.... Interesting....

TUNE IN LATER FOR THE FINALE OF THIS SOON-TO-BE ARGUMENT

Its all just a joke.

Personally, as an atheist, I have no problem with the word Christmas. To me, it simply means the commercialized season of giving when you exchange gifts and eat food with family. It need not be religious if you don't want to be.

I know people of different faiths that aren't offended by the Christmas sales and stuff. Then again, for business owners, it is just smart to say "Holiday Sale" or something similar to appeal to the greater public and thereby make more money.

I am, however, against the whole Christmas season starting before Thanksgiving.

Tell me--did you write that yourself, or did you just copy the drivel that comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth? Or better, did you rip it from John Gibson's new "book" on the subject?

Let's see--no city named, no newspaper article actually linked to or cited so those of us with Lexis/Nexis can see if such an article appeared, in fact, no corroborating evidence whatsoever. Yep--smells like bullshit to me.

OK, first off, who the hell are Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson? (You can tak that as an indicator that no, my writings are not, uh, "copied from the 'drivel that comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth' or ripped from John Gibson's new book on the subject')

Second, the city is Portsmouth, county Hampshire (country England btw) and Portsmouth, for those who aren't so hot at geography is on the sounth coast. Just a little info for you :) Although it turns out the article wasn't about my county, it was about Waveney in East Anglia, and apparently several others. I just assumed it was local because I saw a clipping with it in my church. Would you like my name and address too? My PIN number and National Insurance number too? Just to verify that I'm real, and this isn't some crazy AI posting this just for kicks?

You want links? Try these:
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/11/10/lpanic10.xml
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/07/nxmas07.xml
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1864022,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1859540,00.html

I could go on and find you more from several other newspapers, but frankly I can't be arsed. If you won't accept the evidence when it's thrust under your nose as plain as... a thing that's incredibly plain and blindingly obvious then there's no point in trying to convince you. Maybe that's why your such a sceptic.

And why the hell would I make this up? You think I'd do it for kicks? That instead of just reading/posting here I'd make shit up for it? I do actually have friends in the real world. I'm not such a loser that I need to make up stuff like this for virtual recognition *cough*or be a total sceptic so people take notice of me*cough*

Incidentally, Lexis/Nexis? What are these things please? Just out of curiosity.

Good grief it was so tempting to flame to hell outta you here. I hope you'll note my restraint.

Political correctness is and has been just gone mad for years. Another example is in the British police force - they have a handbook on politically correct words. One women had just been hit by a hit and run driver, and been knocked down (and I think quite hurt). She described the man as 'fat', and she got an icy look from a policewoman who said she couldn't describe the man like that - she felt she was being regarded as the criminal after being knocked down.

I can tell you now that's bullshit - one woman might have being in a bitchy mood and snapped, but it wasn't because of "foooooking PC". I was asked by two police officers to describe a group of chavs who smashed me round the back of the head with a pipe a few months ago, and I was really angry at the time, so I said they all looked inbred, ugly, and one of them was fat. They wrote it all down and thanked me - if that's what the victim says they look like, they'll follow it.

I can tell you now that's bullshit - one woman might have being in a bitchy mood and snapped, but it wasn't because of "foooooking PC". I was asked by two police officers to describe a group of chavs who smashed me round the back of the head with a pipe a few months ago, and I was really angry at the time, so I said they all looked inbred, ugly, and one of them was fat. They wrote it all down and thanked me - if that's what the victim says they look like, they'll follow it.

Maybe they make exceptions for chavs - we all know what they're like :D ;)

Maybe they make exceptions for chavs - we all know what they're like :D ;)
Pray tell, what is a "chav"? My British slang dictionary never arrived. Or, more accurately, I never ordered it.

Olara']Pray tell, what is a "chav"? My British slang dictionary never arrived. Or, more accurately, I never ordered it.

Other names include pikey, scally, towny, and so forth. Alongside many expletive names :D

The term 'chav' apparently stands for 'Council House And Violent' which to be fair is a decent desciptionof most of the lil bastards lol. Your stereotypical chav will wear Adidas trousers tucked into sports socks, Adidas or Nike trainers, a peaked cap often worn sideway, fake gold jewellery , will quite often go topless (males at least) and when not wear a Ben Sherman shirt and a Adidas/Umbro/any sporting brand jacket.

