Has political correctness actually gone mad?

Do the Germans have a word for “completely insignificant but well meaning social fumble, that has no real tangible impact on anything or anyone at all, but which perpetually angry and terrified middle aged hams can blow dramatically out of proportion, in turn legitimising the mainstream right leaning media in posing serious chin stroking questions about whether the “loony left” are possibly just as bad as the actual murdering Nazis”?

... I’ll bet they do. They have words for everything.
 
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The phrase alluded to in the title always used to wind me up. Political correctness is a good thing and comes as a result of a decades long struggle for equality. Who cares if we sometimes err on the side of being too cautious about causing offence?

Reading articles like this, though, makes me wonder if it really has gone a bit too far. Especially with social media empowering loony tunes crusades by anyone, anywhere, who takes offence at anything.

Thoughts?
It went over the cliff edges ago. It went from equality to unfathomably stupid depths.
 
Yeah man, that article about a whopping four people objecting to a poem, selectively quoting a deleted page from a college blog, followed immediately by the sentence “We don't know much about what happened between the student and the professor” has certain gotten me all riled up! How dare those crazy whippersnappers!! Grrrrr. Bacon. Grange Hill. Clive Anderson. The good old days, etc...
 
Do the Germans have a word for “completely insignificant but well meaning social fumble, that has no real tangible impact on anything or anyone at all, but which perpetually angry and terrified middle aged hams can blow dramatically out of proportion, in turn legitimising the mainstream right leaning media in posing serious chin stroking questions about whether the “loony left” are possibly just as bad as the actual murdering Nazis”?

... I’ll bet they do. They have words for everything.

I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who made a “well meaning social fumble”?

Also. Who is “angry and terrified” here?
 
Do the Germans have a word for “completely insignificant but well meaning social fumble, that has no real tangible impact on anything or anyone at all, but which perpetually angry and terrified middle aged hams can blow dramatically out of proportion, in turn legitimising the mainstream right leaning media in posing serious chin stroking questions about whether the “loony left” are possibly just as bad as the actual murdering Nazis”?

... I’ll bet they do. They have words for everything.
I believe it's Fahrlässiger und unsachgemäßer Gebrauch einer Telekommunikationseinrichtung geeignet zur Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses nach KDW §14 Abs.3, dein Onkel ist eine Milchkuh. One of the most commonly used terms nowadays.
 
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Is he wrong about the joke thing though?

I think if you're funny no one cares what you say personally. Trying to make a funny rape joke is a bit of a minefield though, its just not a subject that lends itself naturally to comedy.
 
I think if you're funny no one cares what you say personally. Trying to make a funny rape joke is a bit of a minefield though, its just not a subject that lends itself naturally to comedy.

If a joke makes a bunch of people laugh and then makes a bunch of people upset i really dont think that's cause for the joke not to be told. I mean if you see a comedian known for dark humour then you cant draw your own line in the sand... its ok to laugh about death for example but not rape? Pretty silly isnt it.
 
If a joke makes a bunch of people laugh and then makes a bunch of people upset i really dont think that's cause for the joke not to be told. I mean if you see a comedian known for dark humour then you cant draw your own line in the sand... its ok to laugh about death for example but not rape? Pretty silly isnt it.
Part of my reasoning is that a lot of comedians know for dark humour get away with it. Or the funny ones do anyway. Most of the jokes i've seen criticised tend not to be funny.
 
Didn't Boyle's stuff lead to him getting fewer and fewer tv gigs? Genuine question, I fuzzily remember something like that happening.
 
Didn't Boyle's stuff lead to him getting fewer and fewer tv gigs? Genuine question, I fuzzily remember something like that happening.

Maybe a bit, but he does have his own show these days. I mean, it's about as funny as a dick pimple but it does exist.
 
Didn't Boyle's stuff lead to him getting fewer and fewer tv gigs? Genuine question, I fuzzily remember something like that happening.

I was actually watching an interview with him yesterday and he was saying it was. Most of the interview was about the reluctance of tv executives to put different stuff on tv. He said when he started on Mock the Week he could tell jokes about the Royals and the war in Afghanistan and now they talk about the weather at sporting events.
It was the quizmaster type guy from Pointless interviewing him and he gave him some stick about the Harvey jokes. He said he didn't regret it and there was context - it was a joke about Katie Price and how distasteful it was to be putting him in the spotlight as opposed to her other kids who he'll never hear of. Monetesing pity was the gist of his criticism i think

(I think its a shite excuse personally for what its worth. Vulnerable people who've had fame thrust on them are a poor target, they dont warrant the abuse Frankie Boyle tends to dish out).
 
Not sure if it belongs here but it certainly uses that woke language.

 
Not sure if it belongs here but it certainly uses that woke language.


I dont want to live on this planet anymore.

That said, I occasionally have clumps of paper stuck to my labia too, I don't shout about it from the rafters though.
 
I dont want to live on this planet anymore.

That said, I occasionally have clumps of paper stuck to my labia too, I don't shout about it from the rafters though.

No, now you should proclaim this with pride.
 
As I have said in the other thread. He probably should have been fired, but the carry-on about him being racist is completely mental.
 
To be fair on this one, it's a ridiculous thing to do if he's not trying to be racist. From his post picture responses, he is making out it is a genuine error but sack is inevitable and part of me thinks no one is that dumb to not understand how that pic would be interpreted.
 
To be fair on this one, it's a ridiculous thing to do if he's not trying to be racist. From his post picture responses, he is making out it is a genuine error but sack is inevitable and part of me thinks no one is that dumb to not understand how that pic would be interpreted.

I think it's possible that someone who makes an effort to know as little as possible about the royal family (and I think he's been fairly outspoken in how dim a view he has of the royalty in the past) might either never have realised, or briefly forgot, that Meghan Markle is mixed race.
 
