Sick of immigration?

"Immigration: Open your eyes" - Yes, please do.

On the internet, I come across a lot of articles that contain comments by readers echoing the sentiment that the UK is overrun with immigrants. They’re taking jobs, claiming benefits, getting pregnant, living in houses, and doing drugs. The general impression one gets is that they contribute nothing to British society, all the while robbing UK citizens of their taxes and clean air or whatever.

I’ve seen comments along the lines of “We’ll be pandering to an Islamic state before long“. Nothing makes me so bored and angry at the same time as reading about immigration in the news.

Now, my faithful readers are all an extremely intelligent, great looking, unbiased sort of people, so I’m probably just pointing out something that you may have already laughed at via Tabloid Watch or 5cc but I’m just sick of it, and am on the verge of exploding with the idiocy of some people on the internet.

Why wasn’t this front page news back in 2006? Why doesn’t this figure, of just 7.9% get touted more often? Why are people like this and this allowed to write for national publications?

Thankfully, there are some people writing really good, useful stuff on immigration. Communities.gov.uk tries to dispel a couple of myths about immigration. Do click on the Tabloid Watch and 5cc links above, as they write excellent blogs and I often find myself going back to them to regain my sanity when dealing with fucking idiots who say things like

“I’m not a racist, I’m a realist”

- No you’re fucking not. If you were a “realist” you’d be looking at the facts, not uploading your opinions from whatever right wing batshit tabloid you can get for less than the cost of a pint of milk.

Did you know that immigrants get jobs? They also pay taxes. And they pro-create, thus ensuring your pensions will be paid if you decide to bugger off to Spain for your retirement.

Enemies of Reason wrote up a great analysis of a tawdry article in the Times earlier. The most personally offensive quote from that article from my point of view is:

“…Many of those mothers born here will be second generation immigrants”

Err… Hello. Yes, that’d be me you’re talking about. When did I stop being a British Citizen and turn into a “second generation immigrant?” I was born here. So was my dad. My mum wasn’t, and my grandparents weren’t, but they’ve lived here for over 40 years (my mum is only 44), and have been paying taxes, adding to the pension pot, raising the national IQ average and generally contributing to the British economy for that entire time.

In that 40 years (50 on my dad’s side), they’ve had to put up with all sorts of verbal and physical abuse. My lovely awesome Grandad was beaten up by a gang of thugs on his way walking home from work. All of my relatives (with the exception of myself and my younger brother) have had to put up with racism in the work place – from outright name-calling to being overlooked when it came to promotions. (Thankfully, in the 21st century, this doesn’t happen as much as there is legislation in place to prevent it.) We’ve had bricks (plural) thrown through our window, matches pushed through our letterbox, our front door kicked in, people chasing us down the street… I’m going to stop there as I’m getting quite upset thinking about it now.

I’m fully aware that all this is just one anecdote in 4.6 million (out of 60 million total UK population – think about that next time you think we need to close the borders). I may well have a chip on my shoulder about this, but it’s only because I keep reading racist and misleading articles in the press. I love the UK - I do pretty well out of it like most people here. I have a job, live in a nice house, pay my taxes and national insurance, and benefit from the incredible diversity the UK has on offer – Italian restaurants, Belgian beer bars, Indian take-aways, Irish whiskey, French kisses and the rest of it.

Maybe if ‘teh mediah’ stopped tirelessely printing false information about immigration then by the time I have kids, they’ll never need to know what “racism” is.

NB During my research for this post, I came across this really nice website written by people moving to the UK Gotta end it on a good note!

What really DOES turn women on? Eh?

Trying to decipher the female sex drive

Hello, hello, hello.

I’m feeling lazy today, so I thought I’d do a simple analysis of a wonderful article I read this morning called:

“What really DOES turn women on?”

So is a successful and driven career woman more likely to have a high sex drive than her lesser-achieving sisters?

That was the conclusion drawn from research published this week which showed that women with high levels of testosterone are more likely to be risk-takers – and to have stronger sexual appetites.

Err… not exactly.

A Vagina Dentata breaks the myriad of articles down into cutesy womanny chunks, for all us non-finance girlies. My favourite quote from her is:

“That is not a measure of risk aversion, for me it would be a measure of bullshit tolerance.”

