Possibly the most abused phrase in our contemporary lexicon, ‘political correctness’ initially referred to the project of re-engineering certain terms to remove implicit discrimination, and promote neutrality and inclusiveness in language. For instance, proponents of political correctness advocate the use of the utilitarian ‘Flight Attendant’, ‘Chairperson’ and ‘Thyroid Challenged Australian’ over more charged terms like ‘Stewardess’, ‘Chairman’ and ‘Joe Hockey’ (sorry Joe – easy target). Uncomfortable with the threat this presented to their perceived right to insult people they don’t care about, the term was seized on by right-wing commentators, and redeployed as a catch-all pejorative phrase to deride the entire spectrum of Progressive thought. They won, and over the years, the addendum ‘gone mad’ emerged, asserting that much like Ken Bruce, political correctness had gone batshit crazy, and become a slavering, rabid, totalitarian Soviet bear, hurtling towards the horizon, wild-eyed and hungry, looking to devour our Freedoms and Way Of Life.
The Bogan latched onto this concept less than a year ago, and ignorant of the term’s troubled etymology, has since been arming itself with the phrase in any discussion of political or social issues, in the time-honoured Bogan fashion of getting these kinds of things wrong. Spurred on by the reactionary commentators most directly responsible for its sorely uninformed yet nonetheless adamantly held opinion on everything from immigration policy to juvenile justice, the Bogan now uses the phrase to stand in place of any actual analysis, the exact adult equivalent of shoving Duplo in its ears and shouting “do not want”.
Because the Bogan’s political convictions are formed entirely out of received wisdom, the argumentative shorthand of ‘political correctness gone mad’ and similar slogans is of great use to the Bogan. The key appeal lies in not having to interrupt its routine of consumption to attain the wide reading of history and current affairs needed for making an informed comment. Further, being able to so succinctly write off anything exhibiting tolerance and compassion towards people different to itself allows the Bogan to effectively reinforce a conviction of its sole entitlement to that cocoon of suburban orthodoxy that provides such utility for crypto-fascist politicians and marketers of energy drinks.
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God I fucking hate Andrew Bolt.
The only way I can stomach reading his columns is by pretending that they’re just unseen scripts for The Colbert Report. Bolty’s truthiness is as reliable as North Korea’s nuclear program.
Spot on Bec. Read Bolt and Piers Akerman but tell yourself it’s satire. Fucking comedy gold.
Or you can watch them on Insiders and have the performance aspect. Andrew Bolt (The Blot in our house) and David Marr nearly came to blows the other weak. Someone has convinced Piers to have eye surgery and he’s lost the glasses- removing any charcter his face had at the same time. An author shot by a friendly photographer is one thing, live in the studio, another. But if you like watching explosive jowl movements, he’s your man.
My favourite Insiders moments are when Cassidy invites Bolt to share his thoughts when there is only seven seconds of airtime left. It always results in Bolty getting cut off, with hilarious results.
But it’s always the same anti-AGW rant, so we can join the dots. I have a theory that he thinks what he says is bullshit, but is paid well enough to come across as a ‘conviction’ journalist. (Hope nobody’s eating lunch) Too spooky?
Go to the Stuff White People like website. There, other people deride people like you. Snotty, holier than thou “progressives”. They fart in your general direction.
I just had a read of Akerman’s blog today. Had to after talking about this today.
What’s funnier, him or the reader’s comments?
“You are so right Piers”
“I totally agree Piers. I can’t remember what you said but yeah, I agree”
Anyone who doesn’t agree that conservative is the new bogan should read that shit. That’s not to say there aren’t bogans on the left
Even further up the food chain, that’s typical. Planet Janet’s bloggers frequently openwithone of the following:
“Great article, as usual Janet”
“Spot on, Janet”
“100% agree, Janet”
“Keep up the great work, Janet”
Echo chamber, hall of mirrors and parrot cage, all rolled into one.
As opposed to the Robert Manne or Catherine Devney fanboys Indi?
More a function of the format. Self selecting and self-affirming.
‘Tis the season for political correctness gone mad too. If there’s a school with a multicultural student base somewhere around the place that is trying to be inclusive then watch out! We’re gonna get ya!
Bolt: captain of the bogans!
They also love referring to ‘red tape’, ‘bureaucracy gone mad’ and other generic Alan Jones terms.
Talk back radio is the exclusive domain of bogans.
‘Greenies’, anyone?
Or how about what the government should do, being the last think you thought of, untested, uncosted and with no possibility that you could be wrong, infringing people’s rights or exposing government agencies to vast lawsuits?
Sorry, just been at a few fireguard meetings too many.
Sorry, Indi, do want to repost – I have no idea what your reply was all about.
