Is this racist?

Of course not, but I bet that the usual suspects will claim that it is.

What this demonstrates is that Britain is being racialised by the very people who claim to be doing the opposite through "positive" discrimination. Because these non-white groups are being recognised and given powers because of their 'race', it makes 'white' people - who don't have the same sort of racial grouping, certainly in this country, feel weak since 'whites' don't have any power inherent in our race, just that which we have as individuals.

Any sort of attempt to grant power to groups based on race, gender, sexuality, religion etc. just backfire in the end, as instead of making the members of those groups equal, it does precisely the opposite - and that causes resentment.

Politically correct stupidity.

The BBC bleeped the word "faggot" in the Christmas song Fairytale of New York because they feared that it might offend some gay viewers. The offending passage goes:

This obviously and deservedly produced a hell of a lot of criticism from listeners and DJs alike, and the BBC has since backtracked from their absurd position. It's hardly as if the word "faggot" was used as an attack on gay people in this context, or as if the BBC has not played some far more offensive lyrics masquerading as "music".

The BBC have at least reversed this decision. But it is far more worrying to me that it could even be considered offensive, and thus worthy of being bleeped out. Political correctness gone stark raving bonkers!

It does fill me with some sense of hope for the future of society, however, quite how roundly they have been criticised for doing it. Long may this attack of common sense continue.

Sayeeda Warsi is accused of "pandering to racists" when she said:

What she says is perfectly reasonable. We shouldn't just write off those who are voting for the BNP, and they do have some legitimate concerns. That is the reason that they vote for the BNP - because they have concerns which are not being addressed by any of the major parties.

That Sayeeda Warsi is willing to engage with them is a good thing, not a bad thing, and fits in perfectly with her position as Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion. She is quite obviously trying to bridge the gap between those who feel ignored by the main parties and thus vote for a racist party like the BNP instead. People don' vote for the BNP because they're racist, but because they have concerns that are not being addressed by any other party because of 'political correctness'.

The Conservatives - and all major political parties - must address the prime reason why people vote for the BNP - and that is because they feel ignored. They have some legitimate concerns about crime, justice, and immigration which the main parties aren't addressing and thus they feel ignored. If we listen to the voters - the vast majority of whom aren't racists - then we can convince them that the BNP are not the party who can deal with the problems they are concerned with, but just a bunch of racists and bigots.

Ignoring them just because they have the stigma of the label "BNP voter" attached to them is not an option in a democracy. They are still part of the electorate. Just ignoring them is what caused the problem in the first place. If we listen to, and engage with, them then they will no longer feel any need to go and vote for the BNP - and they will thus wither and die as they should. But if we continue to ignore their concerns, the BNP will just gain more support. We must act now to stop it - and this is the only way.

UPDATE: Devil's Kitchen agrees with me, and Norfolk Blogger doesn't.

Image: Sayeeda Warsi
Source: The Independent

WTF?

As far as I am aware, the vast majority of people in Britain are still white. Hence, to have a character that was not white would be the far worse scenario. Ethnic minorities should of course be encouraged to join the police force, but if they felt "isolated" by the use of a white mascot, I'm not convinced that they are the sort of people we want in our police force.

To have had 'Steve' as an Asian or black man or woman would have been the far worse scenario. It would have been caving into the PC fascists. Britain is still vastly white, and so for the police to have a white mascot is simply representative. What I expect they'll end up doing now is introducing an ethnic woman partner for Steve, which I don't really object to. But what i do object to is Metropolitan Police sergeants saying that Asian and woman officers could feel "isolated" by him. What utter bollocks.

Sources: The Telegraph, Mail on Sunday