Quite right. The Daily Mail goes on to say:

“It has uncovered some big surprises and some baffling dead-ends. While male desire tends to be straightforward, a woman’s sex drive is a complicated, multi-layered thing.”

Aahhh yes, the female sex drive is rather complicated. Not like the Clerks summary of the male sex drive:

“Animal, mineral or vegetable…. vegetables put up the least amount of struggle”.

Why are all women so different? Why can’t they just be like men? You know… all exactly the same, who get turned on by exactly the same thing, and eat the same food and drink the same beer – you know, proper beer like wifebeater Stella Artois or piss with lime Corona? To quote My Fair Lady – “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?”

What just happened?

Thankfully though, they have a solution…

Sex researchers have started to talk about the importance of just doing it whether you feel like it or not, to maintain your desire levels

‘Eureka!’ shout the biologists. This shows that female desire, like male, is rooted in body chemistry.

Hold on… are they advocating encouraging women to have sex, even if they don’t feel like it? I feel a headache coming on… But let’s wait for the balanced point of view:

Simplistic rubbish, respond the psychotherapists.

Phew.

They believe that female desire is made up of physical, emotional, social and relationship factors. If you have poor body image, an uptight family background, bad early sexual experiences or a partner who is insensitive, lazy or just not that nice, then your sex drive very likely would take a nose-dive.

WHAT?! You mean men might have to CHANGE their behaviour just to make women happy? I’ve said it before, Let’s say it again [altogether now]:
It’s Political Correctness gone MAD! Indeed.

The Daily Mail then decide to interview 5 different women, just on the offchance that they’ll all have exactly the same sex drive, despite being different ages and in different kinds of relationships:

Susan, is 48, slim and attractive and happily married. Well, quite happily. [Guffaw guffaw]

‘To be honest. I don’t care if I never have sex again,’ she admits. ‘I only do it to keep Gary happy’.

Monica is 35 and also uninterested in sex with her long-time partner, but feels ‘ overwhelming feelings of desire’ for a colleague at work with whom she is having an affair.

Lucy is 54 and has the opposite problem to Susan. ‘Since my late 40s, I’ve had the wonderful experience of a late-blossoming sex drive, and I absolutely love it.’

Claire is 24 and in a new relationship with Tom: ‘We spend days at a time in bed. It makes me feel very close to him, but I also like the feeling of sexual power it gives me.’ [Yes, I feel liberated when I stay in bed as well]

Helen, who is 32, isn’t interested in sexual power. ‘I’ve got a full-time job and two children under five. I don’t even think about sex.’

It’s clear from just this handful of examples that female sexual desire is as various and unique as women themselves.

Oh no – not only is there a variety of women, they’re all bloody unique. That’s exactly what men need. Variety.

Dr Moran, an expert in female sexuality (or “sexpert” as they are commonly referred to) says:

Though I’d never make a diagnosis without a proper examination [jolly good], the male hormone does produce visual and behavioural clues in women. The ring finger is often as long as the index finger, for example. She may also have a wider waist and have more facial or body hair than low-testosterone women.

Umm…. below is a photo I took of my hand earlier today:

My index finger and ring finger are clearly the same length

Should I be worried? I asked some of my ex boyfriends about my sex drive, here’s what they had to say:

“Don’t ever contact me again.”

“Fuck off you fucking c*nt.”

“I’ve already listened to your abuse and now this.”

We can see that it’s not the sort of thing that can be easily measured. The article continues with:

The link with high-risk behaviour is also true, he says. ‘I hate generalising [do you now?], but yes, it wouldn’t be unusual for a woman with high levels of testosterone to indulge in high-risk behaviour – to drive a fast sports car or motorbike, for example.

I *think* I’m following this: Women who have high levels of testosterone like sex and motors? Is that all women? Because I don’t drive. I don’t even own a bike. I do enjoy a game of Dominion though, that’s fairly high-risk.

Next, the Daily Mail talks to Dr Chris Simpson to discuss whether our behaviour and personality are created by our hormones or vice versa. Helpfully, this psychiatrist clears this conundrum up:

‘It’s probably both,’ he adds.

