Political Correctness Gone Mad!

Last week I drove to a college in East Lancashire for a short three hour course. It was a fully recognised course under the control of Lancashire County Council. The participants in the course were all professional people, either professional trainers or professionals who spend a reasonable proportion of their lives training. The kind of people who know how to behave in company in other words.

My sister is a teacher and I have known many teachers over the years, the biggest complaint from all is the level of bureaucracy that now swamps the profession.Secondly, the level of political correctness, although fewer have a problem with that than with bureaucracy in my experience. Until last week I had no idea quite how bad it was.

The session started at 9-30 with the usual announcements about lavvies and fire escapes. We then had a lecture about health and safety and how seriousy they took our safety within this building, and so on. We then moved onto the diversity policy. Then the equality stuff. Then the anti-bullying stuff and then more specific stuff before moving onto the general 'we must respect each other' stuff. All this done by a tutor who had the most patronising gentle tones I have heard since Watch With Mother was on telly when I was about 5. By this time it was 10-15 and steam was issuing from my nostrils.

As if that wasn't bad enough she then cooed that we were about to participate in drawing up our own 'ground rules' so that as a group we could all agree on how we should behave on this course. Up went the flipchart and out came her marker pens. That was it, I could take no more. Up went my hand followed by an 'excuse me' as I gathered my things and started to stand.'Ms' asked if I was unwell and I replied, surprisingly calmly and politely, that I was fine but felt that 1/3 of our time spent on these matters was excessive and, in my view, highly patronising. I then departed to do more useful things.

The experience was extremely disturbing. OK I wasn't beaten about the head or verbally assaulted, but it was extremely patronising and proved to me how corrupted the state has made the education system. It is not about learning or discovering a given subject any more, it is about social and political brainwashing first and foremost. It is about controlling our actions by controlling our thoughts.

I think I'm an extremely tolerant person, I genuinely do not care what colour peoples' skin is, what religion they are or where they were born. There are aspects of all cultures that I dislike, including the English culture, and I will never respect what I dislike, but I will tolerate it if it doesn't actually harm me, my family or friends. I would prefer us to argue with a real fascist and beat him than merely ban him. That to me is the sign of a true democracy.

This overwheening politically correct obsession with race, equality and diversity I neither respect nor am prepared to tolerate any longer, hence my one-man walkout. I have said it before, and probably will again, that it is political correctness that drives a wedge between people from diferent cultures and races. It constantly highlights differences between people thereby creating unhealthy obsessions about perceived differences, from different perspectives, for both the far-right and far-left, traps into which many decent people fall on both sides. If we are just left to get on with things I am sure the vast majority of people would just get along with each other.

The one thing I did forget when I decided I had had enough and walked out was the woman sat at the back of the class taking notes. I would love to see how the OFSTED observer wrote that one up!