Most play football, all are what could delicately be called football hooligans, they drink because it's cool - they're the ones that you see getting wankered and beating people up - every other word in a sentence is likely to be 'farkkkchin' which translates into 'fucking' and their prime insult is 'your mum'. They will start on you for looking at them (the fight will be prefixed by them saying 'wotchoolookinatwanker?') and they won't abck down because they mistakenly think they are hard. Most are spotty, and don't shower. They substitute copious amounts of lynx for a wash. It doesn't work.

I'd go on, but I can't be arsed. If you want a visual description, just turn on a news channel, and find a story about people in England beating up some helpless person (usually an old person) while drunk. Odds are that'll be a chav.

Olara']Pray tell, what is a "chav"? My British slang dictionary never arrived. Or, more accurately, I never ordered it.

Other names include pikey, scally, towny, and so forth. Alongside many expletive names :D

The term 'chav' apparently stands for 'Council House And Violent' which to be fair is a decent desciptionof most of the lil bastards lol. Your stereotypical chav will wear Adidas trousers tucked into sports socks, Adidas or Nike trainers, a peaked cap often worn sideway, fake gold jewellery , will quite often go topless (males at least) and when not wear a Ben Sherman shirt and a Adidas/Umbro/any sporting brand jacket.

Most play football, all are what could delicately be called football hooligans, they drink because it's cool - they're the ones that you see getting wankered and beating people up - every other word in a sentence is likely to be 'farkkkchin' which translates into 'fucking' and their prime insult is 'your mum'. They will start on you for looking at them (the fight will be prefixed by them saying 'wotchoolookinatwanker?') and they won't abck down because they mistakenly think they are hard. Most are spotty, and don't shower. They substitute copious amounts of lynx for a wash. It doesn't work.

I'd go on, but I can't be arsed. If you want a visual description, just turn on a news channel, and find a story about people in England beating up some helpless person (usually an old person) while drunk. Odds are that'll be a chav.

how can they justify telling shop owners what they can and can't put in their windows? That's just tyranny.

how can they justify telling shop owners what they can and can't put in their windows? That's just tyranny.

No, according to its hellenestic etmylogical roots a tyranny is a regime, headed by a tyrant, who is not elected, but remains in office only with the will of the people, notably Peisistratus in 6th century BC Athens.:p

Sory for the pedantry, it's more autocratic repression, but hey!;)

No, according to its hellenestic etmylogical roots a tyranny is a regime, headed by a tyrant, who is not elected, but remains in office only with the will of the people, notably Peisistratus in 6th century BC Athens.:p

Sory for the pedantry, it's more autocratic repression, but hey!;)

Ah. Well thank you for the correction, I wouldn't want to look stupid confusing the two in the future :p

That's ridiculous. If somebody is so offended by the display of these lights or signs on private property, they can leave the store. No one forces them to go to the store, and no one forces them to buy things for, display, or endorse Christmas as a holiday. It takes a real ass to complain enough to get something like this passed.

Tell me--did you write that yourself, or did you just copy the drivel that comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth? Or better, did you rip it from John Gibson's new "book" on the subject?

Let's see--no city named, no newspaper article actually linked to or cited so those of us with Lexis/Nexis can see if such an article appeared, in fact, no corroborating evidence whatsoever. Yep--smells like bullshit to me.


too busy pulling that foot out of your mouth to respond?

:eek: :eek: :eek: yet another case of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Those bloody immigrant yobbish pedophiles are who I blame. Also gyppos (not to be confused with hippos).

*sigh*

I read the OP and thought, "What a wonderful sounding place. A British city where Christmas isn't celebrated. I must go there next month."

Now it appears it is Portsmouth, so I might rethink that.

No, according to its hellenestic etmylogical roots a tyranny is a regime, headed by a tyrant, who is not elected, but remains in office only with the will of the people, notably Peisistratus in 6th century BC Athens.:p

Sory for the pedantry, it's more autocratic repression, but hey!;)

Now that's just precious.

:D

*sigh*

I read the OP and thought, "What a wonderful sounding place. A British city where Christmas isn't celebrated. I must go there next month."

Now it appears it is Portsmouth, so I might rethink that.

The OP? What, pray tell, is that?

And apparently it isn't Portsmouth... yet. But given some of the shite we've had in years past I wouldn't put it past us. Do feel free to come here anyway - we... uuh... we have a big tower! Yeah! To be fair it is... well, quite big lol.

Originally posted by Mirchaz
too busy pulling that foot out of your mouth to respond?

