Who are the PC brigade?

[Tom Bombadil]

Well this has gone-off a bit since I last looked in. Good to see the usual insults being thrown. LI must have a thick skin, cos everytime he dares to stand his ground he gets accused of arrogance or being condescending or having three testicles or summthink.

Anyway what I was really thinking about was how the use of PC brigade as a term was changing. Originally it was used as smear to anyone daring to express ideas of equality, be that sexual, race or disabled.
I've noticed it now seems to extend to any group which protests against offensive language or opinions, so that it includes both the left and liberals along with the conservative and religious right.

Sorry for interrupting, I'll let you all get back to the fighting.

 

[London Irish]

Why don't we ban private dentists then?

Great idea! That's the kind of positive thinking I like - we don't want to develop health apartheid either. We're on a roll here!

 

[Brovion]

Nah, the only thing that makes me wince is people swallowing all this bilge pumped out by the rightwing media that we're a nation awash with PC. Sorry mate, believe it if you want, but the PC Emperor has no clothes. It's just a series of myths cobbled together by some very well-paid, cynical journalists and politicians for the gullible to believe in order to slow the fight for greater racial, sexual and class equality in this country.

The shit pumped out by the Littlejohns, the Clarksons, the Daily Mail etc won't work because people will always fight for equality if they have an ounce of self-respect in their body. And we will win

Just re-joining the debate this morning.......

The thing is, I largely agree with you and we want the same thing. The difference between us is your're an old-fashioned Socialist who believes in top-down control and enforcement whereas I believe that real change comes from below.

Yes a lot of this 'PC rubbish' IS invented by the media; kids having to sing Baa Baa Green sheep, or teachers having to talk about a chalkboard or coffee without milk. But it HAS been taken to extremes, kids pretending to be Victorian chimneysweep children for a school pageant not being allowed to black their faces for example. It was Diane Abbot who said that she wasn't offended by soap powders claiming to wash 'whiter than white'. Sadly no one listened to her.

 

[Hungry Joe]

Just re-joining the debate this morning.......

The thing is, I largely agree with you and we want the same thing. The difference between us is your're an old-fashioned Socialist who believes in top-down control and enforcement whereas I believe that real change comes from below.

Yes a lot of this 'PC rubbish' IS invented by the media; kids having to sing Baa Baa Green sheep, or teachers having to talk about a chalkboard or coffee without milk. But it HAS been taken to extremes, kids pretending to be Victorian chimneysweep children for a school pageant not being allowed to black their faces for example. It was Diane Abbot who said that she wasn't offended by soap powders claiming to wash 'whiter than white'. Sadly no one listened to her.

Spot on as usual Brovian.

 

[somerset]

And bringing this back to PC, PC got slated for stating the obvious, that we can't all achieve everything. Its this sort of illusionment that PC is all about. If you can't achieve, first blame someone else and then change the metric so it appears that you can.

As succinct a summary of the core argument here as you will ever see....

Well said Chip...

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Yes a lot of this 'PC rubbish' IS invented by the media; kids having to sing Baa Baa Green sheep, or teachers having to talk about a chalkboard or coffee without milk.

Some might be invented but the three examples you give here really are instructions given to state school teachers.

 

[Simster]

LI must have a thick skin, cos everytime he dares to stand his ground he gets accused of arrogance or being condescending or having three testicles or summthink.

You're having a laugh, surely? Re-read the thread and I think you'll find half the people having a pop at him were doing so for reasons other than merely his viewpoint.

His class warrior posts on public schools are pure comedy though. He doesn't appear to know what he's talking about.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I think the phrase about London Irish 'daring to stand his ground' is NSC gold. The poor, oppressed little lamb. Wouldn't say boo to a goose.

 

[Brovion]

Some might be invented but the three examples you give here really are instructions given to state school teachers.

I actually refuse to believe that, I would prefer to think they really were invented by Richard Littlejohn, Jeremy Clarkson, George Gayle etc. However if it's true it pretty much closes the argument.

