There comes a time in everyone’s life where you have to take a step back and re-introduce a sense of focus, normality, or even just simple common sense.
We all go through times where something gets a little beyond what it should have.
Maybe it’s a bit more spending than can be afforded.
Eating a bit too much rubbish or chocolate etc.
Even for some, drinking, smoking and all the other bad stuff that is awful when done in excess.
But then there’s the situation that most of us see, and most do very little about.
The madness of political correctness.
I use this term very loosely, as I’m not really talking about common politics. I’m talking in general about the way society has changed and the way in which it is now believed that everyone has the same rights, and that some things that have been the way they are for decades (even millennia) should suddenly be changed to avoid hurting the feelings of one person.
What has spurred me to write this?
I heard in the past 24 hours of someone (I’m not mentioning names etc) stating that we need to change parenting, so that a baby/toddler is consulted before their nappy is changed.
Yes, I am quite serious here!
Apparently, we need to “ask their permission if it is ok to change their nappy”!
Have I boiled your blood yet?
Because I haven’t finished.
I will come back to this point in more detail, but to continue with other madness situations…
I also recently learned, and have subsequently seen the change on the shelves, that “Uncle Ben’s” rice, has now had to change to “Ben’s” rice.
Why? Because it genderises the product too much!
Oh, dear lord…
I should state here that I’m in no way against new genders, none genders etc.
BUT…
Just because there is a change in society around things like this, does NOT mean the whole world has to change to avoid upsetting someone. If someone is upset that a food product such as rice, is called “UNCLE”, I’m pretty sure that person should seek advice and help in a way I am not qualified to provide. It's rice. It's a brand. Has been for years.
There should be absolutely nothing wrong about “Uncle”.
If there is, this means that before long, we won’t have “Father’s Day”, “Mother’s Day” or any of these very normal things that life is all about.
You cannot change one and leave all the others without very good reasoning. And there is no good reason to get rid of the word “Uncle”. Or Aunt. Or any other gender specific title. Because the fact of the matter is, the majority of the world is and always will be a gender. It’s normal life.
I know people who have changed gender, and I think I’m not wrong in saying they seriously don’t have an issue with Uncle Bens rice. Their brains still work in a sensible way. So, why do corporates and governments think they should act on such things?
Should we also mention here that the beloved Mr Potato head toy has now had a name change too? It’s now “Potato Head”…
I’ll leave that one with you...
Let’s get back to the nappy thing.
This seriously is the last thing I can sit back and read about without at least airing my thoughts, which pretty much will be the thoughts of (almost) everyone who ever reads this.
Asking a very young child if it’s “OK” to change their nappy is frustratingly beyond insanity.
Firstly, a child of nappy age simply doesn’t have the mentality or mindset to make that decision. They’ve quite literally shat their pants.
It needs changing. So bloody change it.
Even though a child is not of the mindset to be able to challenge this for any good reason, a grown adult should NEVER have to question whether they should change a nappy.
The sicko’s out there that do wrong things with anyone, let alone children are very few and far between in the grand scheme of things. So, it makes no sense at all that the rest of the world should change what has been happening since humans existed.
Ok…we didn’t have Pampers back then, but they used leaves. Or something.
I think…
A massive issue here is if you take it back a while and look at the difference in society between now, and when there was a little more “order” in the world.
Over the past few decades, we have become too scared to tell someone off. Quite literally!
We have taken away teachers’ ability to make a child realise they are not the authority within schools. And we have taken away parents’ general ability to punish children for wrongdoing.
Before you all jump on me here, I am not talking about hitting kids. I didn’t get hit as a child, but I very much knew my place and what was right and wrong. Simply because my parents were firm. (While still being loving parents)
These days, parents are scared of telling their kids off properly because they have “rights”.
And teachers have no hope. Any slightly strict form of wording and they’re hauled over the coals for not allowing the child their human rights…
This has subsequently led to large groups of society allowing children to grow up (or not as the case may be) with the attitude of “I’m me, I’ll do what I want and I don’t care of how it affects others”…
And then we get bullying, violence, hatred, racism and all the other bad things that have stopped our kids going out to play all day without a care in the world.
Remember when we could do that? No phones, doors open, off you go kids. Be back in time for dinner.
My little bit of writing here will not change these things. But isn’t it high time we did something about the madness of being politically correct? Hell, we’re not even allowed to celebrate being British or English these days without some group or another telling us it’s not right.
In our own country!
The simple facts are this.
We need to stop worrying about everything. Just because someone decides (and they’re quite rightly able to do so) that they don’t want to conform to a gender or sexuality, does not mean they will be offended by a packet of rice on the shelves in Tesco.
*Other supermarkets are available.
See what I did there…I had to state that, so I didn’t offend a business or two…
I mentioned in some of my previous writing, about the fact we have to state stupidities such as “this is a dramatisation” on an advert for denture glue because there was a video of someone stood inside a mouth!
If people are going to complain about these things, they’re going to complain about anything. We shouldn’t have to completely change institutional elements to satisfy the odd few who have too much time on their hands. We need to stand up to sense basically. And we seriously need to take a step back and think about what things in life really matter and what things are a complete waste of time to be worrying about.
I for one, will never believe it’s necessary to ask a child if they are going to allow me to change their nappy. The day I become a grandparent (Hopefully a LONG way down the line), I will treat that child the same as I did my own son. With respect. But with adult sense and focus to make sure they grow up healthy and hopefully, respectfully.
And if my boy doesn’t want kids. So be it. I’ll be gutted. But it’s his life and he’ll be old enough to make that decision sensibly.
I do worry that I’m getting grumpy in my mid years. But…Am I? Or am I just seeing far too much idiocy now?
Am I still allowed my “freedom of speech”, or is that now a thing of the past?
How you feel about this is up to you. But in general, I think I might move to another country and hide near a quiet beach to avoid the madness.
And the zombies when they arrive…
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