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Has Political Correctness Destroyed Britain?

Cooool

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I don't profess to know much about the issues in the UK. But from what I've read it seems the UK has some serious issues, that are arguably even more catastrophic than the problems facing the US.

It seems political correctness has established a climate in which thugs and delinquents are given a slap on the wrist and Islamic fundamentalists are largely ignored at risk of offending anyone.

I know the invasion of Iraq has weakened Britain's international reputation, but if they don't crack down on terrorism and radical Islam, than the likelihood remains high of yet another terrorist attack like 7/7.
 
It is just a matter of the chickens coming home to roost. UK (and Europe) in general is far more openly racist than US or Canada. Ever heard of the National Front? It is racism that is destroying Britain and Europe, not political correctness. You have to think about the root of the problem, why there is terrorism and radical Islam in the first place... Stop alienating and excluding Muslims from participation in society.
 
It is just a matter of the chickens coming home to roost. UK (and Europe) in general is far more openly racist than US or Canada. Ever heard of the National Front? It is racism that is destroying Britain and Europe, not political correctness. You have to think about the root of the problem, why there is terrorism and radical Islam in the first place... Stop alienating and excluding Muslims from participation in society.
I find it hard to believe that radical Islam emerges from discrimination against Muslims. Many minorities face discrimination, and but yet they don't resort to slaughtering innocent civilians.
 
Political correctness in Britain? You have to be kidding. When the British media refer to political correctness, they are talking about not being allowed to use words like Pakkie, wog, or Hun without offending people.

Surely, things are more politically correct than in the UK. I've never heard comments made in public here, like I've heard over there!
 
I find it hard to believe that radical Islam emerges from discrimination against Muslims. Many minorities face discrimination, and but yet they don't resort to slaughtering innocent civilians.
This isn't going to be another argument about how Islam supposedly tells people to murder others, is it? Seriously, I urge you right now to get a copy of the Qur'an from your local library or bookstore and try to find a single sentence that states any kind of related action. Go on, do it.

Muslim violence is all about politics and nothing about the Muslims themselves. I'd like to remind you that terrorism, hate crimes and insurgency aren't limited to Muslims. There have been insurgencies all over Latin America, in South East Asia, and in non-Muslim India. There have been hate crimes from the US as the KKK, Europe as Nazi Germany, and Africa in the Rwandan Genocide. Terrorism has come from the IRA, Babbar Khalsa, and FLQ.
Violence in the Middle East can be almost totally attributed to the USA and USSR during the cold war. Take Iran as an example. Here was a country that was rapidly developing and, having disposed of it's Shah decades earlier, had a democratically elected government. Then, the US & friends pop in, kick out democracy, and replace things with a new Shah. The same goes for Iraq, which was invaded by Great Britain several times among it's history to replace governments, who also started the country's problems by occupying it in the first place and splitting it off from Iran arbitrarily. Afghanistan was caught in the middle of the US and USSR, with the US actually sponsoring the terrorism! Palestinian violence in Israel is the result of a west-backed Israel coming into the Palestinian's homeland and kicking them all out into tiny tracts of land while any Jewish person or friend of a Jewish person gets to live a Holy Land-style American Dream.

Should I continue?

As for thread topic: Britain has Political Correctness?!!
 
I have heard from so many British citizens that political correctness is out of control over there, I wouldn't know as I don't live there.

But you simply can't deny that a majority of terrorist attacks are committed by Muslims. It's not as if these attacks are committed from extremists of any stripe.

What do you propose the UK and America do to eliminate the threat of terrorism?
 
Depends on your definition of terrorism. If you mean overseas terrorism involving intricate conspiracies and careful planning, then yeah I could see some possibility in that. If you mean insurgency or other hate crimes of terrorism, then I'd definitely disagree. But in reality, that comes from two things.
The first is being that Islam is the second most practiced religion in the world. This figure is at the most about 700 million people under Christianity, which is predominant in developed regions such as North America and Europe, with the EU, Canada, US and Australia having over 800 million people in total. So, among people in developing nations that have more of a right to be angry and a need to be violent to be heard, Islam actually holds a majority.