 

[somerset]

Sadly in a lot of cases it is true, speak to the civil servants/social workers/teachers/policemen and women..... PC (or howerver you want to label it) is a reality despite tired old LI and his outdated pre 1979 views.

O how I yearn for the return to those heady 'winters of discontent'.

 

[London Irish]

I would do nothing else with the rest of my day if I had to research and debunk all these Sun-style lies. But to be going on with, the Baa Baa Black Sheep is a definite lie.

The "Baa Baa Black Sheep" one stems from the 1980s, the high point of The Sun publishing stories about decisions by "Loony Left". One of the stories was that the nursery rhyme had been banned because it was racist by an education authority in London, I can't remember precisely the one. The authority in question denied it but the Sun pointed to an incident where a teacher had reprimanded a child for reciting the nursery rhyme. Upon investigation the teacher admitted reprimanding the child but only because he'd read in The Sun that the education authority had banned it!

What heppens is that people read the original story in the Sun, remember them as fact and then they become urban myths.

The black-binliner banned by another London council stems from this period too. The Sun actually had to print an apology for that one because it was a lie from start to finish.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I would do nothing else with the rest of my day if I had to research and debunk all these Sun-style lies. But to be going on with, the Baa Baa Black Sheep is a definite lie.

The "Baa Baa Black Sheep" one stems from the 1980s, the high point of The Sun publishing stories about decisions by "Loony Left". One of the stories was that the nursery rhyme had been banned because it was racist by an education authority in London, I can't remember precisely the one. The authority in question denied it but the Sun pointed to an incident where a teacher had reprimanded a child for reciting the nursery rhyme. Upon investigation the teacher admitted reprimanding the child but only because he'd read in The Sun that the education authority had banned it!

What heppens is that people read the original story in the Sun, remember them as fact and then they become urban myths.

The black-binliner banned by another London council stems from this period too. The Sun actually had to print an apology for that one because it was a lie from start to finish.

So why were the teachers at the school my wife used to teach at asked to remove all books with that particular rhyme in then ?

Not true .... my arse !

 

[fatbadger]

The phrase 'PC brigade' has been used on this board to mean those who object to Jim Davidson's jokes, those who oppose homophobia, and anti-Islamic secularists (amongst many others). It strikes me that any supposedly classifying phrase which can mean all of these things is an empty signifier. It certainly has no use in intelligent discussion.

 

[attila]

USE OF ENGLISH

The phrase ‘politically correct’
is not at all what you’d expect.
But how has it been hijacked so?
I’m going to tell you, ‘cos I know.

You’d think it should mean kind and smart
Radical and stout of heart
A way of living decently.
Well, so it did, till recently.

And then some cringing, nerdy divs
Sweaty, misogynistic spivs
Sad, halitosis-ridden hacks
all wearing lager-stained old macs
with spots and pustules and split ends
and absolutely zero friends
(Yes, living, breathing running sores:
The right wing press’s abject whores)
Were all told, by their corporate chiefs
To rubbish decent folks’ beliefs
To label with the phrase ‘P.C’
All that makes sense to you and me
And write off our progressive past.
Their articles came thick and fast
The editors gladly received them
and loads of idiots believed them.

You’ll find that most who use the term
Will only do so to affirm
Sad, bigoted, outdated views
they’ve swallowed via the Murdoch news.

 

[3gulls]

USE OF ENGLISH

The phrase ‘politically correct’
is not at all what you’d expect.
But how has it been hijacked so?
I’m going to tell you, ‘cos I know.

You’d think it should mean kind and smart
Radical and stout of heart
A way of living decently.
Well, so it did, till recently.

And then some cringing, nerdy divs
Sweaty, misogynistic spivs
Sad, halitosis-ridden hacks
all wearing lager-stained old macs
with spots and pustules and split ends
and absolutely zero friends
(Yes, living, breathing running sores:
The right wing press’s abject whores)
Were all told, by their corporate chiefs
To rubbish decent folks’ beliefs
To label with the phrase ‘P.C’
All that makes sense to you and me
And write off our progressive past.
Their articles came thick and fast
The editors gladly received them
and loads of idiots believed them.