As for Greenies or NIMBYs, they are another topic altogether – they prefer writing to their local rag rather than call talk back. They’re also pro-PC…
No, ‘Greenies’ as the subject of the right-wing rant, such as you get at a CFA fireguard meeting, or a Miranda Devine opinion piece.
Which usually end in the great ideas that ‘the Greenies’ are stopping from being implemented, like instructing people about when and were to go in a fire etc. Heavily interventionist tactics that someone of the Right would find oppressive, except they thought of them.
You forgot ‘snivel libertarians’ and ‘do-gooders’.
Bolt is hardly a Bogan. He’s an educated Opera snob who probably lives in a fairly affluent Melbourne suburb. If you want truly bogan opinion columnists try the petrolhead Tim Blair or even Catherine Deveny – for all her far left ranting and professed hatred of Bogans, she definitely is one.
So, having identified the problem- essentially shorthand for political arguments the bogan hasn’t the inclination to make for themselves- is there a solution? As I have noted before, the bogan vote is the focus of much time and energy by both political parties. How does a complex idea or the need for careful thought penetrate through the hard shiny layer of tabloid rhetoric?
Sadly, no. For as long as the Bogan wants to take the quick and dirty route in an attempt to achieve their own gratification, there will always be a market for this type of turnkey political indignation.
Surely the regular followers of TBL must’ve picked this pattern of Boganthink up by now. I realise that Boganthink is an oxymoron – although bogans think that an ‘oxymoron’ is someone incapable of operating a welder, but I digress.
Anyway, this is just another example of the Bogan looking to save some time without necessarily concerning themselves about quality. This is evident in many areas of life ranging from religion to weight loss.
That’s just giving up on a sector of society who have a huge influence on the outcome of elections. Too easy to let them be objects of scorn: how do we shift the problem without just talking down to people?
You really just have to tell them exactly what is happening and why. The bogan simply hates being taken for a ride.
Unfortunately, politicians and media and various lobby groups are not interested in finding the closest thing to the truth and presenting it, they’re interested in confusing as many people as they can into supporting their own agendas.
Love, love, love this post.
Most of what is called ‘political correctness’ is just plain good manners and diplomacy. It is very ironic that those who bemoan the ‘coarsening of society’ are those who apparently find it too hard to show courtesy to others by referring to them in the manner that they have identified themselves.
So far this blog has been 100% accurate on the traits of the bogan but I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one, if only on a location based technicality..
The new age bogan is strictly a left wing beast, bred on unionisn and other lowest common demoninator beliefs passed on from one generation of bogan to the next.. While your blog may be correct for your location, in Newcastle at the least, it is an entirely different situation..
Sadly, no. The cashed up bogan is purely the ideological lovechild of Howard – hence their propensity to describe themselves as ‘battlers’ and their vitriol towards anyone on the dole. Listen to them this week, as the female of the species soaks her undies at the sight of Tony Abbott in a banana hammock.
Interesting Gav. I’ve found new age bogans to be the exact opposite. Mainly becaus ethey are self-employed tradies who vote Liberal based on a poor grasp of taxation law/economics and the desperate need to “keep those fucking boat people out”
Unionism is definitely not a trait of the bogans I come across.
So self employed tradies have a poor grasp of taxation/economics and thus vote liberal,more likley self employed tradies through the nature of their work have highly attuned bull-shit detectors,Labour tends to smear it thicker than the libs with their half-assed feel good ideals such as setting up blogs like this one (ha ha) you are obviously an aspiring public servent and i can imagine you have girly arms
Labor
you still have girly arms you flog ha ha
I don’t know which political party you have to be affiliated with to be able to endorse punctuation, but I’m with them!
ba ba
Um… no. Most bogans have profoundly right wing attitudes. They liked Howard because he pandered to their ignorant right wing predjudices. The one error in this otherwise excellent entry is that the idea of “political correctness gone mad” has only been around for a year – Howard loved that little chestnut. During the howard years you could alway tell a bogan by their opinion of him “I dunno why people don’t like little johnny. He seems to be doin an alright job to me”. Because they weren’t informed enough to know any better.
Then again, I will give that most of them have probably swung around to Rudd because of the stimulus payouts. But they are by no means “strictly left wing”
I couldn’t agree more with bogans swinging to the left in response to the stimulus payments (not to mention the reaction against the liberals for threatening to oppose them).
In my experience most bogans hated ‘lil johnny howard’, it was purely good marketing that got all the “aussie battler’ bogans on his side..
It is of Boganistic simplicity to define a bogan’s political leaning as simply Left or Right. They are true political and social hypocrites, which is what you would expect:
The Bogan is partially left wing – he loves unions (how else would he be earning his CUB money without his beloved Northern English and Scottish imported leaders holding the country to ransom?) and he wants the Government to step in when Westpac “bends him over a barrel” by increasing interest rates by 0.45%.