Don't be unfair - he may have tourets... in his fingers... or maybe he's just an overly agressive, misunderstood emo kid. Or maybe he's just stupid (and ashamed of such).

The last time Christmas was "officially" banned by the UK government was Oliver Cromwell's short stint. His son was murdered.

I hope someone learns something from history.

The last time Christmas was "officially" banned by the UK government was Oliver Cromwell's short stint. His son was murdered.

I hope someone learns something from history.
What that celebrating a holliday is more then someones life? (oliver's son)

(By my ideals neither would have happened but thats me)

The OP? What, pray tell, is that?

Opening post.

What that celebrating a holliday is more then someones life? (oliver's son)

(By my ideals neither would have happened but thats me)

Well, it is a religious holiday and Cromwell was not too popular with some, so his son died because they didn't want another Cromwell ruling England.

Well, it is a religious holiday and Cromwell was not too popular with some, so his son died because they didn't want another Cromwell ruling England.
Fair enough

*chortles* I love this stuff. First a bunch of people (usually cringing, sniveling, public service yes-men) get all huffy and hot under the collar over offending someone's culture, so they institute some kind of measure to prevent that. Then a bunch of other people (usually abrasive , directionlessly pissed off people pining for the 'good old days') get all hissy and indignant over "Political Correctness GONE MAD!!!!11!1q1!" and start bitching about whatever measure the aforementioned public service yes-men instituted. And then someone will get pissed at them, and cycle continues!

Everybody wins! :D

*chortles* I love this stuff. First a bunch of people (usually cringing, sniveling, public service yes-men) get all huffy and hot under the collar over offending someone's culture, so they institute some kind of measure to prevent that. Then a bunch of other people (usually abrasive , directionlessly pissed off people pining for the 'good old days') get all hissy and indignant over "Political Correctness GONE MAD!!!!11!1q1!" and start bitching about whatever measure the aforementioned public service yes-men instituted. And then someone will get pissed at them, and cycle continues!

Everybody wins! :D

Indeed. No one takes political correctness seriously apart from a tiny minority of civil servants and the whole Daily Mail reading crowd. Despite the constant moaning about it, I have never, ever in any circumstances encountered any in real life.

*chortles* I love this stuff. First a bunch of people (usually cringing, sniveling, public service yes-men) get all huffy and hot under the collar over offending someone's culture, so they institute some kind of measure to prevent that. Then a bunch of other people (usually abrasive , directionlessly pissed off people pining for the 'good old days') get all hissy and indignant over "Political Correctness GONE MAD!!!!11!1q1!" and start bitching about whatever measure the aforementioned public service yes-men instituted. And then someone will get pissed at them, and cycle continues!

Everybody wins! :D

Hehe - if I wasn't amused I'd be annoyed that you seem to be eschewing all I said - come on, even you must surely admit that this is going a bit too far. Surely? Surely? No? Oh well... you should! Yeah, you should... :p

The last time Christmas was "officially" banned by the UK government was Oliver Cromwell's short stint. His son was murdered.

I hope someone learns something from history.

Wasn't it parliament that banned it?

Wasn't it parliament that banned it?

Cromwell, Parliament, they're all the same these days - there are no lines any more:D

Ironically I was thinking about starting this post myself. And indeed in my case it was brought to the fore by the book writter mentioned (John something...I forgot the last name that quick...LOL He was subbing for Tony Snow today).

I have, however been noticing the overall trend over the years. And it's not just with Christmas. Nor with just Christians per se'

Recently I read something where a bunch of Pagans and Wiccians got their panties in a wad over certain costumes in the stores and the holiday of Holloween in general (which falls on the same day as the pagan sabbat of Samhain, for those not in the know). This is about as stupid as Christians getting all upset over the commercalization of Christmas.

To me either one is indicitive of one not secure in their faith or lack thereof (i.e. they are secure in not having a faith). Those of us who are secure in that manner could really care less about whether or not the holiday gets commercized or whatever. We practice our faith and that's it. The beauty of free choice and free will.

What gets me is when anyone tries to use the police force of government to force everyone else to believe as they do. I don't like it when so-called Christians do it, when other religious groups do it or when the ACLU does it. ACLU has done good things, but they also do stupid things like trying to get referances to Christmas removed but not other religious holiday referances.