Second and vastly more important is simply based on happenstances of chance. Combine the Arab world's colonial history with vast reserves of oil in the Middle East and you'll obviously have a problem.
The entire Central Asian region was the centre of the Great Game between the UK and Russia, which resulted in political instability that can be traced to this day.
Britain's occupation of Egypt did significant damage to development, and the Suez crisis exploded the already mounting tensions between the Middle East and the West. Additionally, the western backing of Israel, which basically allowed it to annex a huge amount of the holy land without any political negotiations and kick all the old inhabitants out, did a good number on the Middle Eastern states in the region. Imagine if China suddenly annexed a bunch of Florida or Southern Ontario and forced all the previous residents into the space it didn't annex. It'd be an outrage, and so it was. Then, the heavy western backing of Israel during the Arab-Israel wars turned Israel into a regional power with no real care for anything outside the region. They just put up a wall and decided to ignore everyone outside.
The US and UK destabilization of the Iranian democracy might have been the most important modern reason for instability. Deposing the democratically elected Prime Minister and replacing him with an autocratic government meant for an unstable regional power. That let Iraq take some chances in other parts of the region, which led to another US invasion. Do another two of these, and we're back to where we are now, with severely damaged politics in Western and Central Asia, and a pretty clear cause to blame. The exact same result would have occurred if that area was primarily Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist.
I'd also like to remind you that during the Middle Ages, the entire Arab world was the jewel of human civilization. Arab scholars protected knowledge from the Romans and before while making scientific, engineering, and philosophical advances of their own. And of course, the Europeans did go in there and destroy cities and towns, uprooting a stable society for their own gains, in the form of the crusades. And since they couldn't just hijack a plane and fly it into Mecca back then, I'd call that the equivalent of Western terrorism against the Middle East. I'm sure to many Arabs at that time, crusaders ready to kill anyone for Christ would have seemed just as crazy as the guys that go around lighting their underpants on fire for Islam. And the crusaders did that en masse in gigantic armies fighting wars of attrition... perhaps Christianity is actually crazier than Islam then, no?

EDIT: See the Afghanistan thread for a brief outline/rant on how I'd fight the so-called war against terror.
 
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I have heard from so many British citizens that political correctness is out of control over there, I wouldn't know as I don't live there.
Well it's a bit of a police state ... but when I've heard such complaining, it's not long before those complaining use some kind of racist slur that I find surprising. Perhaps the Toronto Sun should start putting topless photos on Page 3 every day, and we can see if we are more politically correct than England or not!
 
The entire Central Asian region was the centre of the Great Game between the UK and Russia, which resulted in political instability that can be traced to this day.
I don't think so. There was plenty of political instability in Central Asia long before that thanks to the Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks among others.

Additionally, the western backing of Israel, which basically allowed it to annex a huge amount of the holy land without any political negotiations and kick all the old inhabitants out, did a good number on the Middle Eastern states in the region. Imagine if China suddenly annexed a bunch of Florida or Southern Ontario and forced all the previous residents into the space it didn't annex. It'd be an outrage, and so it was.
it's hard to call any piece of land there "a huge amount", when, by most standards, any incarnation of Israel since 1948 has been considered tiny. This part of the Middle East was considered by most to be a wasteland before Israel came into existence. And while I have sympathy for Palestinians, their fate has at least as much to do with their treatment by neighbouring Arab states as it does with Israel and the West.

Forced resettlements (often on the basis of ethnicity) were quite common in China under Mao, and China annexed Tibet, yet compared to Israel world outrage against China has been minuscule.

I'd also like to remind you that during the Middle Ages, the entire Arab world was the jewel of human civilization. Arab scholars protected knowledge from the Romans and before while making scientific, engineering, and philosophical advances of their own. And of course, the Europeans did go in there and destroy cities and towns, uprooting a stable society for their own gains, in the form of the crusades. And since they couldn't just hijack a plane and fly it into Mecca back then, I'd call that the equivalent of Western terrorism against the Middle East. I'm sure to many Arabs at that time, crusaders ready to kill anyone for Christ would have seemed just as crazy as the guys that go around lighting their underpants on fire for Islam. And the crusaders did that en masse in gigantic armies fighting wars of attrition... perhaps Christianity is actually crazier than Islam then, no?
Which Romans do you mean? And how can one so vilify the European Crusaders considering that Muslim armies under the Arabs, Moors and Turks achieved many of their territorial gains against Christian lands, both before and after the Crusades? Where is the huge distinction?

