Last week I was working with children, and after story time I wanted to sing a rhyme with them. I asked if they knew that old nursery rhyme favourite Baa Baa Black Sheep and I got a resounding 'no'. However I was informed they knew of Baa Baa Fluffy Sheep, which turned out to be the exact same nursery rhyme with the word black taken out. Oh, for political correctness sake!
One white sheep and one, er, 'fluffy' sheep
Now, what the hell has a black sheep got to do with racism? The fact is that the sheep... has black...wool. Nothing to do with skin colour, racism or even people in general. You get sheep that have black wool. Are we supposed to pretend this fact doesnt exist? Surely this kind of political correctness actually makes a mockery of the attempt to stop real racism? Now I am not a conservative (I actually quite enjoy The Guardian) and I think that terms like fire fighter and chair are brilliant. However, these extremities of political correctness mean that the real intention of PC may get lost in a sea of derision.
Here are some other examples I discovered:
o Job adverts calling for 'friendly person' could now be seen as discriminatory
A West Yorkshire school banned books about pigs lest they offend Muslim people John Denham, the Home Office minister, has been criticised by the police for using the phrase "nitty gritty" because of race relations rules. BBC An Edinburgh hospital banned the sale of a charity Christmas CD because it mentioned the words "baby Jesus". Scotsman Newspaper Birmingham City Council recently spurned Christmas celebrations in favour of Winterval in order to not offend believers of other faiths. Birmingham City Council A Liverpool optometrist who tried to advertise for a "hard-working" receptionist, was told by her local job centre that the term was "discriminatory". And Humpty Dumpty did get put back together again! According to high street store Mothercare, after all the kings horses and all of the kings men had a go, Humpty eventually mends himself (somehow). This is what Mothercares sing-along cassettes say anyway. Express and star
So, what do you think? Has political correctness gone too far? Is it merely a way of policing thoughts? Or do you believe political correctness is a must in our society? Let us know by posting in our forums, or below!
photograph: FreeFoto.com
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