Industry Insight

Political Correctness should come with a Government health WARNING

- Angus Long

IT IS MY FERVENT belief that the vast majority of people in this county do not harbour hateful prejudice and those that do are unlikely to be dissuaded by legislation or, indeed, the finger wagging of a sanctimonious and politically correct diversity officer. However, I do fear many normally fair-minded people are becoming increasingly irritated by the direction political correctness is now going; so much so, it is highly likely to create an uncomfortable backlash if not radically curtailed.

Indeed, it seems the latest PC inspired campaign is to now seemingly try and reduce the potential of upsetting or offending people from what appears to be, in some circumstances, quite normal behaviour. Here are some recent examples: A council has banned the term 'brainstorming' and replaced it with 'thought showers', in case they offend epileptics. Many schools are now no longer having competitions or sports days, so as not to upset those who don’t win. Let’s not forget the renaming of Christmas trees and Easter eggs to Holiday trees and Spring spheres, along with all the other airbrushing of Christian symbolism for fear of offending non-Christians. And my personal favourite; a job advert for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants was rejected by a recruitment agency as it could be deemed offensive to ‘unreliable’ and ‘lazy’ people.