There you have it. Sadly, his contribution to this article wasn’t particularly long. Was it groundbreaking? I’ll leave that up to you to decide, because soon enough, we head straight back to Dr Moran:

Yes, he says, sometimes giving a woman a hormone shot will boost her libido. But, more often, giving her a compliment will have the same affect.

That is tricky. How many men do you know that have regular and unlimited access to hormone shots? There’s literally nothing they can do to boost their woman’s libido. Except paying her a fucking compliment. Literally nothing.

I’m getting a bit bored of all this thinking-about-women malarkey so I’ll end it here.

Research into female sexuality is still controversial, contradictory and incomplete. The researchers may not agree with each other, but they do agree that understanding female desire may turn out to be as tough as understanding women.

If only we hada simple answer…

rop Daghaj, naDevvo' yIghoS!*

What would YOU say to her?

Like most people, sometimes I sneeze. Recently, after sneezing, an eminent atheist mate of mine said “Bless You” and then apologised and exclaimed “I don’t know why I said that!”. We had a brief discussion about the reflexive nature of the phrase “Bless You” and he said he would look into it for a potential blog post. I seem to have beaten him to it so I’d be interested in his verdict when I’m done.

First things first: Where does it come from?

Snopes offers several explanations, although this is the one I’m most familiar with:

“Others claim an association of the practice with particular dire diseases (most often the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”, as it is sometimes known). They say a infected person’s sneeze was a sure sign he’d soon be pushing up daisies, thus the “Bless you!” was intended as a benediction to the nearly-departed, a way of commending his soul to the care of God now that he was beyond the help of anything in the mortal world.”

What are some of the alternatives?

• Salud! (Spanish, “Your health!”)
• Santé (French, “health”)
• Gesundheit (note)
• Good health!
• Good health to you, too.
• Thank you – be happy and healthy!
• May Lady Luck bless you and keep you. (John)
• To your health! Peace! (Ed)
• May fortune favor you. (Brian)
• Thank you very much. May you live a blessed life also. (Joseph)
• And you are in my thoughts. (Johnnie)

(Copied and pasted from the Brights)

The first four seem fairly simple in terms of switching reflex-sentiments easily. The others seem a bit long winded. “Bless You” sort of rolls off the tongue quite neatly, it can be said in roughly half a second, and when someone doesn’t say it, people notice, so I’d be happier with a replacement with as few syllables as possible.

Take a ganders at the wonderment of the MetaFilter. There are just too many good suggestions.

Why would I want to respond to someone else sneezing?

Here’s a very extreme example of what can go wrong when you sneeze. Think about that, atheist punk.

Those clever folks over at Drowned in Sound have already created a page about it here:

“people who say “bless you” deserve to have their testicles repeatedly twanged with a pencil”

Ouch.

Social Anxiety Support (yikes) has this to add to the debate.

OK Carmen, you’re gagging for it, I can tell. Give us your suggestions:

Oh, if you insist

1. “You exploded!” – Possible variations include “You asploded” and “Explosivo”
2. “Einstein!” or indeed “Einstein’s Brain!”
3. “Blap!” or “Brap!”
4. “Call of Cthulu!” or “Cthulu is coming in your nose” or just “Cthulu!”
5. “Bisto!” (added beneift is it could be mistaken for “Bless You” if you say it quickly enough)

*Blog title refers, of course, to the Klingon translation of “You have a disease, go away”, courtesy of @qurgh who also runs this useful website for all hopeful intergalactic ambassadors.

rop Daghaj, naDevvo’ yIghoS!*

What would YOU say to her?

Like most people, sometimes I sneeze. Recently, after sneezing, an eminent atheist mate of mine said “Bless You” and then apologised and exclaimed “I don’t know why I said that!”. We had a brief discussion about the reflexive nature of the phrase “Bless You” and he said he would look into it for a potential blog post. I seem to have beaten him to it so I’d be interested in his verdict when I’m done.

First things first: Where does it come from?