At least we can talk about it on here, just seen someone banned on Digital Spy for posting:

"His defence is that he would have done the same if it had been the child of two caucasians. If thats true, and i believe him, then its not racist. Just a misjudgement, for which he has apologized. In no way am i going to jump on a daily mail led witch hunt."

Admin there are saying:

"We have already removed numerous posts for dismissing genuine concerns of racism. Comparing black people to monkeys or apes has been a historically racist and vile thing to do and ignorance isn't a credible excuse. Any further attempts at downplaying the severity of this will result in further action as it will be taken as defending racism and racist tropes in accordance with our community guidelines. Please stay on topic from this point forward. Thank you."

Whether you agree with that opinion or not, I don't see anything bannable there at all for any reasonable forum. Probably my mistake to think it was reasonable in the first place. I wasn't even going to say anything on the topic over there, just reading it, but that at least for now has put me off posting there full stop.
 
I just want to say I think Frankie Boyle is fecking hilarious. Not sure how relevant that is.
 
Actions have consequences. So what if he apologised? If someone fecks up are they exempt from any consequences as long as they apologise afterwards? He's in a public role and his employer may no longer want to have his mistake associated with them. Tough shit, this happens to less famous people all the time.

I don't think he should be made a social pariah or "cancelled" but see no issue with him losing his job.
 
I think it's possible that someone who makes an effort to know as little as possible about the royal family (and I think he's been fairly outspoken in how dim a view he has of the royalty in the past) might either never have realised, or briefly forgot, that Meghan Markle is mixed race.

Making an effort to know as little as possible about the Royal Family whilst sharing pictures on social media solely about the Royal Family. I get it's possible but seems hugely unlikely to me.
 
Making an effort to know as little as possible about the Royal Family whilst sharing pictures on social media solely about the Royal Family. I get it's possible but seems hugely unlikely to me.

It is unlikely. But you'd have to admit that it's even less likely that he would decide that it would be funny (and acceptable) to portray a mixed race baby as a chimpanzee, because he sees a comedic resemblance between black people and primates. So you have to apply Occam's Razor here.
 
Maybe look at what he posted when, is it Prince William and Kate Middleton had a baby. I'm not well up on the royals and have to think of Harry's brothers name and not sure if it is Katie or is this her sister's name.

Perhaps they've had two or three, no idea. I zone out with royal news possibly due to the non-stop coverage of Diana while she was alive. Really sad looking back how invasive it was.
 
To be fair on this one, it's a ridiculous thing to do if he's not trying to be racist. From his post picture responses, he is making out it is a genuine error but sack is inevitable and part of me thinks no one is that dumb to not understand how that pic would be interpreted.
I dont think anyone is that dumb if they stop and actually think. The problem with Twitter is thinking before you post isnt actually mandatory, or even common practice. Posting something impulsively without stopping to think how it might be seen seems quite believable.
 
I'm sorry but either he is beyond stupid or he is around people who are just generally racist so he sees it as OK.

Both of those situations mean he should be fired. There's no defending that.
 
I don't like the man at all, think he's completely charmless and arrogant. That said he's not stupid, and you have to think if there was any racist intent or insinuation in the picture he posted then he would not be stupid enough to put it out in the ether and expect anything but a disgusted reaction.

No room for nuance or context or benefit of the doubt once the online mobs start to smell blood, everything is 2D to them so they can get another person fired from their job like that actually achieves something. Quite funny though, couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.
 
Well of course he loses his job, cause that's what happens when you offend a small group of people :) What a lovely world :)

Then again, I have little sympathy for anyone who uses Twitter. If you want to be part of that circle of complete fecking bellends then this is what happens. You know as a public figure you're treading on eggshells with everything you say/do.

Don't think the punishment fits the "crime", but then again, no employer has the balls to stand up to social media controversy. This is kind of why I've come to enjoy Trump when it comes to his silly tweets, just cause it fecks everyone off and they can't do anything about it :lol:
 
I don't like the man at all, think he's completely charmless and arrogant. That said he's not stupid, and you have to think if there was any racist intent or insinuation in the picture he posted then he would not be stupid enough to put it out in the ether and expect anything but a disgusted reaction.

No room for nuance or context or benefit of the doubt once the online mobs start to smell blood, everything is 2D to them so they can get another person fired from their job like that actually achieves something. Quite funny though, couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

Come on. The guy posted a monkey in a suit. Are you kidding me? What's nuanced about that?

The problem is that obviously him and the people around him are OK making such jokes, and don't think about consequences. So he was expecting everyone else to react the same way him and his friends in the media to act.

Racism isn't a joke and if someone in the public eye can't immediately understand that something like this is hugely offensive then we really have a problem in this country.
 
It is unlikely. But you'd have to admit that it's even less likely that he would decide that it would be funny (and acceptable) to portray a mixed race baby as a chimpanzee, because he sees a comedic resemblance between black people and primates. So you have to apply Occam's Razor here.

Unless he's racist, which is kind of the point
 
Come on. The guy posted a monkey in a suit. Are you kidding me? What's nuanced about that?

The problem is that obviously him and the people around him are OK making such jokes, and don't think about consequences. So he was expecting everyone else to react the same way him and his friends in the media to act.

Racism isn't a joke and if someone in the public eye can't immediately understand that something like this is hugely offensive then we really have a problem in this country.

Well there's at least two ways it could be taken.

a) he thinks it's funny to portray a mixed race child as an ape
b) he thinks it's funny to portray the royal family as circus animals dressed up in fancy clothes, paraded for our amusement.

I'd say there's enough nuance there to think twice before deciding he is definitely racist.