I'm an atheist and don't paticulaly care (especially as its mostly in welsh where I live) but I prefer the term xmas to christmas

what I think we shoudl demand is public holidays on all religious festivles just to be fair

what I think we shoudl demand is public holidays on all religious festivles just to be fair

I agree. Out of...uh...respect for other cultures...that's right. >.>

Ok, here's the real story -less likely to sell papers though- a junior official with their heart in the right place made a poor judgement call and said that instead of 'Christmas lights' they were to be named 'winter lights'. Immediatly overruled by the council mind you, although I'm sure you'd find that hidden away at the end of the article(read one of the hilarious 'story vs quotes' pieces some sites do it's unbeliviably how different they can be).

It's not PC gone mad, it's not our culture being erroded, it's not anything to care about. However the inaccurate reporting of it has provided more ammunition for the intolerant half-wits that seem to be everywhere :(

Ok, here's the real story -less likely to sell papers though- a junior official with their heart in the right place made a poor judgement call and said that instead of 'Christmas lights' they were to be named 'winter lights'. Immediatly overruled by the council mind you, although I'm sure you'd find that hidden away at the end of the article(read one of the hilarious 'story vs quotes' pieces some sites do it's unbeliviably how different they can be).

It's not PC gone mad, it's not our culture being erroded, it's not anything to care about. However the inaccurate reporting of it has provided more ammunition for the intolerant half-wits that seem to be everywhere :(

Whoa whoa, chill out, we're all friends here - there's no need to go calling people intolerant half-wits... well, unless they actually are intolerant half-wits lol. If I made a mistake I apologise, but this is the story as I've read/heard it, and although I realise that my position in asking for evidence may be a tad shaky considering what happened earlier, I feel some justification as I've provided evidence to back mine up (unless I really did miss a little add on at the end, but I'm pretty sure I didn't).

So any thoughts? What's next? Is this right or wrong? Descrimination or not? Anything at all? I put my trust in you, the good people of NS General. Don't let me down guys :)
The whole thing is just ridiculous. Anyone who's offended by calling a traditional holiday what it has always been called is in serious need of an attitude check. What are they going to do with the word "holiday" itself? It's a contraction of "holy day." Are they going to ban that as well??? Humpfh!

Geez, lets ban presents too. Presents are religious. I say BAN THEM!

:rolleyes:

Whoa whoa, chill out, we're all friends here - there's no need to go calling people intolerant half-wits... well, unless they actually are intolerant half-wits lol. If I made a mistake I apologise, but this is the story as I've read/heard it, and although I realise that my position in asking for evidence may be a tad shaky considering what happened earlier, I feel some justification as I've provided evidence to back mine up (unless I really did miss a little add on at the end, but I'm pretty sure I didn't).

I'm not calling anyone on here half-wits. I only read one of the articles (an 'opinion' piece so not exactly 100% fool-proof) I'll take a look at the others but I think we'll find that I'm right.

Ok, having read through them, the only thing I'll accept as reasonable reportingis the job centre thingy. Out of all the things to be concerned about, it really really isn't up there. How much of you rlife do you spend in the job centre around christmas? If you do, would the lack of a tree in there really ruin your day?

I'm an atheist and don't paticulaly care (especially as its mostly in welsh where I live) but I prefer the term xmas to christmas

what I think we shoudl demand is public holidays on all religious festivles just to be fair
Not being funny, but the fact is that it is/was about the birth of Jesus Christ and all that stuff. So, it's correct name is Christmas.

The fact that it now starts mid-August is another matter...

I don't like political correctness. It really has gotten too political. Sure, Christman is one of the most popular holidays. Christianity is still one of the biggest(and one of the easiest to commercialize) religion in the world...as of now. Of course it's going to have massive celebrations. Just because someone's part of a minority doesn't mean you should baby him. Yes, I said him. Sue me. I'm tired of minorities getting special treatment by the left. They're different. Big freaking deal. I'm an underweight American. Where's my minority treatment? To all those who use the slavery excuse: Welcome to 1865. To all of those who use the segregation excuse: Unless the African American was even alive at the time, it's a crappy excuse. The Japanese were sent to ghettos during WWII. Where's their special treatment? Jews were systematically tortured and killed by the Nazis. Where's Jew month? They've been through thousands of years of being discriminated against. Many were burned alive. I'm sick and tired of "race" being used in issues. There's only one freak'n human race and it's called, sure enough, "human race". End of discussion.

P.S. I'm tired of he "anything Bush/O'Rielly says must be false." mentallity here. If you're refuting them, show proof.

P.P.S. I hate the ACLU. It's hypocritical.