But the Bogan is partially right – hates dole bludgers (forgets that his dad was one and without iron ore he would be one too), hates boat people (can’t blame him), he doesn’t want to protect the environment and he hates the gays.
Classifying the Bogan into a Left/Right position is not possible as the Bogan has both radical Left and Radical Right views, he is a selfish hypocrite.
This entry is not funny…..because its far too close to an accurate description of Australia
Politically speaking, strictly in my opinion, bogans tend to swing between parties, basically going for whoever they perceive can offer them more (The “What have you done for me lately?” principle). Howard had them hooked to middle-class welfare but blew it when he showed his neoliberal colours, now Rudd buys them with $900 pay-outs. Bogans are beyond parties, beyond principle – that would require actual considered thought. In the end, it’s all about “What have you done for me lately?’.
I think your pretty close to the mark when applied to non union member bogans.
And btw, the most depressing part is that Australian politics is solidly focused on the outer-suburban bogan vote, they’re the only ones who are up-for-grabs, so they’re the ones at whom both parties aim their insipid campaigns.
and this is why our current leader and potential leader of the opposition are all part of the Sunrise family.
That’s the problem with democracy, it’s democratic. Even the morons can vote. Personally, I am in favour of a bank balance level say, $100,000 as a qualifying criteria for voting. And forced sterilisation for those who don’t make the required level.
I’m glad this is a joke.
Or IQ test?
Agree with IQ test, not bank balance…too many CUBs.
“Special” ingredients in Mother and UDLs (comment below) is genius and the comment alone is enough to allow breeding.
What about the Cashed Up Bogans? Perhaps peg voting to education levels.
Who’s joking?
I’m with you Ronny, enough exposure to the Bogue and their habits do bring Eugenic thoughts to the fore. However one can imagine that even if sterilisation could be achieved by adding ‘special’ ingredients to Mother and UDL, the Bogue would undoubtedly open the latest copy of Who Weekly or New Idea and see that Madonna or Brangelina has adopted a kid from some third world country. My bet is that the Bogan instinct to imitate celebrities overrides its fear of ethnic diversity. The possible result being a generation of children of non-Anglo ethnicity who hear there parents say on a daily basis ‘I’m not racist, my kid is but ‘. These poor Children would suffer from all types of identity problems.
Think of the Children
Forced sterilisation of anyone who doesn’t have $100k in the bank?
That is funny Ronny, the funniest drivel I have encountered in a long while!
Just think of all that work for surgeons!
Well I wouldn’t be able to vote, and I have a masters degree!
Glorious. I like that terms such as “slavering”, “rabid” and “batshit crazy” can be applied equally to the state of political correctness, and those who make such claims on said state.
Since when does a pay packet above $100,00 suddenly make someone suddenly not a bogan??
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that even though Lleyton isn’t doing so well on tour he’s still got over 100k in his bank balance…
I agree, or Danny Green perhaps? Speaking of whom I thought todays blog was surely going to be a topical one, exploring the Bogan’s love of The Green Machine. Maybe tomorrow?
And let’s not forget the myriad of bogans that manage their money well (scrimp by putting their kids through public education, and the like). The self-employed tradies that bring in 200k a year in profit. I work in tax, and even the ones that run at a loss tend to have better savings than I do… and guess who stupidly completed senior school and went to uni? What on earth was I thinking.
You know, the sad thing is that your argument is SO lacking in any real substance, that you’ve decided to throw a picture of Andrew Bolt up … just to get the lefties riled up.
I couldn’t believe the number of comments in this post that directly referred to Andrew Bolt … even though he wasn’t directly mentioned in the article.
I’d imagine the flow of commentary would have been entirely different (and less ‘entertaining’ for you all) if you hadn’t resorted to such a cheap shot.
I thought they put him up because he is so secksay?
Of course you could believe it David. The man makes his living out of being an arsehole.
Or makes a living out of providing a voice for the people who don’t believe the spin??
Well, that’s the spin.
A “voice for the people”. How frigging noble.
Can’t these poor people speak for themselves? Or is it that they can’t think for themselves? Probably just too busy.
What has Uncle Andrew told you to think today?
to busy contributing to society,you parisite
ah yes.. Howards’s ‘silent majority” Gav? *shudders*
Haven’t experienced such self-satisfied snobbery since the last meeting of the North Shore Doctors’ Wives Club. Bet when your sewer blocks up you’re happy to have a bogan around.
