PC Problems

Is it just me, or has the world gone mad? Everyone seems to be on a witch-hunt.

First this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/06/jeremy-clarkson-gordon-brown

Then this

Gwyneth Paltrow's interview in Elle was picked up
across the media. The Sun focused on how great
she looked and ended with her comments on
her appearance on Jonathan Ross's TV show,
when he got rather saucy with her. The
paper put it this way, "Asked if she found Jonathan’s
comments offensive or hilarious, the star joked:
“Hilarious to me. Very offensive to my father-in-law.”
All very low-key. The Daily Mail, however, put a
slightly different spin on it with this huge
headline, "Gwyneth Paltrow reveals her family's
anger at Jonathan Ross claiming she was 'gagging
for it' in smutty chat show interview."

(Courtesy of popbitch.com)


Wossy, Brand and now Clarkson. OK - 3 of probably the most un-PC presenters on TV/Radio right now, but also amongst the funniest.

The thing is, since when did we get so uppity about what, technically, is human nature?

I was bullied at school for being the tall skinny one (sadly not anymore, skinny, not tall, of course), and people will always say, yeah the tall one with streaky hair. But ......... that's what I am! The Northern bird, the one who sometimes wears glasses, the one who bites her fingers all the time, the one who wears a hat when she couldn't be bothered to wash her hair, the one with a weird birthmark on her leg, the one with the big tattoo on her back - they are all true (though some nicer descriptions than others)!

I work with 2 black girls. If I have to get someone to give something to one of them, should I not say, oh the tall black girl? Am I being racist? Or the amount of people we have who are not (gasp, in this multicultural society of ours) from the UK .. should I not say, give this to x, she's the South African one, or the y, the dark haired Aussie one.

It's a natural human thing to comment or judge people on the way they look or where they are from. We may not 'like' it but it's F.A.C.T. It's like telling a dog to stop licking his arse because it might be dirty. He can't. It's just the way it is.

I don't want to offend anyone, but I am just getting a bit pissed off with the whole PC rubbish.

We are not allowed to celebrate Christmas in case it offends people. Who? Muslims? They have their own festivals and I have no problems with that! Jews? They don't care - they have Chanukkah around the same time. We are not allowed to celebrate St George's Day. Why ever not? I am proud of where I come from. OK I can certainly appreciate that we all have faults, but I WAS born here. Everyone makes a big deal out of St Patricks day, Irish or not, so what is so wrong with celebrating my own national day?

If Wossy (the floppy haired lisped up one) and Clarkson (the gobby near to the knuckle, tall Northern one) are going to be our scapegoats, if that is REALLY all we have to worry about, then god help us.

I say celebrate our differences, celebrate wherever we bloody can, 'cause frankly any bloody reason is a good reason - AND if it makes me laugh, then that's something to be glad about!

Fierce - ggggrrrrr

I love Grazia magazine. With a passion. But if I read one more line with - 'this is a fierce accessory' blah blah blah, I am going to go down to their offices, open the door and let in a tiger. Then I will email them and ask them what 'fierce' thing they have in the office right now.

 

GGrrrrrrrr

Birthdays

In this day and age of network sites galore .. just how DO you tell someone Happy Birthday?

I send a card. Fine. Simple.

But then on the day, I send a text. Then I worry, should I be going onto Facebook now, and sending a cyber present and writing something on the wall? Then onto MySpace and leaving a comment? Have I done ENOUGH?

Am I failing as a friend if I just send a card and then perhaps a text on the day?

And then there is the choice of communication problem. I prefer email to keep in touch. You can write a lot, it's (probably you hope) private, you can file it, print it, delete it, forward it etc etc. Lovely.

But then you get the odd friend that suddenly takes to writing on your Facebook wall. Or sending you a private message on MySpace. Or you have part of a conversation on email, only for them to suddenly pop up on Friend Reunited messages ...

Arrrggggghhhh. Too much choice. Stress nowadays all comes from the technology that was invented to make our lives easier. I wouldn't HAVE a job if PC's hadn't been invented - created to make processing tasks easier.

Mind you, you wouldn't be reading this now if Babbage hadn't been a clever clogs would you?? Bet he just sent his friends a card.

