Has political correctness actually gone mad?

Off topicish...we've got Greater Manchester mayor elections in May. Three of the six candidates are right wing - they want to take back control, one wants to allow cultural banter, the other wants to make England great again and another wants to reform the UK by giving folk their freedoms back. And then you've got a flipping Tory candidate. I mean what's wrong with this place? Majority of the country has become so right wing, (this forum wasn't as right leaning years back and all). Thanks to the media, the sentiment has changed but I suspect it was always there anyway. But yeah political correctness gone mental.

Is cultural banter illegal whatever that means?
 
Is cultural banter illegal whatever that means?


No idea. There was another bloke opposing vaccine passports, stopping future lockdowns and something about keeping our incredible cultural heritage....which no doubt includes Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, Kurdish, Italian, Chinese, Turkish et al restaurants and food places. I like the way folk enjoy a good kebab in this country. Talking about kebabs I had a great lamb shawarma yesterday.
 
Sparing kids feelings omitting words which have been used for centuries is going a long way to making them too sensitive to survive in the harsh world we live in. We arent doing them any favours. So far it's more or less controlled but carry on in the vein we're going and in 10 years we'll be churning out kids not fit for purpose.

My Dad died when I was 11. Admittedly the first couple of weeks after his death when I heard the word Dad I welled up but then human nature takes over which strengthens resolve and you learn to deal with things on a different level. Kids are stronger than we think. Swerving issues is a lot more detrimental to growth than actually dealing with them.

And imagine, if no one had used the word 'dad' during those couple of weeks you would have been dead because of oversensitivity by now. You should send someone a thank you letter.
 
Is cultural banter illegal whatever that means?

I know you're joking, but it potentially is. Harassment laws are shocking and in need of change/clarification, as it essentially comes down to causing someone offence, but offence is so subjective. I don't think it's enforced much though, but the potential is there. A service user at my old workplace (a vulnerable adult) got charged and prosecuted for texting his ex on three separate occassions after they broke up that he missed her/still loved her/that she was beautiful etc, because the cnut went crying to the police saying she was distressed by it.

Sadly it may be a genuine topic but the vast majority of people who mention it are either just actual racists, or are so dumb their idea of top quality banter is puerile garbage. As stupid as they may be however, I don't want any police officer, magistrate, judge or other state official determining what is offensive, or what is banter. Education and encouragement of acceptable/preferred behaviour is more beneficial than outlawing/punishing those who step out of line IMO.

I'm less decided when it comes to companies/schools enforcing what is acceptable. Again I'd think encouraging correct behaviour, establishing a culture that is desired is beneficial. I'd like to think most workplaces let people off for one-off indiscretions with some words of advice and a warning. In my experience the only people who get fired or properly disciplined for a balls-up are the ones who constantly overstep the line or who are a general liability, so it's a good excuse to get rid of them. So any Daily Mail articles in the future about "Teacher fired for Wrongspeak!", my first thought will be that they're probably a shit teacher anyway.
 
I know you're joking, but it potentially is. Harassment laws are shocking and in need of change/clarification, as it essentially comes down to causing someone offence, but offence is so subjective. I don't think it's enforced much though, but the potential is there. A service user at my old workplace (a vulnerable adult) got charged and prosecuted for texting his ex on three separate occassions after they broke up that he missed her/still loved her/that she was beautiful etc, because the cnut went crying to the police saying she was distressed by it.

How do you know the facts of the story are right? What if she had asked him to stop texting (or calling) her? How do you know it was only three times? How do you know he had only said that he missed her? Do you know why they broke up in the first place? To be honest, even if it's just what you said it was, it could very well be harassment.

You calling her a cnut who "went crying to the police" makes it abundantly clear how you approached this.
 
How do you know the facts of the story are right? What if she had asked him to stop texting (or calling) her? How do you know it was only three times? How do you know he had only said that he missed her? Do you know why they broke up in the first place? To be honest, even if it's just what you said it was, it could very well be harassment.

You calling her a cnut who "went crying to the police" makes it abundantly clear how you approached this.

Because I was involved in supporting him through the process. I saw the messages, liaised with his solicitors etc, and attended court. She was a cnut. Fully functioning adult who dated a guy with learning disabilities, manipulated him, milked him for money and a place to live. He couldn't understand that he had been used.

The magistrate pretty much said as much, and criticised the CPS, but said his hands were tied as the letter of the law said X (two or more unwanted contacts = harassment).