Why is it that while we never attack tradies for anything, it is those who attack our ‘class snobbery’ who assume that bogans are plumbers and carpenters? – TBL
Perhaps it’s because the stereotype you are bashing is closely associated with the working class. Irrespective of your intentions to redefine the Bogan, you are peddling a tired old stereotype with inherent assumptions.
Most of the bogans I know – the kind that would meet the criteria of “bogan” for the purposes of this blog – have white collar jobs. Public servants, call centre workers, bank tellers, that woman in your office who organises all the social activities and morning teas and cards for those who have a birthday or baby or broken leg, mobile phone salesmen, etc. etc. Or they have a husband with a well-paid job, so they can stay home all day watching Oprah and complaining on internet forums about Harry Connick Jr’s nerve at taking offence on HHIS.
I think a lot of people who have stumbled on this blog haven’t bothered to actually read what the writers classify as a bogan. Hint: it’s not that tattooed, bearded guy in the flanno shirt who works for the council.
I totally agree with Dee… I’d much rather have a beer with the tatooed, flanny wearing council worker than a tia maria and coke with the black-rooted overly-peroxided blonde from the call centre with her recently filled nails, imitation diamond encrusted mobile, hyundai, fake gucci sunglasses and fake louis vuitton handbag she picked up in Bali.
Fair enough assessment.
You will often find those who call themselves “progressive thinkers” that they will wantonly attack everyone but their niche groups(generally other races,immigrants & gays).In fact, I find these people the most hateful, judgemental and quick to stereotype than all other groups.
From the 2GB website – a comment regarding political correctness gone mad at christmas:
“I am sick and tired of the way this country is being handed over to the whimsical rantings of minority groups. This is AUSTRALIA…a country which for 2 centuries has been proud to offer migrants a welcome and safe place to live and bring up children. Now we are being told that we mustn’t offend certain groups by calling Christmas Christmas. ENOUGH! If you don’t like celebrating Christmas with us…GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! Happy Christmas to everyone regardless of your background!”
Well, it wouldn’t be Christmas without that story getting a good airing. The odd thing is, it always comes back to ONE example of ONE crabby parent cracking it over their kid being in a nativity play or something, and not the rampant refusal to let shops hang tinsel in December, as OUTRAGED HEADLINES would have us believe.
I used to think that it as myth too until it happened to me this year.A new child from Africa is coming to class for the last few weeks, she doesnt not believe in Xmas, so the class will not be doing anything Xmas related.It is sad, It was one of lifes big joys getting all Xmasy and whimsical in those last weeks……Now they are doing nothing, just boring school as usual.
Yes, Im a teacher and I got “the word” to can Xmas on behalf of this child.
What happens if there are conflicting PC issues in your class?
Example: A child from your class is a homosexual but the new African child does not believe in homosexuals because they were not allowed in his homeland or culture.
Who wins? African way of life trumps gay and the gay child is expelled? Or gay trumps African and African is expelled. Assuming both children are deeply morally opposed to altering their beliefs or way of life. In the classroom one of the children would have to be removed to prevent ongoing conflict and fights.
But what happens in a free society when this cannot and will not be done?
thus the conumdrem of the ‘progressive thinker’ eg the feminist whom ‘feels’ the pain of the oppressed people of palistine,iraq’afgahnistan,africa even though these cultures activly encourage the subjugation of woman
Bullshit
HA. “for 2 centuries has been proud to offer migrants a welcome and safe place to live”
Must have skipped the chapter of Australian history entitled “The White Australia Policy”
Actually most of the comments on that page are pure Bogan:
http://2gb.com/index.php?option=com_yoursay&task=view&id=947&limitstart=10&Itemid=173#comment
Amazing
Five commenters making 95% of the comments.
No wonder this a widely read blog!
Andrew Bolt is about the only decent journalist left in this country. You just don’t like him because your a bunch of Rudd loving, tree hugging, auto-fellating assmunch’s.
We’ve noticed that someone has posted our link on ol’ Bolty’s comments page. Looking forward to seeing a few of his readers make fools of themselves on here with their stillborn social ideas and spelling/grammar comedy routines. TBL
Hello, whine-one-one? Yes, I’d like to request an emergency WAAAAmbulance, post-haste! Do hurry, I fear a dummy-spit coming on…
Well put young man, good to see the Bolt encourages articulate engagement. How can you tell all the bloggers are so yogically gifted from their posts?
Yeah CRAZY ideas like, I don’t know, responsible government spending??
“Bleeding hearts” is another useful word. Strangely, it doesn’t seem to apply if a pitbull is being put down.
Big words you’ve used in describing Andrew Bolt. I wonder, can your audience understand them? SImpler language is better for bogans.
I think this is my favourite post so far.
Is this the Uni Students Who Can’t Get A Root forum? or the
Immature Judgemental Fuckwits forum?