Snopes offers several explanations, although this is the one I’m most familiar with:

“Others claim an association of the practice with particular dire diseases (most often the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”, as it is sometimes known). They say a infected person’s sneeze was a sure sign he’d soon be pushing up daisies, thus the “Bless you!” was intended as a benediction to the nearly-departed, a way of commending his soul to the care of God now that he was beyond the help of anything in the mortal world.”

What are some of the alternatives?

• Salud! (Spanish, “Your health!”)
• Santé (French, “health”)
• Gesundheit (note)
• Good health!
• Good health to you, too.
• Thank you – be happy and healthy!
• May Lady Luck bless you and keep you. (John)
• To your health! Peace! (Ed)
• May fortune favor you. (Brian)
• Thank you very much. May you live a blessed life also. (Joseph)
• And you are in my thoughts. (Johnnie)

(Copied and pasted from the Brights)

The first four seem fairly simple in terms of switching reflex-sentiments easily. The others seem a bit long winded. “Bless You” sort of rolls off the tongue quite neatly, it can be said in roughly half a second, and when someone doesn’t say it, people notice, so I’d be happier with a replacement with as few syllables as possible.

Take a ganders at the wonderment of the MetaFilter. There are just too many good suggestions.

Why would I want to respond to someone else sneezing?

Here’s a very extreme example of what can go wrong when you sneeze. Think about that, atheist punk.

Those clever folks over at Drowned in Sound have already created a page about it here:

“people who say “bless you” deserve to have their testicles repeatedly twanged with a pencil”

Ouch.

Social Anxiety Support (yikes) has this to add to the debate.

OK Carmen, you’re gagging for it, I can tell. Give us your suggestions:

Oh, if you insist

1. “You exploded!” – Possible variations include “You asploded” and “Explosivo”
2. “Einstein!” or indeed “Einstein’s Brain!”
3. “Blap!” or “Brap!”
4. “Call of Cthulu!” or “Cthulu is coming in your nose” or just “Cthulu!”
5. “Bisto!” (added beneift is it could be mistaken for “Bless You” if you say it quickly enough)

*Blog title refers, of course, to the Klingon translation of “You have a disease, go away”, courtesy of @qurgh who also runs this useful website for all hopeful intergalactic ambassadors.

Man or Beast?

A clever ruse?

Today’s blog post is brought to you by caffeine and an ever increasing desire to spout vitriolic sentiment to the masses.

This story pissed me off on several levels, but I’m glad to see that it has been addressed very nicely here.

Let’s leave public humiliation of a teenager aside for a moment. Don’t worry though, I’ll get back to that later.

I stumbled across this article here, dated Wednesday 19th August.

“the South African’s physique and powerful style have sparked speculation in recent months that she may not be entirely female”

Does that mean that if she is a pseudohermaphrodite, she wouldn’t be eligible for taking part in the games? And if so, isn’t that a bit… you know… mean? She’s clearly a great runner, she defines herself as a woman – as do her parents according to the birth certificate above (courtesy of the Daily Mail). If her natural levels of testosterone happen to be higher, is that an “unfair” advantage, or just a physical advantage? I never claim that tall people have an unfair advantage when it comes to reaching for things on high shelves (although I definitely will from now on).

According to the NY times:

“The Bantu, a group of indigenous South African people, may be more predisposed to being hermaphrodites but they do not always have obvious male genitalia, said Dr. Maria New, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They are genetically female yet have both testes and ovaries.”

Right… so that means that an unusual but natural physical occurence could make her disqualified from the games?

(At least according to The Age article:)

“there is a strong likelihood that the teenager from Pretoria will be disqualified from the final”

Hold on a moment….

He's pretty tall!

 Surely Yao Ming is at an “unfair advantage” for being naturally very tall… and yet he’s allowed to play basketball! Has the world gone mad?

Are they *really* women?

…I think I’ve made my point.

Now on to the public humiliation of a teenager: She was born in 1991. I remember 1991, I was only 5, but it was the year they took “milk breaks” out of our daily schedule in primary school. It was also the year I read “A Christmas Carol” (I’m a fast learner, but that didn’t stop it taking me about 3 months to finish). 1991 was the same year that one of my favourite albums was released - I had no idea what “There’s something about you, baby, that makes me want to give it to you” meant, but I knew all the words.