This was just after their was some new legislation about domestic violence, which also meant she didn't even need to press charges or attend as a witness. She literally sent one email to the police and then said she didn't want to press charges, but the police ran with it. Basically, the police had this new power and wanted to use it first chance they got. I have no doubt in my mind they were motivated/encouraged by policies/brieifings/campaigns to "protect women", and convinced themselves they were being heroes.

Which kind of exemplifies why I'm against increased state power. Its not a left vs right thing. Everyone knows the stereotypes about police officers, they are grunts, the modern day front line mercenaries sent into battle, they have egos, they like enforcing the little bit of power the have. Giving them more power, just because it's under the guise of clamping down on something you don't like, just isn't a good idea. It also distracts from other police work they should be doing. Mix that in with the capitalist-efficiency based obsession with targets that has crept into the public sector and you have a deadly mix. My friend is a criminal solicitor and says close to 50% of interviews she attends are harassment related. Yet police officers often don't even attend burglaries anymore. It's a quick and easy crime for them to up their statistics and hit their targets.
 
Because I was involved in supporting him through the process. I saw the messages, liaised with his solicitors etc, and attended court. She was a cnut. Fully functioning adult who dated a guy with learning disabilities, manipulated him, milked him for money and a place to live. He couldn't understand that he had been used.

The magistrate pretty much said as much, and criticised the CPS, but said his hands were tied as the letter of the law said X (two or more unwanted contacts = harassment).

This was just after their was some new legislation about domestic violence, which also meant she didn't even need to press charges or attend as a witness. She literally sent one email to the police and then said she didn't want to press charges, but the police ran with it. Basically, the police had this new power and wanted to use it first chance they got. I have no doubt in my mind they were motivated/encouraged by policies/brieifings/campaigns to "protect women", and convinced themselves they were being heroes.

Which kind of exemplifies why I'm against increased state power. Its not a left vs right thing. Everyone knows the stereotypes about police officers, they are grunts, the modern day front line mercenaries sent into battle, they have egos, they like enforcing the little bit of power the have. Giving them more power, just because it's under the guise of clamping down on something you don't like, just isn't a good idea. It also distracts from other police work they should be doing. Mix that in with the capitalist-efficiency based obsession with targets that has crept into the public sector and you have a deadly mix. My friend is a criminal solicitor and says close to 50% of interviews she attends are harassment related. Yet police officers often don't even attend burglaries anymore. It's a quick and easy crime for them to up their statistics and hit their targets.
Reminds me of The Wire. Police loved to show good statistics in the show.
 
I know you're joking, but it potentially is. Harassment laws are shocking and in need of change/clarification, as it essentially comes down to causing someone offence, but offence is so subjective. I don't think it's enforced much though, but the potential is there. A service user at my old workplace (a vulnerable adult) got charged and prosecuted for texting his ex on three separate occassions after they broke up that he missed her/still loved her/that she was beautiful etc, because the cnut went crying to the police saying she was distressed by it.

Sadly it may be a genuine topic but the vast majority of people who mention it are either just actual racists, or are so dumb their idea of top quality banter is puerile garbage. As stupid as they may be however, I don't want any police officer, magistrate, judge or other state official determining what is offensive, or what is banter. Education and encouragement of acceptable/preferred behaviour is more beneficial than outlawing/punishing those who step out of line IMO.

I'm less decided when it comes to companies/schools enforcing what is acceptable. Again I'd think encouraging correct behaviour, establishing a culture that is desired is beneficial. I'd like to think most workplaces let people off for one-off indiscretions with some words of advice and a warning. In my experience the only people who get fired or properly disciplined for a balls-up are the ones who constantly overstep the line or who are a general liability, so it's a good excuse to get rid of them. So any Daily Mail articles in the future about "Teacher fired for Wrongspeak!", my first thought will be that they're probably a shit teacher anyway.

Is this the phenomen of non-crime hate incidents in the UK? Like where people get visits from the Police for saying writing something offensive over social media and it goes on your record despite not breaking any laws.
 
Is this the phenomen of non-crime hate incidents in the UK? Like where people get visits from the Police for saying writing something offensive over social media and it goes on your record despite not breaking any laws.

It breaks the law. Or at least, the police will encourage you to accept a caution usin
Reminds me of The Wire. Police loved to show good statistics in the show.

Exactly. I saw a document/publication from the force that pressed charges in this case a couple years later, in which they boasted about how they had increased their number of prosecutions for "domestic incidents" in the past few years. Boiled my blood knowing at least one of those was the case I mentioned.

It's such a shame because the law was implemented with good intentions - to protect women in abusive relationships who are too scared to press charges. But it got abused by some coppers to get an easy result.
 