You’ll find that most who use the term
Will only do so to affirm
Sad, bigoted, outdated views
they’ve swallowed via the Murdoch news.

Well, the sad old punk looks to have become all PC himself. How establishment!

 

[Brovion]

The phrase 'PC brigade' has been used on this board to mean those who object to Jim Davidson's jokes, those who oppose homophobia, and anti-Islamic secularists (amongst many others). It strikes me that any supposedly classifying phrase which can mean all of these things is an empty signifier. It certainly has no use in intelligent discussion.

That is undoubtedly true, but the original question was something like 'Who are the PC brigade then?' and this being NSC everyone has joined in with an opinion!

USE OF ENGLISH

The phrase ‘politically correct’
is not at all what you’d expect.
But how has it been hijacked so?
I’m going to tell you, ‘cos I know.

You’d think it should mean kind and smart
Radical and stout of heart
A way of living decently.
Well, so it did, till recently.

And then some cringing, nerdy divs
Sweaty, misogynistic spivs
Sad, halitosis-ridden hacks
all wearing lager-stained old macs
with spots and pustules and split ends
and absolutely zero friends
(Yes, living, breathing running sores:
The right wing press’s abject whores)
Were all told, by their corporate chiefs
To rubbish decent folks’ beliefs
To label with the phrase ‘P.C’
All that makes sense to you and me
And write off our progressive past.
Their articles came thick and fast
The editors gladly received them
and loads of idiots believed them.

You’ll find that most who use the term
Will only do so to affirm
Sad, bigoted, outdated views
they’ve swallowed via the Murdoch news.

I do not consider myself 'PC' simply because of all the negative, divisive and plain stupid baggage that goes with the label. That does not make me a Murdoch believing, Daily Mail reading, Tory voting racist homophobe.

 

[attila]

I know you're not Tim! You wouldn't have been in my band otherwise
Unbeaten in 6 games - Happy old punk please 3gulls....

 

[Dandyman]

My current example of 'PC gone mad' is this new law proposed that will stop comedians being able to lampoon religion. You can wave goodbye to ever seeing anything like the 'Life of Brian' again if that comes in.

It's seems to me that the term is whatever you wish it to mean. The Religious Discrimination Bill is opposed by most left-wingers that I know and is being put forward by a gang of right-wing authoritarians who have a clear agenda of imposing their supersitious claptrap on the rest of us.

I would be interested to know if Looney considers the action of those Tories complaining about the poster of Howard and his sidekick as flying pigs as being "anti-semitic" is also "PC gone mad".

 

[London Calling]

I would do nothing else with the rest of my day if I had to research and debunk all these Sun-style lies. But to be going on with, the Baa Baa Black Sheep is a definite lie.

The "Baa Baa Black Sheep" one stems from the 1980s, the high point of The Sun publishing stories about decisions by "Loony Left". One of the stories was that the nursery rhyme had been banned because it was racist by an education authority in London, I can't remember precisely the one. The authority in question denied it but the Sun pointed to an incident where a teacher had reprimanded a child for reciting the nursery rhyme. Upon investigation the teacher admitted reprimanding the child but only because he'd read in The Sun that the education authority had banned it!

What heppens is that people read the original story in the Sun, remember them as fact and then they become urban myths.

The black-binliner banned by another London council stems from this period too. The Sun actually had to print an apology for that one because it was a lie from start to finish.

THe baa baa black sheep was aledegly London Borough of Lambeth and the bin bags was Haringey council, where you can now get a whole range of colours of bin bags, depending on the service (household, industrial, trade etc) and its contents.

LC

 

[Simster]

I would be interested to know if Looney considers the action of those Tories complaining about the poster of Howard and his sidekick as flying pigs as being "anti-semitic" is also "PC gone mad".

Eight paragraphs of spelling mistake riddled drivel and utter noise, complete with hilarious play on the word "Dandyman" (and possibly also "Simster") coming right up in the next hour or so.