 18 year olds generally have a lot on their plate. Add to that the pressure of being on live international television representing your country. Then on top of that, someone decides that you look a bit mannish. Rather than approach you or your representative in private, this story is leaked, and now the WHOLE WORLD is wondering if you’re a bloke.

A few publications have reported this story. Encouragingly, the comments on the Daily Mail website seem to support Caster Semenya. The Grauniad has a slightly different take on it, with a headline concerning western racist attitudes. And the BBC get it slightly wrong, failing to notice there’s a difference between gender and sex, although this BBC blog goes into detail with links explaining the different examinations she will have to have. For some of the ethics behind this story, I’d recommend Politicsweb.It’s not as simple as lifting up a skirt and going “Hmm… Yeah… Thought so”.

There isn’t much more I can add to the debate, other than ranting a bit, but I’m really glad to see that not only did she take part in the final, she did pretty good out of it too. I wish her all the best at what I hope will be the start of a long and glittering career!

Holiday ideas needed!

Blap!

I was supposed to be going on a short break, but events have conspired against me and I won’t be going now. Could anyone suggest a fun day trip (or moderately priced weekend trip) somewhere in either the UK or Europe? I’m planning on going between 11th and 13th September, so I’ll probably need to book fairly sharpish, and I need to be back in London on Sunday night, as I have work the next day.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Please email me at carmenego [dot] blog [at] googlemail [dot] com

Cheers!

Carmen x x

Pwning the Religious

Good afternoon peeples,

After meeting lots of fantastic bloggers at the #solo09 Conference last weekend, I have been heartily motivated to keep blogging on a wide range of issues, as opposed to just writing about Skeptics in the Pub. Before I continue with today’s blog, something was brought to my attention yesterday: What’s the difference between “Skeptical” and “Sceptical”? I thought their answer was pretty good.

Anyway, on to today’s topic: 4chan Pwns Christians on Facebook.

As a former devout Catholic (shunned by other devout Catholics for questioning beliefs, which ultimately led to me reverting to The Dark Side), I have no qualms with criticising the religious for acting like dicks from time to time. Something that keeps me fairly sane when talking to the deeply religious is the knowledge that however far the debate goes, I can utilise my keen passion for rational thought, and a heated debate will always remain polite, even though we might wildly disagree on any particular subject.

What I cannot fathom is why some people feel the need to attack individuals for their adherence to a belief system, without taking into consideration that faults in said belief system do not necessarily lie in an individual follower:

Examples of the pranks perpetrated including claiming a “no sex before marriage” Christian wanted to thank her lover for a memorable night after months of abstinence, but had posted the thank you note in a status update, which all her contacts could see, rather than a private message. Racist messages and comments about dental hygiene were also included.

I’ve had my facebook account and email address hacked into before by someone, and it’s not nice. The perpetrator had a clear agenda, it was only directed at me, and thankfully it didn’t go any further than me requesting he did not contact me ever again. The above quote is something rather more sinister.

There is something incredibly unsettling about pretending to be a complete stranger in order to play a juvenile prank that could potentially ruin someone’s life. I’m not particularly careful about the things I say online (as anyone following the #bbcporn hashtag on Twitter yesterday evening will know!) but I do my best to not say nasty things about people. There is a difference between constructive, valid criticism and “flaming“.

During my research for this article I’ve also come across a couple of blog posts about Christians being encouraged to “troll” atheist websites, like this one here – but does that give atheists a right to retaliate? For example, here is a site showing instructions for “Christian Baiting”, a craze that’s sweeping the web like Dale Winton on acid. Hmmm… maybe not.

I shall end my rant with this rather elegant post on trolling:

I think I have made Christian friends because I have come to realize that I share many values with Christians

An excellent point – if only more atheists could be truer humanists?

Commuting Hell

Good evening all,

I was on my way home from work, when got to Clapham Junction to catch my connecting train home. Waited for the 5.45pm direct train back to Purley. Just before reaching East Croydon, something exploded under the carriage I was sitting in. The train ground to a halt and we could smell burning.

