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A moan about political correctness. by johnnyBgood! on 17 July 2012 9:20am

I'm sick to the back teeth of PC issues. People should grow a backbone. I just heard a discussion on the BBC's flagship news show , The Today Programme (Radio 4) about the controversy of a black footballer using insulting terms to another black footballer on tweeter. Shall we send in the SAS ? It seems to me that the more laws we make to outlaw remarks of any kind, someone comes up with something else that they want to cry about. No wonder kids are weak little shits these days. Oops, my last remark might have a SWAT team at my door shortly.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by ev on 17 July 2012 12:32pm

Knock. Knock.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by tucsonmike on 17 July 2012 12:46pm

Strathclyde Police, open up sir! Yes I have seen too many Taggart episodes.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by Loretto on 17 July 2012 4:57pm

Well it seems that the PC USA group has caught up with Irish Americans. Not everyone likes the Irish.

Link to LA Times article not working so I'll cut and paste Michael McGough's article here.

Is ethnic empathy the same as bigotry?

A zillion years ago I wrote an article for the American Journalism Review titled "The Blarney Beat: The Press Just Can't Get Enough of Those Witty, Charming Irish Americans." My point was that, almost uniquely, the alleged charm of the Irish was a stylistic crutch for writers of human interest stories (and editorials), notwithstanding the fact that “Irish wit” ranged from the clubhouse humor of Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill to the subtleties of his distant playwright cousin Eugene.

In that piece I focused on the popularity with reporters of a supposed Irish psychological trait, but I could have gone on to dissect the ubiquity of references to the way Irish people look (again, despite the fact that all Irish do not look alike, witness the "black Irish"). But this journalistic convention is also still with us.

Last week, following up on poignant news article about a 12-year-old boy who died because of a tragic misdiagnosis, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd eulogized Rory Staunton, the son of Irish immigrants who own two New York bars. Dowd wrote movingly about Rory’s ambition to be a pilot, the way he protected other kids from schoolyard bullies, his admiration for Rosa Parks and the fact that when he went online, it was in search of CNN, not porn.

But Dowd also went physical in her tribute. Rory was not just a good-looking boy; he was a “freckle-faced redhead.” “How,” she asked rhetorically, “could you resist that sweet Irish face?”

My first thought was that this ethnic overkill was a variant of the lazy journalist’s recourse to Gaeolophiliac cliches that I criticized in my essay about Irish wit. But on reflection, I think that’s unfair to Dowd. Maybe, for her, as for a lot of her Irish American readers, Rory’s appearance and ethnicity made his unnecessary death just a bit more more painful.

I’m not accusing Dowd of racism, any more than I would level that libel against my Irish mother, who if she were alive would have reacted the same way to the untimely passing of a kid who just happened to be “one of our own.” If Mom and Maureen are racists for feeling a special pang at the closed eyes on a “sweet Irish face,” then Barack Obama was a racist for observing that “if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon.”

Ethnic empathy isn’t the same as bigotry, after all. But it’s still politically incorrect -- except on the Blarney Beat.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by Wheelrim on 17 July 2012 7:22pm

John, the `Tweet` issue wasnt a new one, it was racist, and today in the Paper that Thicko Rio Ferdinand called another footballer on That Tweet-crap `Yid Scum`, another Racist remark. It does not matter if you are a footballer, garage mechanic or whatever, Racism is Racism, it not to be tolerated mate.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by johnnyBgood! on 17 July 2012 8:03pm

@Wheelrim,I think that's what annoyed me. Oafish footballers always in the news. I heard that one oaf called another oaf a 'choc ice'. It had to be explained to me he was implying the guy was only black on the outside.
Of course I agree racism shouldn't be tolerated.

Re: A moan about political correctness. by Wheelrim on 17 July 2012 9:28pm

Buffoons... almost all of them are prima donnas, and on that subject (I am sure he is probably an ok guy but) WHY is the BBC paying Gary Lineker £2 Million a year, for....err....what exactly? And whilst pontificating, they should NEVER have allowed footballers pay to have gone above £5000 a week. The thing about them is this, its the ONLY thing that most of them can do, lets say the FA suddenly capped it to that, what could these guys do? naff all, like it or lump it. OUR (England)bside is now a joke.... Ok, nuff said.

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