It breaks the law. Or at least, the police will encourage you to accept a caution usin


Exactly. I saw a document/publication from the force that pressed charges in this case a couple years later, in which they boasted about how they had increased their number of prosecutions for "domestic incidents" in the past few years. Boiled my blood knowing at least one of those was the case I mentioned.

It's such a shame because the law was implemented with good intentions - to protect women in abusive relationships who are too scared to press charges. But it got abused by some coppers to get an easy result.

If it breaks the law it's not the non-crime hate incidents i'm talking about where there have apparently been 120000 in the last five years in the Uk.
 
If it breaks the law it's not the non-crime hate incidents i'm talking about where there have apparently been 120000 in the last five years in the Uk.

Jeez. Yeah I thought I had deleted my reply to you as I was gonna go into more detail and look some stuff up before replying but I left the post in unfortunately.

I'm really intrigued about this. Is this figure incidents that the police investigate but doesn't end up with a charge/caution? Or is it entirely separate?
 
Jeez. Yeah I thought I had deleted my reply to you as I was gonna go into more detail and look some stuff up before replying but I left the post in unfortunately.

I'm really intrigued about this. Is this figure incidents that the police investigate but doesn't end up with a charge/caution? Or is it entirely separate?

Well apparently, it's not a crime, but it still goes on your register, so your employee's can see that you have been investigated for a non-crime hate incident so it has potential repercussions for your career.

I'm sharing this for Andrew doyle commentary(who's good on free speech), not Rubin who's an idiot.

 
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You've deleted the nutter, mein fuhrer.

I did it, because the clip was worse than I remembered it to be. Before you made the response. I think Douglas has his merits on some issues and con's on others.
 
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Well apparently, it's not a crime, but it still goes on your register, so your employee's can see that you have been investigated for a non-crime hate incident so it has potential repercussions for your career.

I'm sharing this for Andrew doyle commentary(who's good on free speech), not Rubin who's an idiot.



Interesting, will watch later. I assume its classified as a warning/reprimand then. I have to get enhanced DBS checks and there's a section for convictions and a section for cautions/warnings/reprimands. I know a caution is an admission of guilt and the person has to sign it to accept, so would be a crime. A warning needn't be an admission of guilt though, so it's on your record even if you deny the allegations.
 
How do you know the facts of the story are right? What if she had asked him to stop texting (or calling) her? How do you know it was only three times? How do you know he had only said that he missed her? Do you know why they broke up in the first place? To be honest, even if it's just what you said it was, it could very well be harassment.

You calling her a cnut who "went crying to the police" makes it abundantly clear how you approached this.
I reckon you owe the man an apology for all the assumption in this post.
 
You're having a laugh.
He told a story that he had in-depth knowledge of, you essentially questioned everything he said, and seemed to posit that he had no real knowledge of the details, and had just decided that she was a cnut because he is a chauvinist or something(not sure what your last sentence was really trying to say). You seem to be able to dish it out to everyone in the CE forum(not that you're wrong on most occasions), but you happily just let his response to you fade into the ether, as it disproved literally everything you had said, atop your high horse.
 
He told a story that he had in-depth knowledge of, you essentially questioned everything he said, and seemed to posit that he had no real knowledge of the details, and had just decided that she was a cnut because he is a chauvinist or something(not sure what your last sentence was really trying to say). You seem to be able to dish it out to everyone in the CE forum(not that you're wrong on most occasions), but you happily just let his response to you fade into the ether, as it disproved literally everything you had said, atop your high horse.

It didn't disprove anything, it seemingly answered my questions. You call them assumptions, but the only assumption I made was the last one. How am I supposed to know he's "holding back"? The only way this forum works is if you assume people are telling you the information you need to make a decision. If not, you ask questions - which is what I did.
 
He told a story that he had in-depth knowledge of, you essentially questioned everything he said, and seemed to posit that he had no real knowledge of the details, and had just decided that she was a cnut because he is a chauvinist or something(not sure what your last sentence was really trying to say). You seem to be able to dish it out to everyone in the CE forum(not that you're wrong on most occasions), but you happily just let his response to you fade into the ether, as it disproved literally everything you had said, atop your high horse.

I think when someone states “the cnut went crying to the police” over a woman claiming harassment, it’s worth querying the person who said it. If someone said to me that “cnut of a woman got a restraining order against my friend” I’m going to ask what makes the woman a cnut.
 
