PC or not PC

[DavyR]

Thought you might be interested to see the line taken by another angling forum frequented by one or two of us on AN:

 

"A lot of the responses on this topic frankly make me feel ashamed to be associated with this site.

This site is on the WORLD WIDE WEB and whether people like it or not a number of this sites members come from various racial backgrounds.

 

We do now live in a multiracial society and it isn't going to change, so people better get used to it.

 

I'm sure that the decent majority of members of this site are heartily fed up with these type of threads. People seeing the titles of threads can however choose not to read them. As a Moderator however I have to read them in their entirety.

 

Well as a Moderator I've had enough of it.

In future any thread that i deem to be racist in nature will be locked or deleted, and the member responsible for that post will have his account locked.

If anyone has a problem with this they can contact **** or any of the other Moderators."

 

another victory for the tambourine-bangers, it seems.

[Brian Carragher]

Seems to me it's more like a victory for common sense.

 

Why should mods have to deal with all the personal crap that goes with the highly personal comments that members direct to one another whether it be over race or religion.

 

Racism is in my view neither warranted or acceptable and it's worth remembering mods give their time freely so members can enjoy the freedoms that forums provide, so it's worth while every now and again to remind members of their own personal obligations so that they don't take liberties or worse still leave the site owners or themselves open to outside action.

 

We also have a number of overseas members from various ethnic groups and I often wonder how they react to some of the racist rants that we sometimes see on here.

[Alan Stubbs]

I feel as if I'm caught between a rock and a hard place....

 

I despise political correctness in any manifestation. Why do people insist upon pandering to the needs of the thin-skinned? Toughen up, Wimps!!!!!!!!!

 

On the other hand, racism and discrimination on grounds of sex, religion, politics is, to me at any rate, just as unacceptable.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if people opted for a laissez-faire attitude things would be OK until you get some bigotted idiot who finds

something offensive, when it has nothing to do with them in the first place. We then descend to the usual level of those who shout loudest winning.

 

'twas ever thus.

[*Ant*]

A great deal of the problems arise from some peoples definition of racism. The ones most likely to brand others racist for not agreeing with their views are usually the most likely to be hypocrites. Have you noticed how they seem to want to protect certain groups or religions yet other groups or religions seem fair game for a bit of ridecule and bashing.

 

For example - post a joke about an asian or muslim and you are a bigoted racist, post a joke about the English/Scots/Welsh/Irish/Americans/French/Germans or Christians/Catholics and all is fine and dandy.

 

It makes me smile sometimes that by definition, the ones crying racist are usually just racist hypocrites themselves.

[DavyR]

Personally, I think jokes about any and everyone are fine. As has been noted before, some of the best "racist" jokes are told by members of the group on the receiving end (usually Jewish or Irish, it has to be said).

 

But then those groups are less likely than some to want to part your head from your body for telling them (a tendency I appear to have detected recently in one Alan Stubbs, who posts here).

Edited May 11, 2006 by DavyR

[jimpy0]

so you can call someone a "kjbsfnncbckcigijgvcijgojiorwon" in a political/race thread and be banned

 

but do it in an angling one and youre ok

 

sounds like an unbiased way to do it to me

[DavyR]

so you can call someone a "kjbsfnncbckcigijgvcijgojiorwon" in a political/race thread and be banned

 

but do it in an angling one and youre ok

 

sounds like an unbiased way to do it to me

 

The context makes the difference. If it appears in a political/race thread, it's reasonable to assume that the intent is political/racial and not "humourous".

 

Anyway, you can't do either anymore in the forum I quoted from in my original post!

[Ken L]

Personally, I think jokes about any and everyone are fine.

 

Just so long as they're not cartoons.........

[Chris Goddard]

"BEAUTY is in the eye of the BEHOLDER".

 

And

 

"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"

 

 

Are sayings which spring immediately to mind!!!

[argyll]

I have to agree with Brian.

 

I dont think anyone with a sensible perspective on life has a problem with 'joke's'. However far too much crap turns up on forums that is nothing more than a spiteful crack at someone elses religious beliefs or colour and its usually devisive and aimed at one section of the community. At a point in time last month when moslems held a peaceful march to protest the media portrayal of Allah as some kind of comic cartoon figure, some on this forum seemed to be of the opinion in advance, that there was going to be a riot. There wasn't but it didn't attract any positive comments as a result. Sorry that you were disappointed. Roughly the same time an even bigger Jewish march through Paris didn't get a mention, neither did the street fighting in Dublin on 25th February when a couple of dozen people were injured and cars were set on fire. The moslem riots in France however were well reported on this forum. Some of you are highly selective in terms of who you take on, but are not too fussy about the kind of dirt that you dish out from the relative safety of your PC screen.

 

We've had images of archetypal Albanian pimps holding up their expensive mobile phones in Asda with descriptions of the contents of their shopping baskets and clothing that fell short of describing their Calvin Klein Y fronts...wonder how he missed that. How sad can you get. We 've also had references to indians as 'rip off' merchants too. We have indians and other black posters on the fishing forums that really dont deserve to feel as uncomfortable as some of you can probably make them. BUT... someone protests and the old 'PC' label is dragged out, often by people who assume that being 'PC' is just about being non racist. It isnt.

 

This is primarily a fishing forum and some of you have forgotten that it has no geographic boundaries. We have moslem, hindu and afro caribbean posters, who oddly enough want to talk about fishing.

 

Last point that some of you need to remember is that there is a Race Relations Act. It's there for the protection of all. Comments on here occasionally cross the line of good taste and may one day attract the attention of the Law. With that in mind, I'm not surprised that the mod on this other angling site has taken the action that he felt necessary.

Edited May 11, 2006 by argyll