philip davies: beware the imaginary forces of political correctness
Philip Davies' attack on the phantom of political correctness at the Cornerstone Group blog does a nice job of undermining itself:
Political Correctness is an issue about which I feel very strongly and I am proud to be a supporter of the Campaign Against Political Correctness co-founded by John and Laura Midgley. It is quite difficult to define political correctness, but people tend to know it when they see it.Ah, yes. The famous multi-coloured sheep, which has become one of the most often repeated and entirely untrue stories of political correctness gone wild.
My definition, for what it is worth, is the restriction of free speech and the promotion of positive discrimination usually done in the name of minorities but usually perpetrated by white, male, middle class, sandal wearing, lentil eating, guardian reading do-gooders with too much time on their hands and a misguided guilt complex.
When people come across examples of PC they don’t know whether to laugh or cry and we often read about the craziest aspects (such as baa baa green sheep) and think we can smile about it.
The story - for non-sheep fanciers - was that a nursery school had changed the words of "baa-baa black sheep" in order to avoid the suggestion of racism; a later variant had a nursery school teaching "baa-baa rainbow sheep" in order to indoctrinate children in the dire creed of gay rights. Neither story has ever been true, despite headlines to the contrary.
Davies' tentative definition of political correctness manages to ignore how that label has become a premier method of attack, often by offering polarised or simplified terms for debate and claiming that objection to such framing is the work of the thought police.
More often than not, it's a collective swipe ("PC zealots," "the PC brigade," "Guardian reading do-gooders") at a group that doesn't really exist - or isn't countered by sensible pragmatism. It's a rallying cry that neatly ignores the larger issues concerning free expression in this country - whether it be the state of libel law, or the restrictions on public assembly - in favour of introspective hand-wringing.
It's particularly revealing that Davies' comment has to begin with an imaginary attack on freedom of speech:
Personally I found this exchange to be extremely funny but given the stereotype of Scottish people being tight I have no doubt that there is a politically correct zealot somewhere who believes that Nigel’s comments were offensive and possibly even racist. It is quite amazing but there are no doubt such people who have such a sense of humour deficiency.Yes, so great are the powers of political correctness that a man is able to make a mild joke based in stereotype in Parliament and suffer no consequences whatsoever.
The larger point is that the boogey-man of "political correctness" is little more than a verbal cudgel, stripped of all but the most cartoonish meaning.
(EDIT: In response to the criticism that this is a dismissal, not a reasoned reply: that was the intention. Think of it as the appropriate response to a comment piece that trades primarily in stereotypes and repeats stories that have already been repeatedly debunked.)
2 comments:
Fair points on the supposed controversy. Private Eye should be commended for it's coverage of this and many other issues that are misleadingly reported. However the last two paragraphs of the BBC article demolish your argument:
In 2000, a warning that the nursery rhyme Baa Baa black sheep should not be taught in schools because it was "racially offensive" was scrapped.
The guidelines by education chiefs at Birmingham City Council were dropped after black parents condemned the advice as ridiculous.
Would it not be more accurate to conclude that (a) there is such a thing as looney political correctness but (b) the problem is often exaggerated by the tabloid press?
Not quite sure it's demolished. As you point out, it's the kind of silliness that's thrown out as soon as people learn about it, and as such has no real control over our lives.
The line adopted by the Mail and other proponents of the threat of political correctness asserts the opposite; if you remove the exaggerated cases featured in the tabloids from consideration, there's (almost) nothing to talk about.
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