A Wench’s Monday Blog
Anti-Anti-PC and the Infinity Cat Project
I have been following the arguments about political correctness and anti-correctness on Bent Society with a great deal of interest, because I’m not at all taken in by the Daily Mail-ite pernicious garbage about not being allowed to use white chalk on a black-board, order a black coffee, visit Blackpool and the like. I can and do use such phrases and no-one – I repeat, no-one - not one single, solitary, self-appointed, political correctness policeman has tried to stop me. Not once. Ever. I haven’t even been given ‘a look’.
No-one has been to inspect my bookshelf for the unseemly racial slurs that appear in my collection of 1920s-1930s detective fiction. I am still able to buy Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Georgette Heyer novels on the open market and without brown paper wrappers, even though each one of these well-loved authors has penned lines that are anti-Se
mitic, by today’s standards. What is more, I’m perfectly at liberty to buy James Bond books without having to defend my commitment to equality and respect for women. (Mind you, Friar Tuck, you still need to watch out for those Golliwogs.
mitic, by today’s standards. What is more, I’m perfectly at liberty to buy James Bond books without having to defend my commitment to equality and respect for women. (Mind you, Friar Tuck, you still need to watch out for those Golliwogs.I was pleased to see that, about six months ago, Bent Society acknowledged that he was ‘very aware that there is a danger that we might get stuck in reverse gear during this backlash against ridiculous political correctness’. But the backlash against ridiculous political correctness has now, itself, become ridiculous. On the opposite side of political correctness we appear to have the equally nonsense debate about political soundness, where I can no longer be known by the very useful ‘Ms’ or called ‘Chair’ because ‘that’s an item of furniture’. Does anyone remember the Infinity Cat Project website that showed a photo of a cat looking at another cat on a computer screen looking at another cat on a computer screen looking at …? I have to tell you that I’m getting a very similar sensation.
Here is some common-nonsense from what I’m calling ‘third-level infinity-cat’:
- ‘Have you ever stopped to wonder why 40% of people don't bother to vote anymore?
- The answer is simple - political correctness’.
- ‘Political correctness is one of the biggest peacetime threats to freedom this country has ever seen’.
- ‘Political correctness (PC) is the third great evil arising from Western civilization in the last century’ … and … ‘Academics are fascists. Political correctness (PC) fascism—the dictatorship of virtue—has a grip over academia in the West’ (pc.martinsewell.com/). This blogger has some very interesting ideas on eugenics, too.
And a possible ‘fourth-level infinity-cat’, with:
- ‘A council has warned staff against using the phrase 'political correctness' at work because it might offend people’.
Will Hutton way back in 2004, wryly observed that ‘…the paradox is that there is nothing so 'politically correct' as having a go at political correctness. For the Right, it's a heaven-sent opportunity to be excoriating about the inevitable tendency of the Left to produce inanities and offend 'common sense'. For ambitious left-of-centre politicians, it's a chance to show a sturdy capacity to be in touch with the saloon-bar prejudices of 'middle' England’.
What might the effect of this entire PC, anti-PC and anti-anti-PC be?
Does it really promote, or set back, the cause of gender and 'racial' equality? Does it really affect the voting turnout? Is it the reason why young girls would rather be pole-dancers than doctors? Does it have any darned effect at all on anyone other than the chattering classes?
All right, too many questions.
The obvious answer again is ‘we need more research’. These questions shouldn’t be taboo and I don’t really think that they are taboo in academic circles, despite what Mr. Sewell thinks. What I do wonder about is (a) in a world of limited research funding, how high up the list of priorities these research questions should be and (b) what would be the best method or combination of methods for getting at the most accurate picture?
a Wench
12 comments:
Argh, so you are the exchange student? I thought I would return the favour and pop by and see what you were up to. Looks good, what I read looks good. I'm Sergeant Twining by the way.
Now, this PC malarkey Ms....It's a bit like the royal "we" knowing what's best for Black people, women, etc. Yet they haven't a clue. And what's worse is what they may say behind one's back.
So, in your case you would be a left wing Liberal, in my case I would be the enemy within, a loose canon, a troublemaker. Plus they don't want to admit they have no clue, nor what they think of us.
They will umm and arr and all that, and that's about all really. There's nothing wrong with asking for Black coffee by the way, but mine's a cup of TWINING's tea! Now, for that cup of cha? One sugar, with milk please.
You can have biccies, too, Sarge :-)
I don't know about 'left wing liberal' though - I see myself more as a bad case of nettlerash.
Chocolate biscuits? Believe me, the middle classes who are maybe wealthier than us will consider themselves always superior and you may be viewed as a dangerous Liberal, for you, just as I, threaten their "cosy" existence. We might actually be singing from the same hymn sheet.
thank you for introducing me to pokiticallyuncorrectme which I look forward to going through.
The film was particularly interesting; although the visuals seized up about halfway the audio continues.
Do you suppose that the marxists deliberatly seeded a fifth column in the form of political correctness because they saw their forthcoming intellectual and political defeat thoughout the western world and beyond ?
Thank you for (accidently?) introducing me to a great indie record label!
I went to infinitycat.com looking for this Infinity Cat and found a Be Your Own Pet LP I didn't have, discovered two bands, and ordered a bunch of vinyl. Really, vinyl records. What will they think of next?
Would it not be better for councils to stop using political correctness as policy, instead of just not sying what it is while still using it.
They can call it what they like, but it is still pc.
