Has political correctness gone mad - by Trevor Phillips

Cliff

I was going to post on this but was' out of the office'.


It is becoming so difficult these days to discuss anything that does not tie in with 'current politically correct thinking'. Especially at universities, there is no room for debate. If you take a view that contradicts the thinking of the minute, you are labelled as a right wing fascist. All discussion is closed down. Our students are no longer open to ideas- and they should be. Life at university should be about considering ideas from all side. Then debate, listen to ideas and discuss the merits of either case. This is simply not happening.

Same in politics at the moment. We are told what is right and what is wrong thinking.

Trevor Phillips:-

How has this come about?

Forty years ago, ‘identity’ politics was about trying to end discrimination. It led to revolutionary legislation on gender, disability and race.

But recently the recognition of diversity has grown into a cancerous cultural tyranny that blocks open debate.

In higher education, it has spread like wildfire.

Efforts to keep real racists off university platforms have been perverted so bans are imposed on, for example, speakers with unfashionable views on transsexuals.

Harmless academics are falling prey, too. Sensible people are appalled at the way Nobel Laureate Sir Tim Hunt was hounded out of his post at University College London for a weak joke about women crying in laboratories.

Hardly a day goes by on campuses without a demand for a statue to be removed or for ‘safe spaces’ where sensitive students can be sheltered from robust views in a cultural debate or sexual violence in a classic literary text.



Political correctness had gone mad, writes TREVOR PHILLIPS | Daily Mail Online

Faust

I note the quote from an article in The Guardian regarding the programme

Ken Livingstone suggested that Phillips had swung so far to the right that he would soon be joining the BNP.

The above is typical of what happens to anyone if they try to debate these subjects.

Then there's this quote again The Guardian - He is regarded as a curious Uncle Tom figure by a lot of the black and ethnic minority establishment.

But his complaints were not just about actions, I suggest. Was he not also concerned that the Labour party had played down antisemitic attitudes by some of its members? “Yes,” he agrees. “There are people who believe there is no real distinction between Jews, Zionists and Israelis. And the party doesn’t want to get into that at all because, let’s be frank, it’s increasingly dependent on a demographic group – Muslims – within which a sizeable minority subscribes to that view.”

If someone like Trevor Phillips (former chair of the Runnymede Trust) can't air this type of debate then there's little hope for the rest of us.  There appears to be a total disconnect between the left wing censorists and the reason so many parts of the western world are turning back to nationalism.

nabby

Interesting that Ken's comment is not considered a weak joke about politics but Sir Tim Hunt's comment about professional, intelligent women crying in labs is considered a weak joke about women.

Why not?

Cliff

Obvious innit.
If its a joke about someone being too far to the right- then you get a free pass to say anything insulting, like he will soon be joining the BNP etc etc.

If its a weak joke at the expense of the left- Wow! How dare you- its the sack for you.

Faust

Well given Sir Tim Hunt was asked to pack his bags and leave the university with immediate effect then I assume Jezza will be asking Ken Livingstone to pack his bags and leave the Labour Party, or is that just me being ridiculous?

nabby

So one is insulting and the other isn't, in your eyes?

And making jokes at the expense of women is a left-wing/right-wing issue, in your eyes?

To my mind, Tim Hunt's joke was poor and Ken Livingstone's joke was poor. Neither should result in them being fired. Ridicule both, ignore both or praise both, whatever suits you. But judging them in different ways because one is "of the left and the other of the right" is daft.

nabby

You being ridiculous. Unless two wrongs make a right in your world

apolloa

I saw this, and all I saw was a bunch of self righteous idiots, running student unions and therefore apparently University policy banning anything fun, you may not dress like Pochantis incase it discriminates Asian women? A cartoon character....
Oh and how they used social media to try and ruin the careers of well respected people because they told a joke, or gave a different view on transgenders..

Yeah it certainly summed up the sad state of the country.

Faust

I was being sarcastic - of course I knew Jezza wouldn't fire Ken as what he said accords with Jezza's narrative.  The point being made was if you don't agree with a policy then you are ostracised or worse.  That's simply the tactics of a bully and used increasingly to close down debate.

mikeybabes2

Heard John McDonnell interviewed on the radio. The problem is the Labour need to get their message across apparently. Don't think they have figured out that it's not that peopls haven't got their message, their problem is that they have.