Political Correctness gone mad :: Wessex Scene Online

Political Correctness gone mad

5th January 2005
Darren Richman

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Oct 07 - Red vs Blue: 1
Mar 04 - Students admit to political apathy
Jun 06 - Short and to the pointless
Jan 05 - The Grapes of Sloth - Students to idly inherit the Earth
Dec 04 - SLYFI: December 2004

More by Darren Richman

Jun 06 - Short and to the pointless
Mar 05 - David 'peep show' Mitchell Interview

It is human nature to hark back to a golden era that never existed. Ask the average elderly gentlemen what it was like in the olden days and he will no doubt respond with, "much better" whilst lamenting the decline society has taken since such a time. Try pinpointing details of this age, however, and the man comes across rather oddly. "People were far politer then and nobody was rude to their parents".

Right, I see, manners were of the utmost importance yet hanging and racial persecution were commonplace during this wonderful era. Sure, there were World Wars and fascist dictatorships but at least the children said "please" when they asked to throw stones at an ethnic minority.

Fortunately, in my eyes, things have actually got better with time. Granted, there has been a certain decline in manners and, perhaps, the quality of Paul McCartney’s output, yet, for the most part, things are on the up. Further still, with regards to prejudice, the British have become a rather tolerant society. We are a far cry from the days when comedy franchises might scrape the bottom of the barrel with films such as, "Carry on Concentration Camp", an amiable farce set in Auschwitz. Indeed, we have become a civilisation so steeped in political correctness that, I fear, the outcome can only be negative.

Put simply, prejudice is something I do not understand. Every day one opens the newspapers or puts on the television to see something related to the mindless persecution of fellow human beings simply down to their race, creed or colour of skin.

Naturally, I understand that due to the complex nature of humanity and our intricate personalities, peaceful co-existence is about as likely as Osama Bin Laden and George W Bush entering our Performing Arts Week with an excerpt from "Othello".

I am, therefore, not asking for any John Lennon style world peace. My point is simply this; we have become so politically correct that before long people will realise the absurdity of persecuting one another on racial grounds and oppression may just become a little more logical.

Why oppress a fellow human being based on his colour when this simply tells you nothing about the person at all? The future, therefore, looks logically bleak as we harm those whose actual opinions offend our very nature. Once we realise this, a headline of the future might read:

"Tragedy struck today in Iraq as seventeen Sting fans were shot dead at dawn. One British man, who simply owned the first two Police albums and none of the singer’s solo work, was seriously wounded."

People take the time and effort to assassinate figures like JFK and Yitzhak Rabin yet why not put politics aside and get to work on the unscathed figures of Chris Moyles and Vanessa Feltz. It’s not as though they’re difficult targets for prospective gunmen.

The natural inclination seems to me to be to persecute what you do not understand. Perhaps if Adolf Hitler had spent a brief spell as a liberal Rabbi during his time in Vienna then things might have turned out quite differently. In the future, however, we will realise the absurdity of abusing what we do not know and begin to fight over what we do.

Thus, the Pepsi-Coke War will turn the USA into one large battle-field as lovers of both drinks murder those they knew as friends in support of the one true carbonated soda.

Finally, having resolved the religious problems in Ireland, nightmare strikes when The Sun-Pat Divide forces crunchy peanut butter eaters to live separated from their smooth-eating foes.

When that day comes, I wonder whether our generation will be looking back at today and insisting, "I remember the good old days when we hated on a more random basis. The fun we had persecuting that which we didn’t understand. Oh, and the children said please and thank you…"