This past Christmas season convinced me that the world is a lot stranger than even I could imagine. And I can dream up some pretty weird stuff! One joke that was circulating the web, for me, summed it all up; short version, a girl runs to her mother saying, "Mommy! Santa called me a 'ho'! Three times!". And so, in countries all over the world, Santa's in stores and shopping malls were ordered to say "Ha!Ha!Ha!" instead of the traditional "Ho!Ho!Ho!". This is appropriate since the entire notion that "Ho!Ho!Ho!" is offensive is a joke. Add to that the fact that people got it into their heads that saying "Merry Christmas" was politicaly incorrect and might be offensive to many people. Instead, "Season's Greetings" became ye ole standard wish. What's next? Will "Happy Birthday" be replaced with "Happy Significant Moment of Life", you know, just so we don't offend older people.
This is all getting very silly. So silly, in fact, that it almost becomes frightening. Who came up with this whole politicaly correct nonsense anyway? Is it all part of the whole "kinder, gentler" way of thinking? Concern about offending others is all well and good. No one should feel left out or picked on. Imagine if this rule had to apply to every single thing we do in a day. Already, many have chosen to car pool to work with a bunch of strangers. Will Mr. Gupta from accounting and Mrs. N'Guyen from secretarial be offended if you got those donuts decorated with Christmas topings? When you see the FedEx guy, will wishing him a Merry Christmas get you in trouble? And what exactly is the office's "Holiday Celebration"? What ever happened to the yearly office Christmas party? And a "no gift" rule in case someone is offended by someone else's generosity? What kind of card do you give to your sanitation engineer? It's enough to drive us all crazy!
At least the upcoming New Year's celebrations will be free of potential offensiveness. Or will it?
In 2007, there have been wars pretty much everywhere in the world, natural disasters like none we've ever seen, and weather like something from a science-fiction movie. Thanks to a scandal-obsessed press, we know more about Paris, Britney, and Nicole than we do about our own families. Canada's own rep was badly tarnished because the RCMP zapped a whole bunch of folk to death with tazzers. I guess they would have gotten less press if they had just shot people. Politicians have shown us that public opinion polls are worthless and, with that, so are our opinions.
What will the next year hold for us? Damned if I know. Like Doctor Who (above) rose tinted glasses will be useless. Like him, I'll be wearing cheesy 3D glasses in the hope that if 2008 is just as ridiculous as last year, I'll at least look just as ridiculous myself. Well, if you can't beat them, join them!
Wishing everyone a New Year filled with Peace, Happiness, Love, Health, and Prosperity. And Hope, too, that we don't make fools of us all.
Cheers!
2 comments:
Well, there is a problem I see here. I am no bigot but I cannot help but wonder. If people come to Quebec for example, I would assume that they sort of do a check on our history, culture, etc. Here where the population is predominantly Roman Catholic (although non-practicing),we accept their beliefs and they can worship whoever...
Try, as a Christian, to go to Saudi Arabia and carry a Bible with you on the street and see what happens. If you don't know, do a google search for christian saudi arabia.
If we could only focus on what we have IN COMMON instead of our differences, maybe political correctness and tolerance would not be as big an issue...
Just my 2 cents...
You're right. One of my cousins went to Saudi Arabia with a friend a few years ago. This friend was wearing a rather large crucifix. They were getting some ugly looks but couldn't figure out why. Finally, two cops stopped them and told the friend, rather gruffly, to put away his cross or risked being arrested. Neddless to say, he put across away. That incident put a damper on their trip.
Here, we give everyone the freedom to practice whatever religion they want, wear/carry whatever religious "bling" they want. That is an embodiment of the rights and freedoms we beleive in. Still ...
Folk who have just arrived here from a place where their thoughts and beliefs were surpressed tend to take advantage of all the freedoms given to them. That seems normal. Some of them, however, seem to go a little too far. That's why the commission on reasonable accomodation for immigrants is touring the province of Quebec.
I agree that focusing on what we all in common is very important. Still, these new Canadians were given the freedom to practice their religious beliefs and express their thoughts. The fact that they don't recognize our freedom to express our thoughts and beliefs may be because no one taught them how to.
For long years of casual observation, I believe that those who are so-called "politically correct" operate from a vague, unspecified guilt. In order to "accomodate" new arrivals to this country, we downplay our own rights and freedoms. That's all well and good but this forces us into a position of inferiority and is ultimately the source of a great deal of frustration for us. As I said in a letter to MacLean's magazine, new Canadians say some pretty nasty things about us, too. Over the years, it's easy to pick up enough words of a foreign tounge to get some idea of what their saying - especially cuss words.
I'm one who sarcastically thinks that a commission is a creature with many legs but only one head. However, I have hope for the commission on reasonable accomodation. Whenever I can, I watch their televised hearings on a community channel, and so far they seem to be doing right. We have a saying in French: "Pousse mais pousse egal". If we make accomodations for newly arrived people, so must they respect our own freedoms. After all, with any freedom comes a great deal of responsibility. Being aware of that is one step towards greater understanding.
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