I'm an atheist and don't paticulaly care (especially as its mostly in welsh where I live) but I prefer the term xmas to christmas

what I think we shoudl demand is public holidays on all religious festivles just to be fair

Actually, the Romans spelled christmas "Xmas" because they used the X as a symbol for christ. It really is pronnounced and means, "Christmas."

People have only used it as ageneric term in the last 60 years.

I'm an atheist and don't paticulaly care (especially as its mostly in welsh where I live) but I prefer the term xmas to christmas

what I think we shoudl demand is public holidays on all religious festivles just to be fair
Shoot if we do that we'll have hardly any days that aren't and so many religious would suddenly pop up to fill in the gaps

You know what? I'm going to call Christmas lights whatever the hell I want. Just for the hell of it I am going to start calling them dingleberries. I'm going to walk around my house stringing up lights and singing at the top of my voice, "Yeah, oooh! Stringin' up the dingleberries!". I'll string them up to read: "Merry Dingleberrymas". On a side note, one Christmas my mom and I were trying to make a star out of the lights and accidentally made it upside down. We were too frustrated to bother fixing it so we called it "Sid, the goat" and left it. I bet our neighbors were shocked. Oh well.

You know what? I'm going to call Christmas lights whatever the hell I want. Just for the hell of it I am going to start calling them dingleberries. I'm going to walk around my house stringing up lights and singing at the top of my voice, "Yeah, oooh! Stringin' up the dingleberries!". I'll string them up to read: "Merry Dingleberrymas". On a side note, one Christmas my mom and I were trying to make a star out of the lights and accidentally made it upside down. We were too frustrated to bother fixing it so we called it "Sid, the goat" and left it. I bet our neighbors were shocked. Oh well.

Fantastical! That's brilliant, and I wish you every luck with that - see why can't coucils be more like Grainne? Call the bloody things whatever the hell they want, but don't stop anyone else from doing the same damn thing.

Bastard beaurocrats.

I'm all for multiculturalism and anti-racism, but political correctness has gone WAY too far in the UK. What's next, the Prime Minister title becoming the Not-So-Good-As-Other-Ministers-But-There-You-Go Minister? The Royal Family becoming the Constitutional Family? Will all holidays be abolished?

PC cost us the BBC1 balloon, Christmas and soon it may cost us the English language. We are the UK and US, not simply the "separate-from-Europe-mainland" nation and "between-Atlantic-and-Pacific" nation.

Side note: PC isn't always beneficial. According to the Sun (which is obviously a conservative tabloid, due to their hatred of PC and minority treatment), an act of PC "preventing pictures of Romeo and Juliet in registry offices from upsetting gays" actually irked the Pink Paper, the major gay newspaper.

Side note: PC isn't always beneficial. According to the Sun (which is obviously a conservative tabloid, due to their hatred of PC and minority treatment), an act of PC "preventing pictures of Romeo and Juliet in registry offices from upsetting gays" actually irked the Pink Paper, the major gay newspaper.

I was not aware it was ever beneficial, since stopping on being referred to by a term merely intensifies the antipathy towards him.

I was not aware it was ever beneficial, since stopping on being referred to by a term merely intensifies the antipathy towards him.

It's rarely beneficial. For example, the general taboo on racist remarks pretty much anywhere could hardly be seen as a bad thing, but something like not saying 'fat' because it could upset someone is definitely ridiculous.

It's rarely beneficial. For example, the general taboo on racist remarks pretty much anywhere could hardly be seen as a bad thing, but something like not saying 'fat' because it could upset someone is definitely ridiculous.

I just don't see it, sorry. Surely if race is merely a physical appearance, similar to one's height or weight, than either we interdict all remotely insulting terms, or actually preserve freedom of speech.

Incidentally, have you ever been called a "white shit", and responded with a simila racist slur to mr. mbangabanga, and been accused of racism, I bloody have, and its ridiculous, British legislation dsicriminates against real Britians in favour of half breeds.:rolleyes:

I wouldn't say political correctness is out of hand in England. I make sexist, chauvinist jokes and comments a lot and I haven't been torn apart yet… and I frequently say "faggot"… not because of homophobia, but because it's such a damn good word!

I don't ever use race slurs though. That does get you into trouble… although you're fine over religion.

EDIT: Yeah, pulling the "slavery" thing or something similar is something I just don't tolerate. Pretty much every racial/religious group in history has been persecuted and killed - I know mine has… so no one's got a right to complain about something that happened hundreds of years ago.