When thoughtfulness goes too far.
“I worry that we are approaching a time when that which is shocking is squeezed out by the Stalinism of political correctness.”
Joe Eszterhas
In today’s society it would appear that we are being positively strangled by what we shouldn’t - and can’t - say or do; stifling health and safety rules take prominence over common sense and political correctness would appear to have such a firm stranglehold over the country that nobody wants to put a single toe out of line in case they tread on someone else’s toes. Now, I’m by no means advocating the disgusting strains of racism, sexism or xenophobia that our country has fought so hard to stamp out over the past century or suggesting that we should let our children play with fire, but wouldn’t it be nice if we loosened up a bit? Many complain, for instance, that the police don’t get enough done on the beat or that our school standards are slipping, but the simple the truth of the matter is that they’re probably buried under mounds of paper-work instead, filling out reams of safety regulation every time they tackle a new case or want their children to do anything other than sit down and write; in short, they’re being strangled by the red tape from our new welfare state.
They’ll all babble on about ‘covering themselves’ when questioned of course and I’m positively sure that insurance and liability will have a rather big and important something to do with it as well, but in a world where suing comes before rationality don’t you think that we have bigger things to be worrying about?
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