Political Correctness

[endure]

I don't think we have PC in Yorkshire.... we don't tolerate fools easily!

You can tell a Yorkshireman - but not much

[Charma]

To the poster who said there are no quotas in the UK---you are wrong!

One of our police forces was recently castigated heavily in the press because a number applications for service with the force had been refused simply on the grounds that the applicants were white English men and were therefore of the wrong ethnic origin.

In construction myself for many years I had to prove that I employed a specific number of employess of foreign origin in order to be allowed to tender for local authority works.

I know both good and bad people of many origins and strongly feel that the achievements of the hard working and talented people of ethnic origin are denigrated by all these quotas and PC bullshit.

Perhaps you should check some facts before you post. Positive discrimination in the UK is unlawful. As your post seems to indicate, a police force who took the action you stated should be castigated. They are lucky that was all that happened. I think you are confusing "quotas" which are unlawful, with something called "positive action" which is lawful. Where organisations are under represented in temrms of gender or ethnic origin, they are allowed to take certain steps to encourage people from the under-represented group to apply for jobs. This may be such things as targeted advertising or recruitment, access courses etc. The key thing is that the selection of candidates MUST be on merit. Many organisations have gone too far and have been caught out by this (ask a Labour MP about women only shortlists). Targets are fine, but quotas that decide selection are not.

So you see, even white males are protected by equality laws. You should be happy about that.

(PS. Things are very different in the US)

[sting01]

Just an opinion from an non anglo saxon person.

Does people born the same? I mean Am I the same physically, psychologically, financially, as Charma or endure or any other of the poster in this topic? I do not think so, and I am sure they would claim their diference if I pretented to be.

The so called PC brigade is only people who refuse to admit people can be different, such as one is good to learn mathematic, another is good to learn litterature. Obviously I was not good to learn english at school, but I was great in mathematic, does it make me better or worst than those who fluently spoked/spoke english? No just different. I neve felt hurt when western african call me 'boiled pig',, it's the old way Peul people called the french, on the other hand no one of the soldiers from western africa who served with me felt hurt that I call them'blackie', as they had the right to use the 'boiled pig' nicname to refer to me .... same apply for the couples ' roumi/bougnoule', 'rice cup/ zoreilles'..... many origins also in france. Anyway, as long as it's nickname, mean a funny way to design someone, mean also the person you design with that nickname can also design you with one; there is nothing wrong. Certainly crude (or unpolite), but traditional.

I was lucky enought in my life to live many country, in asia, europe, africa, north america. One thing that make this world wonderful is the diversity of the human race, saying that one group is better than other is stupid, but negate/refuse to admit the difference is stupid too. We are not the same, but we are equal. Refuse the difference will mean on the long term the equality will be forget also.

[Casanundra]

I think you are confusing "quotas" which are unlawful, with something called "positive action" which is lawful.

Isn't positive action just another PC word for saying that a quota has been filled without actually saying 'quota'?

We had 'positive action' in the very large blue chip company I used to work in and the big boss used to walk around proudly telling everyone that we had positively filled our 'quota' because in one of the project teams we had:

A dwarf... erhum sorry... a special height person

A cross dresser with long blonde hair who was 6 feet tall and built like a hercules... erhum, sorry I mean a petit woman in a rather big man's body desperately trying to get out

Several gay... erhum, I mean 'happy' people who liked to huddle and cuddle with people of the same gender in the office

A few 'physically challenged' folk of different challenges

Plus at least 15 countries representing the UN, all of whom required their own rooms to be available 'just for them', oh and a menu in the canteen 'just for them' plus different dress codes 'just for them'...

It wasn't a circus that I worked in but it was most certainly one of the more interesting places I had been in and it was good to see that they could fulfill their positive action requirements, erhum quota, erhum list, erhum desires...

Edited December 29, 2006 by Casanundra

[Furbie]

I am sad to start my posting career with this topic; but the PC issue is a pet peeve of mine.

The problem (as I see it) is that what started off as something with inherently good intentions – stop racial slurs - has now gone to the level of the ridiculous.

Point: What the hel_l is an African American? If a black person is visiting the US from the UK, what do you call him? Is he suddenly an African-American because he landed in the US? A "label" should be able to be applied consistently. Call an black person from the Caribbean an African anything and he/she will be seriously upset.

Example: Niggardly – a racial slur or are some people not scoring high enough on the verbal portion of their SAT (reference to US college entrance exam) to hold public office. One of the best examples of PC gone too far was the David Howard incident, which, proudly, took place in my nation's capital. Wikipidea sums it up better than I can.

"On January 15, 1999, David Howard, a white aide to Anthony A. Williams, the black mayor of Washington, D.C.., United States, used the word in reference to a budget. This apparently upset one of his black colleagues (identified by Howard as Marshall Brown), who incorrectly interpreted it as a racial slur and lodged a complaint. As a result, on January 25 Williams forced Howard to resign.

However, after an internal review into the matter and pressure from the gay community (of which Howard was a member), the mayor offered Howard the chance to return to his position as Office of the Public Advocate on February 4. Howard refused but accepted another position with the mayor instead.

The Howard incident led to a national debate in the U.S., in the context of racial sensitivity and political correctness, on whether use of the word niggardly should be avoided because of its potential association with the extremely pejorative racial slur nigger, despite the entirely separate and unrelated etymologies of the two words."

I am a Native American, sorry buddy, I was born here too. I am a Hispanic American; <deleted> does that mean – tell a Puerto Rican (who are already US citizens) that he/she is lumped together with the El Salvadorians if you want to see a good reaction – but run for cover after you do.

Take down the Christmas decorations, they bother me – then go under a rock and come out in January.

Absurd! And now, it appears as if the UK and Europe will follow the US example. Stop before it is TOO LATE.