I've been fuming all morning about the unholy fuss in the UK about Prince Harry, 3 years ago, calling a friend in his troop 'Paki'. It's been the most read article on their website all day and it's all beyond me.
Offensive ? What ? Isn't someone from PAKIstan a Paki ?
Yes, yes I know it's all about being PC and I guess that's what gets me going as who are the people who take our words from today and decide they are the offensive words of tomorrow ? I'm sure they'll claim they were ALWAYS offensive and society now needs to realise that.
So the Irish can't be called 'Micks' and the English can't be classed as 'whinging poms' and all the nicknames we have for the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and the French are suddenly racist ? Oh please. These are NICKNAMES people. Only racist in the sense that they are about a race, a nation. Doesn't mean all hell has to break loose. Doesn't mean we have to invade Austria.
I mean some Ramadhan Foundation (?) even called Prince Harry a thug. Hang on, that's a tad offensive isn't it ?
If Harry's friend was fine with it why is everyone and their dog jumping up and down ? I'm sad that the army feels the need to talk about 'unacceptable behaviour' but I'm not surprised that politicians and anti racism groups are lining up to condemn Harry. Even a Muslim group is having a pop for goodness sake. Kettle, black ?
Everyone wants to be seen to be politically correct as usual and if it gets them a few more votes later on, all well and good.
Of course this is all down to the press in the UK. Even the reaction section of the BBC article is just filled with comments from politicians and action groups. Where are the reactions from the UK people ? Bob the Builder ? Joe the Plumber ? I'm sure few could be bothered to give a reaction and prefer other things to worry about. They might just have one or two of those right now. But sadly, sensational headlines still sell newspapers which in my opinion are only good for keeping fish and chips warm. Soggy.....but warm.
And the other cause for my high BP today is because all this race stuff reminded me about an incident last evening when we were down by the pier watching another lovely sunset. It was so quiet and peaceful and the sun was approaching the horizon, changing slowly from blinding white to blood red when suddenly............
......from under the cover of a nearby tree, came a noise not unlike the death throws of a strangled cat. After a few seconds buildup, we were 'treated' to the complete repertoire of a lone piper which seemed to consist of a self penned lament which became, naturally, Amazing Grace. The only ones lamenting were those of us who had come to see the sunset and hadn't expected to be assulted by Oor Willie and his one man band.
Why on this blessed earth would anyone think it would be a good idea to do this ANYWHERE outside of an Edinburgh Tattoo ?
His performance last evening has thrown up 2 points :
1) When he'd finshed his 'set', he removed ear plugs from own ears ! Where the hell were the plugs WE needed ?
2) If I call him what I'd like to call him, then this old baldy, bearded blog writer risks being castigated by the Liberal Conservative Royalist Anti Racism Council of Scottish Bagpipe Playing Muslims.
And I'm not messing with either of them !
This evening, at sunset, I plan on hooking up my mp3 player to the speakers I got at a Who garage sale in 1978 and see if Jock MacTavish, if he turns up again, wants some competition.
The effect may be somewhat diminished as I've only got Cliff Richard's Summer Holiday soundtrack and The Wombles Greatest Hits on there right now.
Uncle Bulgaria, you rock, dude.
The Army, rather than apologising, should have been pointing out that if you join the Army you will most likely get a nickname about your racial origins, your big nose, your red hair - - whatever - - and if you're popular it will be a friendly nickname - because so-called "abusive" terms can actually, in the real world, be terms of affection. What matters is when they're not - and that's not the case here! So I end up feeling sorry for Prince Harry (!!) who as far as I can see had no malicious intent. And nonsense like this just clouds the issue for when there's REAL cruelty, bullying etc. As for the piper, could you try telling him that a new survey shows that bagpipes attract alligators?
ReplyDeleteRats, now you've got me singing 'Summer Holiday' all day.
ReplyDeleteIf your worst fears are realised (note British spelling in deference to you) and you actually do spontaneously combust, your precious stack of senior discount coupons would no longer be of any use to you.
ReplyDeleteAnd you do understand, don't you, that if Prince Harry had just taken up playing the bagpipe instead of making snarky videos, none of the current brouhaha would be happening.
Oh, I am just so TIRED of political correctness.
ReplyDeleteStupid sheep-people, all wanting to spout the same 'philosophy', terrified to be seen to think any differently. It's about time those found perpetrating this particular social evil got a swift smack upside the head.