UK Members.........

[Robert Vermaat]

If something becomes PC because someone *thinks* it might be insulting, without consulting the "insulted" group, it's a different matter! You might as well register make The Ministry of Silly Walks official! (ok, that came out of thin air. I just want to point out how the whole PC thing, which I believe initially started with good intentions, has become ... silly!)

Silly indeed!
the sad thing is that both the group that complains about having to make allowances, as well as the group that initiates PC behaviour make the same mistake - neither communicate with the people who live in their towns and streets and asks them who they are, what they really think or what they do or don't want. Most of the growing tensions are based on ignorance and a lacking desire to change that. People read only headlines and are willing to chant factual nonsense are they're content doing that.

It comes down to how much a society is willing to accept and tolerate other cultures, and how far that other culture is willing to adopt to their new country. It goes both ways. Personally I love learning about people and other cultures. How boring the world would be if everyone was alike!

The sad thing is that it indeed goes both ways. The more one group shouts angry one-liners at another group, the more that group becomes entrenched. I absolutely hate the extreme behaviour (often voiced in religious overtones) of 'foreign' countrymen, but I also realise that the more extreme a voice sounds, the smaller the group actually is. Yet at the same time, too many are willing to take the extreme voice as typical for the whole group, which leads to unfounded claims on a grand scale.

What worries me these days is how awfully uninformed even well-educated collegues are (I work for the local council) and how that reflects the general mood here. It will undoubtedlly lead to a polarising in which the masses of well-integrated, tolerant, liberal members of those 'foreign cultures' will be forced to choose between totally letting go of their religion and culture, or go over to the extremists. That will not be a happy time here.