It didn't disprove anything, it seemingly answered my questions. You call them assumptions, but the only assumption I made was the last one. How am I supposed to know he's "holding back"? The only way this forum works is if you assume people are telling you the information you need to make a decision. If not, you ask questions - which is what I did.

You can't know, but you basically labelled him something, and when he then explained the situation fully, surely it warrants some form of retraction?

I think when someone states “the cnut went crying to the police” over a woman claiming harassment, it’s worth querying the person who said it. If someone said to me that “cnut of a woman got a restraining order against my friend” I’m going to ask what makes the woman a cnut.

You can ask what makes the woman a cnut without insinuating that the poster is victim shaming/a chauvinist, no? Or at least apologise when you are given more detail(sounds to me like the label cnut is fully warranted, given the details).

What makes you think he wasn't simply asking questions to verify how "honest" the post was?

The last sentence.
 
You can't know, but you basically labelled him something, and when he then explained the situation fully, surely it warrants some form of retraction?

Agree.. minimum warrants an acknowledgement of being wrong
 
I think when someone states “the cnut went crying to the police” over a woman claiming harassment, it’s worth querying the person who said it. If someone said to me that “cnut of a woman got a restraining order against my friend” I’m going to ask what makes the woman a cnut.

I thought it was pretty apparent that she was a cnut for reporting her ex, who happened to be a vulnerable person, to the police for texting her that he missed her/wanted her back. Three times. Three!! She was a cnut for additional reasons but that wasnt really the original point. The point was that criminalising the act of upsetting someone is an extremely dangerous road to tread down. She could have been a lovely person, it'd still have been ridiculous for the police to have intervened in any way other than to have a few words. But that's not how the police operate if they have the power to do more. They're jumped up traffic wardens on steroids.

I would point out there's a weird sort of hypocrisy in the extreme left/woke - on one hand they want the police to be defunded, reformed or abolished, want them to be under scrutiny for their actions of excessive force, but at the same time want to give them MORE powers to criminalise people for upsetting someone else. The average police officer is a total cretin and can not weigh up nuanced personal situations, giving them the power to intervene in a heavy handed manner just won't end well. Its also a massive waste of time and resources. It seems like a massive blind spot for a lot of people, cos as long as the grunts in blue are tackling behaviour they don't like then it's all good.

You'd think it'd be a point that the wokey idealists and the libertarian idealists would have common ground on. feck the police.
 
You can ask what makes the woman a cnut without insinuating that the poster is victim shaming/a chauvinist, no? Or at least apologise when you are given more detail(sounds to me like the label cnut is fully warranted, given the details).

She told the guy to stop contacting her. He continued to do so. She informed the police, but didn’t want to press charges. Coupled with the last paragraph about the police having too much power when it comes to harassment (which is a very peculiar take, especially when one looks at the statistics )and that they should have less power to deal with people being harassed (often woman).

so no, I’m not going to call someone a cnut for reporting harassment.
 
I thought it was pretty apparent that she was a cnut for reporting her ex, who happened to be a vulnerable person, to the police for texting her that he missed her/wanted her back. Three times. Three!! She was a cnut for additional reasons but that wasnt really the original point. The point was that criminalising the act of upsetting someone is an extremely dangerous road to tread down. She could have been a lovely person, it'd still have been ridiculous for the police to have intervened in any way other than to have a few words. But that's not how the police operate if they have the power to do more. They're jumped up traffic wardens on steroids.

I would point out there's a weird sort of hypocrisy in the extreme left/woke - on one hand they want the police to be defunded, reformed or abolished, want them to be under scrutiny for their actions of excessive force, but at the same time want to give them MORE powers to criminalise people for upsetting someone else. The average police officer is a total cretin and can not weigh up nuanced personal situations, giving them the power to intervene in a heavy handed manner just won't end well. Its also a massive waste of time and resources. It seems like a massive blind spot for a lot of people, cos as long as the grunts in blue are tackling behaviour they don't like then it's all good.

You'd think it'd be a point that the wokey idealists and the libertarian idealists would have common ground on. feck the police.

You yourself said she decided to not press charges didn’t you?

You have no idea how he acted towards her when they lived together. Do you really think enough is done to stop harassment and stalking?
 
How on earth is is the woman the cnut is that situation? :lol:

Pretty sure an ex not leaving you alone is enough for a woman to feel worried. What's she supposed to do, wait and see if things escalate into an even worse/possibly dangerous situation before doing anything about it and just hope nothing happens in the meantime?
 
