attn: R18 DVD Shop

[woodgnome]

your post was removed in accordance with section 3.7.1 of the faq.

[mart]

Ah well, the world will have to wait for my Irish joke although its more religiousist than racist.

Mart

[diplodocus]

oh go on, tell it anyway

go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, etc

[mart]

No I had better not Diplodocus. It would spoil my rep for only making posts to rip the piss out of others.

Mart

[R18 DVD Shop]

ah right so its acceptable to post a number of tasteless jokes about someone who had his head cut off by terrorists (which I suspect would offend some people) but its not acceptable for an Irish person to take the piss out of his own people with a harmless joke which EVERY irish person in the world would have had a laugh at and NO ONE would have been offended at (watch Father Ted for example, we are notorious for taking the piss out of ourselves)?

Talk about fucking political correctness gone mad......

Jay

[woodgnome]

your ethnicity is irrelevant and section 3.7.1 of the faq could not make our position clearer. the reference to bernard manning was inserted for a reason as experience has made us very mindful of the law of unintended consequences and the slippery slope it can lead down. if irish jokes are permitted, why not jewish jokes, or black jokes? and if, upon removing them, the poster claims immunity on the grounds that s/he is jewish or black should we take their word for it, or should we ask them to fax us their passports so we can confirm the validity of their ethnic 'right-on-ness' which supposedly makes it all okay?

we may err on the side of caution at times but that's because we only have so much time we can, or are willing, to devote to keeping things civilised hereabouts. if that amounts to 'political correctness gone mad' then so be it. we don't expect everyone who makes a post to know the faq off by heart but when we point out that something is in violation of it we do expect compliance. that seems to be not unreasonable if it helps us to maintain bgafd as a whole to a standard that everyone is happy with.

regarding ace's thread - yes, i found the jokes posted be of questionable taste but they do not target a specific group which has historically encountered prejudice. admittedly, this can be a bit of a grey area and we've probably called similar situations differently in the past but then we're not boffins labouring under double-blind laboratory conditions. for better or worse we end up making personal judgements based upon the faq and all of the variables that that can encompass. one thing i can say with certainty is that being a moderator has made me feel a lot more sympathetic towards those heroic men-in-black who are pilloried so entertainingly on football pitches the length and breadth of the country every weekend. it's a dirty job but some moron's got to do it...

side note: it's very fashionable nowadays for the term 'politically correct' (and 'nanny state', for that matter) to be bandied about - often as a knee-jerk response when we don't get our way over something - but what exactly does it mean?

we take it for granted that the majority in the uk condemn the monkey noises made during the spain-england match but isn't that admirable fact at least in some part a consequence of our having a 'politically correct' culture? while it would be nice to believe that our enlightened response to bernabeu was solely the result of personal experience and acquired insight into the human condition brought about by 40 years of multiculturalism - and that may well be a substantial part of the story - isn't it also the case that our generally raised consciousness regarding touchstone issues such as race, sexuality, womans's rights, etc, derives in large measure from what is now abusively term 'political correctness?

anyhoo, PC is hardly a new phenomenon despite what some would have you believe and, as with most things, it all comes down to perspective. what is new is the current phraseology and it's usage. e.g. an individual may condemn gay rights as a classic manifestation of 'political correctness gone mad' and in the next breath avidly promote heterosexual marriage as the only institution standing between society and moral armageddon. only that isn't some loony-left, thought-police propaganda telling you how to think and behave ('political correctness' in other words). no, it's simply good old 'moral guidance' (or loony-right, thought-police propaganda telling you how to think and behave - if your gay or 'gay-aware', that is). in a nutshell: left-wing didacticism = PC, right-wing didacticism = MG.

being a bit of a leftie (translation: sensitive, thoughtful, reasoning, human being unlike horrid righties), i have to agree that we've come a long way since 18th/19th century depictions of the irish, when they were routinely dehumanised by the english to an almost psychotic degree. except that there's no point in my saying it as virtually no one can relate to it as an example of unalloyed progress, so alien does the culture that produced those images and sentiments now seem to us - unless your ian paisely, perhaps. if that makes sensitivity over irish jokes appear irrelevant given the liberal climate of present day britain, it's worth bearing in mind just how recently it was still acceptable for landlords to stick 'no irish, no blacks, no dogs' in their windows.

and this is the nub of it. although the prevailing vogue for who is the victim or victimiser will always shift, the underlying culture of fear and hatred that fuels it is far more resistant to change. at this moment in time it's fashionable to abominate asylum seekers and travellers/gypsies/romanies (another group that has brought accusations of 'political correctness' crashing down on our heads when we've removed 'jokes' using them as the butt), except that now we are urged to call them 'pikeys' - a word freighted with negative subtexts which require no direct reference.

and so it goes and probably always will... soz to ramble on so but there is a degree of method in our politically correct madness, whether you agree with it or not.

[alec]

The statement 'It's political correctness gone mad.' was memorably described by Christopher Brookmyre in one of his novels as 'The cry of the thwarted bigot.' Not true in every case of its use, of course, but worth bearing in mind by anyone tempted to use it.

[Deuce Bigolo]

I suppose I'll just have to replace Aussie with Me from now on
when I tell either of my jokes

Why do I come quickly so I can get down the pub and tell all my mates

cheers
B....OZ