Just before leaving the office yesterday I stumbled on this excellent commentary in Spiked, which got me thinking about the English-speaking world going crackers on political correctness. It is true that many stories are inflated or outright made up, and the burden of guilt lies entirely on the authors and spreaders of these pearls of falseness. Many newspapers that thrive on making people’s guts shake every morning make a good business of blowing PC rumors out of proportion and pointing the finger at the PC killjoys.
But these stories are believable not because we are irrational beings but because it does sometimes happen. The complaint about the London Met police officer mascot isn’t an invention of mine. Neither is the UK’s definition of a hate crime as “any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate”. Shady at best. Harassment and intimidation laws are already in existence and linking them to the person's perception is not just a slippery slope but a well-lubed descent into judicial wrangling by anyone who lacks the vice (or in this case virtue) of laziness. On the other hand, we have black police honchos saying that more black people should be stopped and searched to stop the shootings that marred the south London streets earlier this year. Mind you, these news can be found in two minutes searching only one newspaper's database.
All this genuinely alarms us because it is the sign of the re-emergence of superficiality whereby the form trumps the substance. It is the de-evolution of the mind into our jungle-like primitive state, the triumph of force over mind, the prevarication of unamovable truths by ephemeral moods of destiny.
In her commentary Munira Mirza further mentions the depravity of Oldham council which, for the sake of avoiding the fascist BNP speaking, placed never-seen-before restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. This is not all part of the liberal PC conspiracy as many would have us believe, but please no-one come telling me that the system and the uncertainty of race relations in a globalized society aren’t being exploited to curtail our freedom and scare everyone into being a drone of mediocrity.
Yes people don’t trust the system because those up high often don’t care about people’s trust. Sir Ian Blair is famous for despising the London public by openly saying that he had a position and if anyone knew of a way to remove him he was welcome to try it out. Yes people are scared into silence by the various “diversity training” boondoggles dished out to professional destroyers of community relations. Yes when people ask themselves why they are scared they become angry at whoever they perceive as their silencer. And yes, people are angry when they know race and origin and looks trump merit .
I don’t care whether the person defending my right to be safe is white, black, man, woman, christian, muslim or a Martian for that matter. If police officers be selected based on the community they serve why not have mostly white policemen in mostly white areas? I am afraid people with few scruples are trying to fit under the banner of “community relations” and “social cohesion” any kind of muddled concoction of badly designed and opinable legislation.
This extends to the debate over religious holidays and insignia, with Christmas being the main victim in this case, whether perceived or actual. And again religion should be left out of legislation and out of social interaction. A holiday is an occasion for celebration, so let’s not polarize the fun at least, eh?
I don’t care if you believe in Christ or not. If you want to partake in some mince pies with me, maybe some mulled wine if you want, sit down with me at the Christmas dinner and have some merry times you’re welcome in my house. I wouldn’t evaluate an invitation to a menorah lighting based on its religious context, I’d accept enthusiastically. Same if I were invited to an Eid celebration. One believes something is a cause for celebration and I not only respect the belief but I would most of the time partake in the fun.
Whether certain factions in the community don’t like me or others celebrating our own occasions, they can in all honesty go get stuffed. Far from being the panacea for the ills of society, political correctness is the virus of fear that infects us in stages, sickening the social fabric, making it feeble and prone to tear. No longer able to confront its divisions and prejudices openly, society harbors them underground, letting the evil stew cook in the cauldron of ignorance, heated by the fire of fear and resentment. All in the name of fostering good community and race relations.
We need to ditch political correctness, confront the mediocrity and prejudice within us openly, open the gutter, clean the rot and reaffirm the primacy of the higher rules of society. Every day.
Let me paraphrase Maggie Thatcher as a conclusion. There’s no such thing as community or race relations. There are individuals, beliefs, the Law and Merit.
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