Councils are some of the worst offenders when it comes to using political correctness to make decisions. It's a good job nobody ever gets fired for incompitance while working for local councils. I know someone who works for my local council as a ewo (education welfare officer), she hates the conditions she has to work under, and is now looking for a new job.
Hi SomeEnglishBloke
It's all out there to find - I refuse to take any responsibility - but do please don your sceptical specs before plunging in!
Anonymous - now I do want to take credit for your discovery, however accidental - you can be sure that, as soon as I sign off here, I'll be heading straight for 'Be Your Own Pet', too.
AngryDave
I was talking today to a Unison Equality Officer, who told me that the biggest cause of distress amongst her members is bullying, and that verbal slights and insults still play a large role in that bullying. She does take offence at words that are used deliberately to demean and undermine people and she could point to actual cases where lives had been made miserable by such behaviour. Is she just being politically correct and toeing the party line? Is her opinion suspect because she is a trade unionist?
On the other hand - is pc identified with left-wingers because right-wingers are heartless shits who don't worry about the people they trample on their way to the top?
a Wench
The biggest mass murderers of all time were of course left wingers - Chairman Mao and Stalin come to mind. I think being a shit is pretty independent of politics. PC fascist exist as do non-pc but caring and philanthropic industrialists.
Being non-PC can be demeaning but then the self important "chalk board" anti-Christmas examples are also demeaning. God help us if a fascist ever takes the moral high ground! Simply being rude to someone in front of others when in a position of authority – while not non-PC - is harmful in itself.
Perhaps its time now that the term “non-PC” should be replaced with the term “Rudeness”?
Oo-er!
There's a difference in my book between the kind of left-wing (what was it you said, tofu-burger eating, mung-bean soaking, open-toed sandal wearing, whatever...) that Political Correctness is identified with and totalitarian states. I don't think anyone ever accused Chairman Mao or Stalin of being a bit too PC, did they? Or did I miss that?
I'm just commenting upon the common, British perception that PC is the province of the 'left-wing loonie' (sorry if that is offensive to people who, through no fault of their own, have a tendency to howl whenever there is a full moon).
Robin here..
Surely a Wench you mean someone who has a mental illness. :-)
Then again perhaps not - perhaps you meant loony in the barking-nutter (Margret Thatcher, Telegraph reader) but not clinically ill sense? But then again you'd better not refer to anyone, anywhere, for whatever reason as being a “loony” on a secure mental health ward. Having worked on a few, I assure you of that.
It can get a bit stifling can't it all this PC policing of so many areas – I mean can we reduce it a bit perhaps? After all, are some groups seen as more deserving of "respect" or PC than others perhaps because victim choice is involved (back to those "deserving" and "non-deserving" victims again - or perhpaps its more or less deserving vitims?) or alternatively because the level and extent of prejudice and discrimination is so much more serious?
I'll try to develop these simple thoughts bit here:
It's ok in politics then to stereotype those on the political right as non-pc - but wrong elsewhere to stereotype on the basis of culture. Yet in some families (landed gentry and farmers etc) being on the political right is part of their culture – is lampooning them then is no more than inverted snobbery?
And do transvestites and transgender people have more choice about being the victims or not of non-pc jibes than BME people and those with physical disabilities? Now there’s a real can of worms I think – particularly where competition for scarce policing, Government and charitable resources is concerned between different victim groups who are encouraged by our Governement to compete for funds.
Tomorrow morning I'm going to post a true story about the charity SCOPE. Is it PC, Non-PC or what? I'll leave you guys to be the judges of that blog.
I think that, if you google 'loony left-wing' you'll see exactly what I meant. (It gets even more interesting if you type 'loony left-wing' +'obama'.)
I do remember, though, in my days of Mental Health Nursing (admittedly, nearly 30 years ago now) most of the staff subscribed to the 'if it's a full moon we're going to have a difficult shift' fallacy. The past is a different country, eh?
I'm also trying to point out the dangers of stereotyping - those poor tofu-burger eaters and my 'loony-left-wing' Union friend for a start. Don’t forget - 'PC' is usually an accusation flung at them, rather than a claim that they make for the righteousness of their opinions.
I found this by John K Wilson, on the ‘Myth of Political Correctness’: ‘As I began to examine the stories about political correctness, I noticed a curious double standard. Whenever conservatives were criticised or a leftist expressed some extreme idea, the story quickly became another anecdote of political correctness. But when someone on the Left was censored – often with the approval of the same conservatives who complained about the PC police – nobody called it political correctness, and stories of this right-wing intolerance were never mentioned in articles and books on PC totalitarianism. ... And as I began to study the terrifying tales of leftist McCarthyism, I found that the truth was often the reverse of what the media reported. While some stories about PC are true and deplorable, the scale of censorship is nowhere near what most people think.’ (shamelessly ripped off from google.books – sorry, you’ll just have to tolerate the right-wing/left-wing shorthand)
I'm all in favour of simplification though! I'd love to see some suggestions on a rational process where social norms can be changed in favour of increased respect and civility - but I'm afraid that such a process is going to have to involve the language we use to communicate those norms, in some way or another.
I understand that Adolph Hitler was a non-smoking, hunt hating, vegetarian teetotaller yet he remains beyond the pale ( dread phrase ! ) for the PC brigade.
While very much different to todays lexicon of correct language there was cetainly a nazi part line to toe that was every bit as exacting in its' day.
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