POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

We live in a country which over recent times has seen huge upheavals, I don't necessarily think it is all bad but I do think within our new enlightened age we need to start questioning whether so much of what is happening is good. So where do I start, Great Britain over the years has been a country which has always stood for liberty, freedom of belief, speech and thought, but I now believe that is no longer true. I believe and will continue to believe in freedom and democracy and this includes speaking out on issues which are sometimes unsavoury, I have quoted this before but I am going to use this quote again " I may disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it" and I believe this is the essence of democracy and freedom.

Let me ask you a question; what would you do if someone disagreed with your point of view? Would you:
A. Sit down and discuss what they are saying, agreeing to disagree?
B. Get up and walk out and never talk to them again?
C. Contact the police and complain about what they are saying and have them arrested, or at least investigated?

Hopefully it won't be C, but unfortunately this situation is now here, we now live in a society in which real freedom to say what you want is gone. Over recent years we have had the odd case where people have been investigated for what they said. One such case was a lady who was investigated by the police for disagreeing with homosexual adoption, she was on a panel on Radio 5 discussing this issue and a member of the public made a complaint and she had a visit from the police. Now you could ask, did they arrest her and charge her? The answer to that would be no, so you could then say what is there to worry about then? I would say there is a lot to worry about, this I believe is a dangerous precedent when someone can be investigated for what they believe. Surely we should all be concerned about the next step, what if we were investigated for an innocuous comment? Does this not remind you of a time not that long ago in certain countries in Eastern Europe where people disappeared after making an innocent comment?

Ask yourself, this question, what can you say and what can you not say at work? I work for the fire service and like any government organisation we have equality and diversity officers who are there to make sure everyone tows the party line, this is hidden under the guise of anti-discrimination. Again lets go back just over 20 years to Soviet Russia, in every organisation there was a public servant employed called a 'Political Officer', the job of this political officer was to make sure everyone towed the party line, if anyone said anything outside of that they would at the very least be investigated. Sound familiar?

Over the years the government has introduced more and more anti-discrimination legislation and now we have the 'Equality Bill', this is probably the most dangerous piece of legislation ever produced. This Bill will enable anyone to label almost anything as offensive especially if it goes against the politically correct doctrine this government has created. As a Christian this legislation could have a huge affect on my ability to state what I believe as a Christian. (Just a little aside, the Equality Bill will add costs of £310 million to business. This is because, when businesses tender for government contracts they will be forced to have an Equality Audit to check whether or not they have the right diverse mix of employees. If for instance a company does not have enough women employees or ethnic minorities they will not get the contract) The government will defend this by saying they are making this society more and more tolerant, and we now live in a more tolerant society because of this legislation. Do you really think that is true? Just ask yourself this question; does one piece of anti-discrimination legislation supersede another piece of anti-discrimination legislation? A Christian says they will not officiate at a homosexual civil ceremony because their Christian beliefs disagree with it, surely they have the right to disagree and if they don't have a right to disagree surely this makes a mockery of anti-discrimination legislation?

This is a massive subject but I believe it is a very important subject and we need people who are going to stand up to the onward march of political correctness. We could all continue living our nice comfortable lives, but what if that changed. Imagine going to church and not being able to talk about your beliefs for fear of arrest. You may say that will never happen, but don't be too sure about that. Imagine being at work and having a private conversation and someone overhearing it and making a complaint and then getting the sack, I am afraid this is already happening.

We all know what extremism is, the Nazis are a good example of that. What if someone said your views, which are perfectly legitimate and reasonable, are extreme just because you disagree with them, and then they made a complaint about you, wouldn't that concern you? If you believe marriage should be defined as being between a man and a woman only, you risk being criminalised because some will say it is offensive. We live in a society which needs to question certain issues, you may question the politics of race but that does not mean you are racist. You may question certain issues to do with equality but that does not mean you don't believe people should be treated equally. You may believe that western civilisation, capitalism and its ability to create wealth and culture, while promoting freedom, equality and democracy is the best society that has ever been created but that does not make you an Islamaphobe.

There are now towns in our country in which Sharia Law is allowed to be practised, ironically this religious belief system is probably one of the most intolerant parts of any religion anywhere in the world. I believe the agenda of political correctness and anti-disrimination law has nothing to do with equality but about enforcing a particular view point. We are now living in a topsy-turvy world in which discrimination is allowed in the form of 'positive discrimination', this is when those who are seen as under represented are given priority over other groups (usually white men). We are now seeing the myth propagated that women are paid less than men, this is no longer true! We are being told that women are still not making it into top positions, but maybe that is a career choice and has absolutely nothing to do with discrimination. Let us take a step back and start to replace the political correct way of thinking. We need tolerance, we need equality, we need freedom and we need to emphasise 'factual correctness' and not 'political correctness' or we will see the destruction of our society and all that is good about it.