Bogans have never been much good with self-awareness and irony. TBL
which one are you struth
PC is getting ridiculous though and it’s hard because it covers such a broad spectrum.
Modern society’s willingness to cave in to the rantings of humanitarians and civil libertarians so as not to offend a minority has gone over the top regardless of what the majority may think.
Things like not putting up christmas decorations in a major shopping centre because there is a handfull of people from some other religion that shop there that may be offended or changing the words to an ages old childrens song like “ba ba black sheep” so as not to offend black kids.
Where do you draw the line?
Where are all these shopping centres that don’t hang Christmas decorations? I’ve yet to see one – we’ve had decos everywhere in Adelaide since October.
And on the off chance there is one somewhere, so? How does a Coles or a $2 shop not hanging some cheap polystyrene sparkly shit from their roof infringe on *your* right to celebrate Christmas as you see fit?
but didn’t you hear? The Grinch is out to steal Christmas!
There’s a reason why he’s green!
Adelaide. Have they caught up with the PC bullshit down there yet?
Agreed.
The PC lovers have a couple of tricks up their sleeves to combat “PC gone mad” bogan rantings, here they are:
Racism/bigotry – these are the big ones and are used instantly by any PCer who is in danger of losing an argument about anything (immigration, religion, environment, etc). These are their “Wild Draw4” cards.
agree sam you can only dream of reaching their idealistic nirvana and not have too deal with the real world(eg ethnic gangs,radical muslims,ets)
Where did you see this happen Lee?
Roselands and bankstown square a few years ago.
Can someone tell me what the new “PC” version of ‘bah bah black sheep’ is? I heard about it recently, and thought to myself: “how on earth do you change that??” I can understand changing the words to ‘eenie meenie minie mo’, but this???
Happy to help you , FT .
Schoolchildren in Britain are taught to sing – I kid you not – Baa Baa RAINBOW Sheep.
That’s the result of woolly-headed thinking , which deserves the chop , don’t ewe agree ?
LOL. I love Andrew Bolt. He’s the only thing stopping Australia being overrun by the lesser people who struggled to get their liberal arts degree.
The stories regarding Christmas decorations or the kid that doesn’t believe in Christmas or the fact you can’t wish someone a ‘merry Christmas’ are always just that, stories.
When pressed to give an example of the aforementioned it’s always ‘I was told this’ or ‘a friend of a friend read that…’
I have yet to meet a moslem or jew who gives 2 shits whether we celebrate Christmas or not. It’s as ludicrous as us being offended because they celebrate the end of Ramadan or whatever.
I’m betting pennies to a pound that every Christmas poor old Achmel or Mohammed is thinking ‘here we go again.’
Yes, annual stories on Fox News in the US, based on no evidence, and recycled everywhere Uncle Rupert has an organ. The same razz-up that the Blot does on shorter time-scale.
Muz (11:13:27) :
“I have yet to meet a moslem or jew who gives 2 shits whether we celebrate Christmas or not.”
That’s precisely the point Muz, they couldn’t give the proverbial about it but, the PC crowd goes overboard, by banning Christmas parties at kindergartens, banning ham at council catering etc…
These are facts you can check on.
As covered by every bogan media outlet;
Harry Connick Jr on Hey Hey Michael Jackson Sketch..
thats political correctness gone mad…
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/world-covers-hey-hey-its-saturdays-red-face-over-blackface-jackson-jive-skit/story-e6frf96f-1225784091474
Golliwog biscuits got there name changed, those musk lolly cigarettes “fags” got changed, there was a big shitfight to change the name of coon cheese, twice on a job I have been corrected for the use of the word “manhole”. Once by a fresh from uni young girl who was a civil engineer that wanted to check a level in a pit, when i said I would remove the manhole cover she corrected me in saying “access hole”.
Not really PC but if ever you are in mcdonalds ask them for chips instead of fries, they hate it!
Yes, I can see why these tiny little linguistic changes that you wouldn’t even have to incorporate into your normal daily speech would be such a great imposition.
My advice to Andrew Bolt: Here’s a quarter. Go downtown and have a rat gnaw that thing off your face.
(with thanks to Uncle Buck)
Have to admit that one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in politics was when the nation voted against the Republic and all the pro-republicans like Rachel Ward were totally shocked and weeping. Total failure to understand the country.
Not really relevant but somehow this post and the responses made me remember it.
All the pro-republicans I know voted against it, because it was a crap model in the first place, designed to fail. It didn’t prove anything at all.
