Gross misconduct

Soapn

vax2002 wrote: »

Unless the victims are WHITE, such as GINGER + BLONDE
The same jokes are "funny" then.
Only self denunciation is acceptable !

or fat, or ugly, or spotty, or or or,,,,,all of those would not result in disciplinary action, but mention something racist and oh boy!!:mad:

People seem to forget we've had multi culturalism forced on us, along with it's numerous problems, but god help anyone daring to say anything about it

marybelle01

I do wonder how we got to a stage were being "politically correct" is a term of insult and denigration, and not what it is - just correct. Nobody needs to be terrified of opening their mouth in any workplace, unless every time they open it they display prejudice and ignorance through discriminatory language and attitudes. Is it really that hard to converse with others without using stereotypes, and the -ism's, or telling jokes at the expense of other groups of people? Or perhaps what is really wrong with our workplaces is that people don't feel they have the freedom or safety to object to such behaviour and therefore only have formal routes to pursue?

We only have one side of the OP's story here, and to be honest, as many have pointed out, even a sympathetic viewing raises questions about why, for example, it was necessary to tell a series of racist jokes to illustrate a point. That seems something of an overkill simply to make a point. And we also have no idea of the content of the jokes - there are jokes, and there are jokes that should not be repeated no matter what the circumstances.

It seems to be a common view, shared by some here, that places which adopt "politically correct" attitudes towards discrimination are joyless environments full of wimps. At my workplace we manage to have plenty of fun, share humour and lighten the load of a very stressful working environment - all without doing so at the expense of others. Why does that seem so difficult?

LunaLady

Soapn wrote: »

or fat, or ugly, or spotty, or or or,,,,,all of those would not result in disciplinary action, but mention something racist and oh boy!!:mad:

People seem to forget we've had multi culturalism forced on us, along with it's numerous problems, but god help anyone daring to say anything about it

I just knew that you would take this kind of attitude!

bargainbetty

Valli wrote: »

@ Op - I have read most of the thread but may have missed some but if the bloke who threatened to bomb Robin Hood airport gets off - therein lies your defence.

'I may not like what you say but I defend your freedom to say it.'

Actually, if you sign a contract to work for a firm that clearly states (as most of them now do) that the company will not tolerate abuse or offensive behaviour relating to race, gender, creed, faith, or sexual orientation, you pretty much don't have the right to make racist jokes at work.

I won't defend anyone's right to make bigoted or racist statements/jokes.

DVardysShadow

marybelle01 wrote: »

I do wonder how we got to a stage were being "politically correct" is a term of insult and denigration, and not what it is - just correct.

Well there is Political Correctness and Petty Political Correctness.

An example of the latter is a friend who went to Uni to study a Social Science - about 20 years ago. The were given guidelines on non sexist non racist no offensive essay writing.

Among the things that were managed by the guidelines was the use of pronouns. So if you made a statement about individuals in general. you had to use the pronoun 'she' - because the pronoun 'he' is [allegedly] sexist, whereas 'she' is not. And that is despite an Act of Parliament which says that 'he' includes 'she' [in legislation generally, I assume] -or so our English teacher told us.

It seems to me that Petty Political Correctness brings the whole idea of Political Correctness into disrepute. And you are right, Politically Correct is a term of denigration, to the point that it damages the underlying values.

marybelle01

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Well there is Political Correctness and Petty Political Correctness.

An example of the latter is a friend who went to Uni to study a Social Science - about 20 years ago. The were given guidelines on non sexist non racist no offensive essay writing.

Among the things that were managed by the guidelines was the use of pronouns. So if you made a statement about individuals in general. you had to use the pronoun 'she' - because the pronoun 'he' is [allegedly] sexist, whereas 'she' is not. And that is despite an Act of Parliament which says that 'he' includes 'she' [in legislation generally, I assume] -or so our English teacher told us.

It seems to me that Petty Political Correctness brings the whole idea of Political Correctness into disrepute. And you are right, Politically Correct is a term of denigration, to the point that it damages the underlying values.

I agree that that is going to a stage too far, but I also don't think it is political correctness either - it is way beyond the law (the "political") or the standards of guidance. TBH, despite what people say, I think the pendulum has quite rightly swung back towards balance and one rarely sees this kind of obsessive behaviour any longer. I notice quite a lot more than most people because I spend so much time out of the country. Sometimes, when trying to deal with something that is endemically discriminatory, people do become obsessed with "getting it right" to the point of lunacy. Remember the early days of feminism? All that bra burning was fine if you happened to have a A cup, but just dratted pointless to those of us more amply endowed! Change isn't easy for societies and doesn't happen overnight. But that also isn't an excuse for not setting standards of expected behaviour. We can't legislate for what people think, but hopefully we can do something to protect others from what people say. Despite what people think we do not have and have never had "freedom of speech", and those who are quickest to defend their right to make racist remarks etc. on this basis, are often quickest to condemn others for exercising the same so-called right.

93123

Fiddlestick wrote: »

So why do you not know how to capitalise the start of your sentences and how to punctuate them at the end with a full stop?

It's a forum, not a court of judgement or an English exam. Leave them alone! There's no plausible reason to criticise their grammar unless it is beyond readable. I suggest you read the forum etiquette rules before you post.

chrissie57

93123 wrote: »

It's a forum, not a court of judgement or an English exam. Leave them alone! There's no plausible reason to criticise their grammar unless it is beyond readable. I suggest you read the forum etiquette rules before you post.

But if you wish to join in a serious discussion, you need to express yourself clearly or your point is lost, quite frankly.

The poster being criticised (a regular poster, btw) showed in his following posts that he is perfectly articulate and familiar with the uses of the English language - so why debase his arguments by making them difficult to read?

I will add that in many other cases of the 'grammar police' I would be in total agreement with you:rotfl:

dandelionclock30

Why hasnt the OP returned and told the forum how he/she has got on?

yvonne13_2

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Why hasnt the OP returned and told the forum how he/she has got on?

This is often the case unfortunatly.