The next 3 hours were spent in limbo between Selhurst and East Croydon, not knowing whether we were going to blow up or not. At fairly regular intervals, we had a gentleman in a high-vis jacket literally running up and down the train instructing us not to panic. Needless to say it didn’t work particularly well.

The first hour, no-one came to tell us something was wrong, no-one shouted over the tannoy, or anything sensible like that. Most of the power had failed, so there was no air conditioning or lights. Some fellow commuters prised the train doors open to let some fresh air in, but about 15 minutes later, the man in the high-vis jacket came and closed it. Fortunately, he opened the windows for us (heaven forbid us lowly commuters should be able to open windows ourselves) and briefly explained that he didn’t know what had happened, but that someone would be along shortly to sort it out.

I don’t think he was lying, but it was another 1 1/2 hours before anyone came to sort it out, and then another half hour sitting on the ‘rescue train’ waiting for the rail staff to check the dangerous train had been evacuated properly.

The only thing that kept me going was the wonderful #bbcporn on Twitter

Many thanks to all those who were there, RTing my #bbcporns (my favourite of mine was “Schlongs of Praise”), and suggesting new ones (“How Do You Solve A Problem Like Gonorrhea?”). Most special thanks goes to my awesome Mum – who came to pick me up in her pyjamas, and when I told her how I had occupied myself on the train, said “What about ‘X-rated Files’” – a true legend

Science Schmooz-a-thon

Good morning all, I trust you had a lovely weekend?

Yesterday, I attended the Science Online Conference at the Royal Institution. It was a proper bo blast. For up-to-date info, and other people’s take on it, please visit #solo09. I also recommend Eva’s blog on it here, where she also has links to some photo’s on Flickr (you’ll find one of me if you look carefully!)

More blogs keep popping up, please check out the following links:
>>Cotch.net – also has loads of great photo’s
>>Martin Fenner’s Gobbledygook on Nature Network – he has actually listed loads of great blogs on #solo09 so do tak a ganders!
>>Dr Jim has written a very decent write up of his day out. It’s a shame we did not meet at the event!

[I will gradually add to this list over the next few days as more people publish their blogs!]

Jackofkent and Petra Boynton kicked off the day with a fantastic talk on the ethical and legal aspects of blogging. For legal reasons, there was no Second Life or live blogging permitted, but it was useful and informative. I believe they will be posting the powerpoint presentation at some point, I’ll enclose it as soon as they do.

Ed Yong, Henry Scowcroft, Paolo Viscardi and Simon Frantz led an excellent discussion on using blogs via science institutions and organisations.

Arfon Smith and Mike Peel also gave a wonderful talk on getting the public involved in updating science websites, click on their names for details of what they do. It was bloody exciting.

My only gripe about the day was the lack of air conditioning.

I got to meet the same great bloggers that attend Skeptics in the Pub, as well as some new ones, including the mysterious “Gimpy”…

Gimpy – natural or supernatural? ***EXPOSED***

Below is a photo I took of Gimpy with his arm around my friend, Edd. Edd is on the right. If you look carefully, you can see that there is a floating orb where Gimpy should be. This kept happening all day, only my camera has now apparently been completely wiped, spooky eh? Luckily, I managed to upload this image onto Twitter straight away.

Gimpy's image appears to have been replaced with a glowing orb...

I’ve had a look online and it seems that I am not the only one who has noticed this. Here is an artists interpretation of the Luminiferous Ether that we have come to know as “Gimpy”:

Is this Gimpy?

I’m a sensible person, but isn’t it funny how no-one’s ever seen Gimpy and Count Dracula in the same room at the same time???

I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

The truth is out there.

Political Correctness

 

It's political correctness gone m... oh no, it isn't.

Today I would like to write about “Political Correctness” because it is a wonderful source of misunderstanding in Britain right now.

Which of the following is true:

1. All people of Indian extraction are Pakis
2. All disabled people are Spastics
3. All Conservative Party members are Nazis

The answer? None.

Your homework is to find out why those three points are not true. The last one might be a bit hard, but give it a go anyway. Some of you might even be able to point out straight away without googling the answers, you clever bods, you.

Now that we’ve got that toss out of the way, we can proceed with the rest of the blog.