Maybe, but there were still a hell of a lot of people who were totally convinced that it was time for the republic and it was definitely happening and everyone was behind it and all those scaremongers were just scaremongering with no support. And yet everywhere, the mood was ‘not this time’.
what about ruddsy’s think tank,oh how my heart rose in expectation of being enlightened by the likes of hugh jackman and kate blanchett
Yeah, it was a stinker. How bogan is that? Asking celebrities what they think about the direction the nation should take. I mean, who really cares?
Rudd has positioned himself beautifully to take advantage of the bogan vote
No all bogans are fully right wing they hate the unions
You know Chairman is a gender non specific word – the man is derived from the latin Manus – which means hand.
In addition, critiques of political correctness are entirely valid based on Orwell’s views about the debasement of language for political purposes – which political corectness certainly is.
For example the term differently abled is a bastardisation of disabled, the former is a misnomer and in reality means something totally different to the latter.
People who dislike Political Correctness are not necessarily Bogans, they may merely be opposed to social engineering through linguistics.
And how does attacking everyone who disagrees with you by throwing a lame catchphrase at them fit into this linguistic social engineering? – TBL
I need to know something: this language affects the people to whom it describes. Why can’t they be the ones determining how they are identified? What sort of power or hierarchy gives YOU the supreme power to determine how other people describe themselves?
Bec – Your comment is based on a faulty assumption – that the people being described are the originators of this language.
In fact, these new terms are most often created by those to whome they do not apply such as bureaucratic panels and the academia.
Further nothing gives ME the supreme power to determine how other people describe themselves – I didn’t invent the language.
TBL – It is lingustic social engineering; I would have thought the words “not necessarily” in my last sentence of the previous post would have made clear that I was suggesting that it is legitimate to challenge political correctness – not that every use of the phrase is valid.
Further I note your very own use of the same device you bemoan in bogans, sociological theory calls it labelling, to attack Tony Abbot as a crypto-fascist; this is exactly the same technique as “political correctness gone mad” – and reveals a mindless dismissiveness and dearth of analysis.
**In fact, these new terms are most often created by those to whome they do not apply such as bureaucratic panels and the academia.**
So… what you’re saying is that only white, cis-gender, heterosexual, able-bodied people are represented in bureaucracies and academia. Gotcha. You could listen to the people the language actually represents, or you could call upon the strawman example of big inefficient government and those pesky ivory-tower intellectuals to reaffirm your right to not only freedom of speech, but freedom *from* speech.
That’s essentially the case at hand: people who continually complain about “the PC police!” and “why do black people get to use the ‘n’ word and we don’t?” are really just saying “I want the sovereign right to say whatever I want without any sort of logical real-world consequence that might arise from my words or actions, such as getting sacked from my job, being shunned by certain groups of people, or having these words removed from publications and venues where they are not only inappropriate but injurious”. They want the world to pat them on the back and reassure them – no, you’re a WONDERFUL person and your anus is a magical portal between the sun and the far-flung regions of the world which is hit by its light. The people who are criticising you for failing to adhere to the most basic norms of human politeness and diplomacy? THEY’RE JUST BIG MEANIE POO HEADS WHO ARE TOO SENSITIVE.
Sorry Bec, your losing this one, and that last comment just made you look worse.
Given that you haven’t explained how I am wrong I will take it for granted that I am not. Unless you’re of the persuasion that saying something automatically makes it so. Too bad for you.
Fine, I’ll explain with analogy. Think of PC as the suggested dress code on a wedding invitation. Someone who makes a point to be anti-PC is like someone who wants to turn up to a white tie function wearing boardies and one of those teeshirts with the tuxedo front painted on the front. Said person is rudely and deliberately insulting hosts and other guests by not conforming to the etiquette codes, especially if they have all the means to otherwise do so. They want to enter into a formal function without criticism, complaint or people thinking less of them.
Thing is, it’s a free country. They can technically wear whatever they please so long as it violates no legal code. But they don’t have the right to control how other people will react to them.
I see people who actively try to be anti-PC to be immature, pathetic, attention-whorey losers who feel entitled to the good grace of civilized society without having contributed any themselves. So they can say what they like, but I refuse to see them as some free thinking individualist. Oh, and they won’t score another invite to my parties.
“So… what you’re saying is that only white, cis-gender, heterosexual, able-bodied people are represented in bureaucracies and academia.”
Nice strawman. That’s not what he said at all.
Self-identification is prone to problems. There are religious groups who like to refer to themselves as “God’s chosen people”. I don’t agree, so I won’t use that phrase or otherwise imply that I agree with the sentiment. That’s my “supreme power” – to use language reflective of what I actually believe, and to use language which is both concise and precise, not euphemistic.
Being sacked from a job for such alleged misconduct is (supposed to be) subject to the “reasonableness test”, ie: “would a reasonable person find this offensive?” How can it be reasonable for a person who is by all statistical measures, short, to be offended by the use of that term? Why is “vertically challenged” any less offensive?
