Political Correctness Gone Mad?

[Tiberius]

History is never irrelevant, it just suits some arguments to claim it is.

No, it just suits some counter-arguments to claim that history is always relevant, and that we must never make jokes about our past thinking, that we must never make black dolls with weird heads because they might be "misinterpreted". The majority of us have got over this, it is a shame you haven't. I guess a good parallel would be the gay movement, who have received equality (at least socially) in this country, and yet jokes are still made about them. There are so many BBC shows that lampoon homosexuals, and yet nobody claims "intolerance" because people understand that these things are jokes, they are funny.

I thought I agreed that calling someone a name like " bitch " is not of itself racist.

Yes but you also asked if she was racist, and said that neither of us could know. I was simply saying this isn't the point. Gordon Brown could be secretly racist, but as long as he doesn't say anything racist there is no reason to argue that he is.

You label anti-racists as racist and wonder why I say bollocks?

Yes, and you still haven't given me any kind of explanation of your view. I say the anti-racists have turned racism on its head, effectively reversing it. When a white person insults a white person, it is fine. When a white person insults a black person, it is racism. It doesn't matter what they say, if you insult a black person you are being intolerant. I also oppose allowing rappers to get away with the word "nigger" when for a white person to say that would cause offense everywhere. What do you call it when some people have a certain ability and others are prohibited because of the colour of their skin? Oh yes, that's right: racism.

The theory is whether a golliwog is the benign toy you seem to claim it is. I don't expect you to act on my challenge but I thought you were intelligent enough to see the problem. You probably do, but for whatever reason you avoid it.

I see it as a benign toy, so do my peers. I'm not going to test your "theory" because it has nothing to do with the point, and you made it as a strawman of my argument. You reckon that I think the golliwog is a depiction of a black person, and so I should be able to call black people "golliwogs". This isn't what I claimed at all. I say the golliwog doll, to me, is a funny looking doll. It shouldn't be associated with black people because it is obviously not a very flattering depiction of them. If we can accept that the doll is a doll that isn't supposed to represent black people, then I see no reason why people can't own them.

Do you and your friends have a wider perspective than Egham for judging if racism still exists in Britain or not?

Obviously I cannot speak for my friends on this matter, but I'd say that the majority of England isn't racist. The BNP is a scary party that might attract such people, but it is quite small and the fact that it doesn't get elected is a sign to me that it is more of a fringe party that will eventually disappear.