Yesterday, Jamie Sport, wrote this blog here concerning an article in the Daily Mail. This is really the impetus behind today’s post. (I would have blogged yesterday, but I was too busy being all girly and embroidering this awesome t-shirt.) Initially, I didn’t want to write anything about it, as it usually gives me an unnecessary opportunity to get on my high horse and start shouting things like “IT’S NOT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS – IT’S ETIQUETTE”, until Neil “Dr” Fox on Magic fm this morning uttered the magic words: “It’s political correctness gone mad” in a serious tone of voice, when discussing things that women are better at than men (like shopping). Twat.

During my research for this article, I came across some wonderful examples of why people get angry about it. Amanda, for instance, has to avoid calling Indian people “Indian”… even though they’re INDIAN! It’s political correctness gone M-A-D. Except it isn’t. You do call Indian people “Indian” because that is the politically correct term for them. I should know, I am Indian (well…. technically Anglo-Indian, but it’s a bit too complicated for a blog on PC*). I can’t help but wonder if the black person she called “spotty” was either a) not actually black, perhaps Chinese? or b) just a bit offended to be called “spotty”? I know I would be.

A few weeks ago, antonvowl posted a link to this particularly retro website, Campaign Against Political Correctness. What a gem. Why can’t the BNP afford a decent web designer? Or is this badly formed excuse for a website all part of some PR campaign against intelligent librolls who use WordPress or Blogger or some other web hosting service costing roughly £20 a year with access to thousands of html templates. All you need is a teenager to copy and paste it and you’re all set. You could pay them in oral sex…. they’d give you oral sex for the privelige of editing your website, of course.

Shall we take a closer look? Oh go on then

In the “views and comments” section, there are some right old rib-ticklers, here’s a selection of my favourites:

At last, someone who feels the same as I do and is doing something about it. I was so pleased when I heard about you. I hate political correctness, and am forever ‘correcting’ my children when they come out with something pc. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?”

- Stephanie Smart, South Wales

Or how about:

“Let the people who make politically correct comments stand up and be counted (or rather asked how they came up with their decisions and on whose authority!)”

- Name and Address Supplied [does that mean "Anonymous"?]

Or perhaps this diamond:

“Political Correctness and Human Rights laws are ruining this once great nation. A stand must be made and something must be done!”

- Stefano di Paola, London

I’ll leave you to read through some of the comments yourself. I’m getting crow’s feet and achey fists.

That Freedom of Speech issue is an interesting one. Especially because the champions of FoS seem to be those on the political left. For example, I fully support your right to be a racist, ignorant, xenophobic, homophobic twat, whereas the same people commenting on this website seem blissfully unaware that they are denying other’s the freedom to not be insulted:

Fantastic site!  As an ex-teacher, the current climate gives no end of scope for the most ridiculous examples of pc gone mad society…  no-one can be stupid/silly/an idiot…. no-one is “slow” or “remedial”, they are in “learning support”….  I could go on forever!  By the way, I work in a bar now, and say whatever I feel like….”

- Paul Scott, Sunderland

Twat.

Also, I’d be interested to hear of any Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Pastafarians etc who have actually, literally, physically complained about the fact that whitey celebrates Christmas or Easter. If anyone could forward me any examples, I’d be much obliged.

This whole debacle has got me sighing with inertia.

*A moderately amusing anecdote: I was in Linton, Gloucestershire a couple of years ago for the brilliant “Linton Jazz Festival” which wasn’t so much jazz, as faux-American blues sung in a quaint Texas accent by people from places as diverse as Norfolk, Cardiff, and Linton. We got there rather early, set up our tents, and decided we’d take a gander’s at some of the stalls, the beer tent etc. In my charming, in-your-face way, I chose to document the event by giving interviews to people – sound technicians, bar staff, roadies etc, and was taking photo’s for my annual festival scrapbook to commemorate the weekend away. We got to the food stalls (of which there were two) and a chap running the barbecue asked me if I was “that lass off of Blue Peter“. Me and my esteemed associates laughed (but crucially didn’t answer) and I got a free cheeseburger for being famous. I owe Konnie Huq big time.