There is a huge difference between using a term having a literal meaning that is pertinent and accurate, like “disabled”, or “crippled”, and a gratuitous insult without such aforementioned meaning like “the n word” or “mongoloid”. That, to me, is where “the line” between appropriate PC and “PC gone mad” is.
Of course, I am aware of what “PC gone mad” usually means in the media. But that’s no reason to overreact and try to patronisingly insulate people from reality.
But that’s missing the point slightly. The bogans who are complaining about “PC-gone-mad” aren’t the people making fun of stuff like “corpulently gifted” or “aromatically challenged”. (That was the lefties in the late 80s-early 90s who adopted the whole extreme-PC language as a pisstake. That was later observed by dipshit conservatives who lacked an ability to discern sarcasm from literal speech and thus the hate-on for PC language was born. The moar you know!) The people who listen to talkback radio today and who whine about PC (i.e. those who inspired this post and not people who are casually and innocuously ignorant of terminology) are doing it about the bog-standard basic things that exist to make life more pleasant for anyone who happens not to be male/white/able-bodied/Christian/heterosexual/ad nauseum. They want to be able to scream out fag, chink and bitch at the top of their lungs without challenge or consequence.
TBL- please do a “Pink” article on this website. I could even write it for you and have some excellent nail on the head stuff for it.
I’m old money, privately schooled and have a PHD from UQ, so maybe you approve of my social status. Or maybe, I should look down on you. Really, I don’t care.
If you want to know where one stands politically, ask them to choose between capital punishment and abortion. One is an acceptable murder. The other isn’t.
You already know the answer, right?
I think I love you.
What is knee jerk liberalism but the received wisdom of our times. The writers here have put as much thought into their political views as the bogans they despise. Arts graduate SCUM! GET A JOB YOU BUMS!!!
Just wanted to draw attention to a comment on a Herald Sun article criticising Mal Brown for his blatantly racist (‘but it was just a joke’…) comments. Not that we needed any more proof that TBL was right.
“Jock ross Posted at 3:06 AM Today
We are a western country which has rights, including freedom of speech. This is politial correctness gone mad once again.We need a referendum to hear everyones voices on this matter and many more to allow us to keep our basic freedoms of democriciy.
Comment 47 of 103”
Sad.
PC this.
Not all cultures are equal some are better than others.
No one can say this…. it is political correctness gone mad.
If you treat your woman like monkeys, well your culture is shit.
You’re right. Whatever culture you are from is clearly shit.
If everyone would just acknowledge that every culture there is is equally shit in it’s own way, then we’d all get along much better.
So true. Any time I think “that is so stupid”, I always find an equivalent douchebaggery in my own culture.
Ash,
That would be incorrect to do so. I’ve worked extensively around the world and can tell you that all cultures are far from equal and some have very little respect for the sanctity of human life at all.
Cultural relativism is a plague.
I don’t think ‘utilitarian’ was used in the right context here people.
Yes, there are bogans.
Then there are moonbats.
The common deranged moonbat tends to define anyone as a bogan who isn’t also a fickle, snobbish prat striking the same pose that moonbats should.
What do moonbats like?
Send us the URL once you’ve written a few thousand coherent words on the matter, and we’ll read it. TBL
Sounds like nearly everyone is a dreaded bogan, except of course….drumroll…..”progressives” who’ve learned to strike the “correct” “approved” pose.
labelling Abbott as a pseudo-fascist is showing your own bias. After reading a few of these posts, I’m starting to think this site is a front for the Greens. Will you label Gillard as a Fabian-socialist?
It was crypto-fascist. And we have a sneaking suspicion that, in regards to this post, few people decrying the rampant destruction of political correctness would vote for a Fabian socialist. TBL
The problem with the racial discrimination laws in Australia is that they are far too broad. Even David Marr, perhaps the most arrogant left-wing intellectual in the nation, was against the Bolt ruling. It should have been a defamation suit.
The problem is that the law includes “offend” as part of the discrimination on which grounds a suit can be launched. This is plainly ridiculous. In free societies, offence has to be caused as part of the exchange of ideas and ultimately the defeat of bad and incorrect ones.
Yes, the ruling is PC gone mad. Anyone who believes in free speech agrees – both left and right. Far more offensive rhetoric is used on a daily basis in the Swiss, Dutch French and Austrian media: all perhaps more civilised societies than Australia.
I would argue that this is a classic example of Anglo-Saxon PC. The Anglo-Saxon inner-city left-liberal (Brunswick St Man) will only berate anyone who does not concur with the trendy view of the day. He is bereft of courage and doesn’t like to offend anyone if it challenges his profound devotion to unfettered multi-culturalism (although Brunswick St Man overwhelmingly lives in middle class, mainly white neighbourhoods and sends his kids to private, mainly white schools). In stark contrast to his Parisian-Montmarte leftist counterpart, who were actually the drivers behind the Burqua ban in France. These people actualy think about the ramifications for their civilisation.