How on earth is is the woman the cnut is that situation? :lol:

Pretty sure an ex not leaving you alone is enough for a woman to feel worried. What's she supposed to do, wait and see if things escalate into an even worse/possibly dangerous situation before doing anything about it and just hope nothing happens in the meantime?
So judging on that post the woman manipulated and used the guy, but the guy couldn't leave it alone though.
 
I didn't see any posts talking about her manipulating or using him, maybe I missed that, but the second bit seems to be the case yeah.
This post.

Because I was involved in supporting him through the process. I saw the messages, liaised with his solicitors etc, and attended court. She was a cnut. Fully functioning adult who dated a guy with learning disabilities, manipulated him, milked him for money and a place to live. He couldn't understand that he had been used.

The magistrate pretty much said as much, and criticised the CPS, but said his hands were tied as the letter of the law said X (two or more unwanted contacts = harassment).

This was just after their was some new legislation about domestic violence, which also meant she didn't even need to press charges or attend as a witness. She literally sent one email to the police and then said she didn't want to press charges, but the police ran with it. Basically, the police had this new power and wanted to use it first chance they got. I have no doubt in my mind they were motivated/encouraged by policies/brieifings/campaigns to "protect women", and convinced themselves they were being heroes.

Which kind of exemplifies why I'm against increased state power. Its not a left vs right thing. Everyone knows the stereotypes about police officers, they are grunts, the modern day front line mercenaries sent into battle, they have egos, they like enforcing the little bit of power the have. Giving them more power, just because it's under the guise of clamping down on something you don't like, just isn't a good idea. It also distracts from other police work they should be doing. Mix that in with the capitalist-efficiency based obsession with targets that has crept into the public sector and you have a deadly mix. My friend is a criminal solicitor and says close to 50% of interviews she attends are harassment related. Yet police officers often don't even attend burglaries anymore. It's a quick and easy crime for them to up their statistics and hit their targets.
 
You yourself said she decided to not press charges didn’t you?

You have no idea how he acted towards her when they lived together. Do you really think enough is done to stop harassment and stalking?

He lived in accommodation with drop in support from social care services, who I worked for, so I knew exactly how their relationship was. I can't go into too much detail, so you'll have to take my word for it. It was manipulative and exploitative in one direction only. In brief, they met when he was about 19 (mental age considerably less) and she was 17, and her and her friends befriended him so he would buy them alcohol. They mocked him and abused his willingness to have some friends. Years later (mid 20s) she was down on her luck, he had social care funded accommodation, so she reconnected and used him for accommodation (she didn't legally live there, she wasn't allowed to, which was a whole other issue).

I think the law I was referring to, which gave the police/CPS the power to press charges without the victims consent was well intentioned. I'm sure it was hard fought for by domestic abuse campaigners for many years. I'm sure it has helped a lot of cases find justice. However, it was also too broad and gives too much power to PC Plod. ANY incident that involves current or former partners is automatically considered domestic abuse, and automatically means that the police can press charges without the victims consent. I'm sure in this case, it was a new power and the police wanted to try it out. They knew or should have known it was unnecessary. I don't trust PC Plod to be able to weigh up these kind of situations. Each of them is also incentized to get a result, they have targets. Burglaries are time consuming and rarely result in, well, a result. Upsetting someone, easy result.

In terms of harassment and stalking. I can't really comment on stalking, as I have no idea how common it is or what is done about it. In terms of harassment, I think in its current form it's one of the most ridiculous "crimes" in existence. To me harassment is hounding someone, going out of your way to intentionally berate or annoy them. However, in the law as it stands it is as broad as making unwanted contact on two occasions (Protection from Harassment Act), or one offensive remark in public (Public Order Act). I don't think the state should be doing anything in 99% of cases where someone has upset someone else. And if they do, in the first instance, it shouldn't be PC Plod who gets involved.

Yes, in this case she didn't want to press charges. She reported him either out of spite or just for a joke, I'm not sure, she was a maniac and I don't know what went on in her head. Maybe it was a feck you to the social care provider, as they had reported her to social services. She didn't really care, she obviously didn't want to attend court and give evidence. I doubt she could have kept a straight face throughout it, and she couldn't have kept her cool whilst her character was being assassinated. But, lucky for her, the police were willing to do so without her. And the magistrate said her character was irrelevant/mitigation only. One email saying she was upset was all that was needed. It's just unbelievable really. As far as I or anyone else knows, she didn't even write the fecking email. And who knows if anything said in the email was even true or not.

Not even sure what the point of your questions is or why I'm discussing it, except it's probably the one event in my life that's made me the most disgusted.