The Crusaders were in the Middle East for a relatively short time, achieved more failures than successes, and, ironically, they (Western Christians) did far more permanent damage to Eastern Christianity than to Islam. The Mongols were cursed far more in the Muslim world than the Crusaders ever were.
 
Which Romans do you mean? And how can one so vilify the European Crusaders considering that Muslim armies under the Arabs, Moors and Turks achieved many of their territorial gains against Christian lands, both before and after the Crusades? Where is the huge distinction?

The Crusaders were in the Middle East for a relatively short time, achieved more failures than successes, and, ironically, they (Western Christians) did far more permanent damage to Eastern Christianity than to Islam. The Mongols were cursed far more in the Muslim world than the Crusaders ever were.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my limited knowledge of the Crusades includes a lot of huge atrocities committed against various Muslim, Jewish, and even Christian groups in territories conquered. Were those Muslims running around roasting people alive on spits when they invaded Christian areas? Compare what happened to Christians in the Balkans when conquered by the Ottomans to what happened to Muslims and Jews in Iberia after the Reconquista. Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc. all still have Christian majorities. How big is Andalucia's Muslim community? Its Jewish community?

Political correctness is such a ridiculous concept invented by culture war mongering rightwingers in the US, part of this giant persecution complex they've created for themselves. Is it "political correctness" to ask people to respect others around them? And what kind of politcal correctness are we talking about here? Is it more appropriate to say "all Muslims are terrorists" than to say "all gay men have AIDS" or "women are naturally inclined to stay at home" or "black people by nature are over-sexed" or "the Holocaust is a giant Jewish conspiracy"? Is it political correctness run amok to ask people to stop saying such ridiculous things when we now know better?
 
I agree political correctness is a term misused by the right-wing on a constant basis. But I would never say that political correctness doesn't exist, I see it all the time, even on this forum.

The most common example I hear about is the comparison of the police force in New York City verus London. Everyone knows that Gulliani enforced a zero-tolerance policy in the police force and drastically reduced the crime rate. From what I've heard, the London police are not abiding to this principle and often turns a blind eye to crimes such as assault and threatening behaviour.

And "allegedly" London's crime rate is 7 times more than New York City. I find that interesting seeing as London has considerably less murders a year than New York and much less prevalent gun culture.
 
I don't understand why political correctness is considered a bad thing. Cooool, it was political correctness that stopped civil people calling you "a fag". Protection for minorities owes a lot to political correctness.
 
It's my belief that the worst atrocities in human history were committed by Christians, or in the name of Christianity. Consider the most barbaric acts you can think of, impaling, boiling in oil, live gutting, live skinning, etc. Who did these things in the Middle Ages?

And with respect to the view of the Muslim world with respect to Mongols vs. Crusadors, I don't know this for sure, but I would have a hard time believing that Muslims would have a more negative view of Mongols.
 
I find it hard to believe that radical Islam emerges from discrimination against Muslims. Many minorities face discrimination, and but yet they don't resort to slaughtering innocent civilians.

Which minority in Europe is more descriminated against than Muslims? You prevent people from particpating in society don't be surprised if some of those people try to bring down the society. As Second in pie points out, it is a political matter, not religious. Islam does not condone suicide bombings any more than Christianity condones bombing of abortion clinics and the killing of doctors.

This whole thread is a waste of time because I can't think any country that has taken more extreme measures to fight domestic terrorism than the UK. Hell they are even banning public photography over there in the name of fighting terrorism and photographers are constant getting harrasssed. It is a police state over there.

Photographer films his own 'anti-terror' arrest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/21/photographer-films-anti-terror-arrest

Dad Branded A Paedophile Over Pic Of Son
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/M...le_Out_Shopping

Italian student tells of arrest while filming for fun
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/15/i...-arrest-filming

BBC man in terror quiz for photographing St Paul's sunset
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...pauls-sunset.do

Photographer questioned by police under anti-terror laws... for taking 'too many' pictures of town centre Christmas lights
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...error-laws.html

Police stop church photographer under terrorism powers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/08/p...errorism-powers

Photographers protest UK terror law
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/23...test/index.html

Photography under threat: The shooting party’s over
Did you hear the one about the mother banned from taking a snapshot of her baby in the pool? Or the student prevented from photographing Tower Bridge at sunset? Be warned. The authorities now have the power to confiscate your camera — or even arrest you — for daring to take a picture in public

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle7050481.ece
 
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