Bogans and Brunswick St Man are equally profoundly ignorant, certainly in this country anyway. Having lived much of my life in France and Italy, I’ll always be a leftist in those countries. In this country, Malcolm Turnbull is my politics. I could never support the Australian left and their inner-city parrot supporters who all sound like Tim Robbins speaking on Team America World Police.
@@ I FIND IT QUITE SAD TO WHAT THIS COUNTRY IS BECOMING AND IT HAS ALL GONE WAY TO FAR. I REALLY FEEL FOR GREAT MEN SUCH AS ANDREW BOLT, ALLAN JONES, TONY ABBOTT, MURRAY KEIR, GEORGE PELL, AND MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR THIS COUNTRY AND ARE PEOPLE OF GREAT INTEGRITY ARE BEING SINGLED OUT AND TREATED IN A FASHION AND WRONGLY ACCUSED ON A RANGE OF ISSUES IT REALLY HAS TO STOP AND UNLESS ONE SPEAKS OUT IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. THERE IS A FINE LINE BETWEEN FREEDOM OF SPEECH BUT IF YOU HAVE GOVERNMENT SAYING THAT THERE IS NONE AND BULLYING PEOPLE THIS IS WHAT YOU GET. IT NOT ONLY EFFECTS THE INDIVIDUAL IT EFFECTS THERE FAMILIES THERE CULTURE AND A RANGE OF OTHER FACTORS. I READ THE PAPERS AND YOU HAVE INSTANCES OF A FATHER AND SON IN SOME TYPE OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION AND NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO ASK WHY OR THE REASON I COULD ONLY IMAGINE WHAT THEY MUST BE GOING THROUGH. SURFING THE WEB YOU SEE WERE PEOPLE ARE BEING FALSELY IMPLICATED FOR CERTAIN OFFENCES WITH PEOPLE USING OTHER COURT SYSTEMS AROUND THE WORLD IN WRONG MANNER. AND WHEN THESE PEOPLE GO TO GO TO COURT AND ARE FOUND INNOCENT AND THEY HAVE SPENT THERE LIFE SAVINGS LOST THEIR JOBS HAVE HAD THERE FAMILIES DESTROYED THEY RECEIVE NO COMPENSATION AND IT SEEMS THE PERPETRATORS ARE LET OF THE HOOK WITH NO CONSEQUENCES. AND WHEN ONE GOES TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY HAVE HAD ALL WHAT THEY BELIEVE IS THERE HUMAN RIGHTS BREACHED THEY ARE CRUCIFIED. WHAT THIS DOES IS IT ALLOWS THE INDIVIDUALS DOING THE WRONG THING TO FLOURISH AND EVENTUALLY GETS TO THE POINT WE ARE AT NOW WHICH IS A DIVIDED COMMUNITY. WE ALL NEED TO BECOME MORE PASSIONATE AND GET TOGETHER AS ONE AND GET BEHIND FELLOW AUSTRALIANS NO MATTER WHAT RACE COLOUR THEY ARE BECAUSE THAT PERSON COULD BE YOU NEXT. IT SEEMS THERE IS TO FEW WILLING TO STAND UP TO THIS BULLYING AND THATS WHY I HAVE THE UPMOST RESPECT FOR ANDREW BOLT HE IS A DYING BREED. IT SEEMS THAT WE HAVE NO LAWS TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT AND WE HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN OUR LEADERS. THE WORLD WAS NOT MENT TO BE LIKE THIS AND WE ALL HAVE TO GET TOGETHER TO STOP IT BECAUSE THERE IS POWER IN NUMBERS. OTHERWISE WHAT ARE OUR KIDS GOING TO HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO. THATS WHY I THINK AND IT STIVKS OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB WE DO NEED TONY ABBOTT BACK AS HEIS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FIX THIS MESS BECAUSE HE IS TUFF FAIR AND STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE. MALCOLM TURNBALL IS OBVIOUSLY A VERY SMART BUSINESS MAN OTHERWISE HE WOULD NOT HAVE MADE IT TO WERE HE IS BUT RUNNING A COUNTRY NEEDS A TONY ABBOTT TYPE WHO UNITES HIS PARTY AND SACRIFICES HIMSELF FOR THE COMMON PERSON. AT LEST TURNBALL CAN SAY HE GIVE IT A GO BUT HE JUST LIKE ALL PEOPLE ARE NOT CUT OUT FOR CERTAIN THINGS.