Buses

How is it that buses are allowed to make that godawful noise when they put their foot down?? It sounds like an aeroplane jet and is nearly as loud. I thought that all vehicles had to go through some sort of noise monitor check. What happened there then, did they push it through?

If you are on the phone you can't speak or hear and the person on the other end gets deafened and god forbid you are on the road in a car with an open window ...

I can't even describe the noise, that's what makes it even worse! And I have never heard anyone talking about it, or asking how the hell it's allowed. BBC London get on their high horse about all sorts of 'London' issues but never this one.

And don't get me started on the standard of the drivers... they should be reminded that the licence they hold is called a PCV - PASSENGER Carrying Vehicle, the clue's in the name, guys. You get my drift .. (yes across most of the ground floor of the bus as it comes rolling loudly into the bus stop).

Discuss!!

FACT-SIMILE

Has anyone else noticed that nowadays, you don't ACTUALLY pick up a newspaper to read the news. Newspapers and tabloids in particular seem to think that it is OK to sensationalise the facts purely to sell newspapers. It doesn't seem to ACTUALLY matter if it is real fact or not. (all the better if it involved Paris Hilton or Pete Docherty, or the new stick on the block, Amy Whine-House)

 

Take the sad case of missing Madeleine McCann. The pap press have taken great delight in this case, which in itself is disgusting. What is worse, however, is that every day a new headline screams out at us. She's Alive. She's Dead. Like it is a proved statement. How utterly disgusting. How upsetting for her parents and family to read this sensationalist crap every day.

 

They basically hear a snippet of what a bloke who knows a bloke who went out with someone who works on reception at the local Portuguese police station who said .... well, you get my drift.

 

Really, the fact of the matter is, that we DON'T know what has happened. They can't report the news because there isn't any. And even if there was, this is a criminal investigation and there shouldn't BE details in the paper. it could easily jeopardise any further investigations. And woe betide anyone who is suspected of this crime. You have your name in the paper and may we well have GUILTY tattooed on your forehead with newsprint. It will never come off.

 

It seems in the past few years that newspapers don't actually care about their readers. I shouldn't HAVE to buy a broadsheet just to expect that what I happen to read on a discarded tabloid on the tube or in the local caff is actually true, surely? I know any of this stuff should be take with a pinch of salt, and I never believe everything I read, but with such important issues being reported, don't they have some sort of duty not to misinform people?

 

Take the whole 'Princess' Diana fiasco. The press have perpetuated the whole thing, until no-one really knows what is fact and what is wild speculation. Even TV has now got in on the act and creates sensationalist documentaries assuming a lot and reporting nothing. The inquest goes on and on and the papers drag up even more snippets of 'the real story', 'the unspoken truth' and even discover new witnesses, that strangely do not get reported on the news and simply disappear into tomorrow's chip paper.

 

Are not the real criminals in all of these things, the press?

Prius or Pious?

What gets my goat is people preaching the new religion, Global Warming when they haven't really read up THAT much on it, nor investigated the possibility that the planet warms up and cools down naturally and that try as we might, we can't stop it. OK we can investigate ways to SLOW it down more than it would happen anyway, but not driving a car is not going to change that. Places like Brazil and India and China with all their new environmentally unfriendly industry are the biggest culprits. Air travel is a minor percentage of the overall carbon emissions of the world, with cars a mere blip in the stats.

I'm not saying we don't need to be aware of our responsibility for this planet. No way. Recycling and being aware for the amount of shit we throw away without thinking should be second nature. The natural selfishness of the western world is incredible. No-one ACTUALLY gives a stuff about anyone, except themselves.

But get someone on the global topic and by golly, you are a total outcast if you dare to disagree. You are a heathen. They would probably burn you at the stake, except that would cause too much carbon output!

But the Prius brigade! What is REALLY behind it, is that you don't have to pay the congestion charge. That's really it isn't it? And as a new green badge to go along with your Anya Hindmarch Not a Plastic Bag.

Did you give a thought to the fact that this particular vehicle goes through two lots of manufacturing processes due to its dual fuel capabilities? Did you even know that the fuel cell that provides the electric side, is produced in Canada and taken to Japan where the cars are made, only to then be shipped around the world? And how are we going to deal with all these cars when they come to the end of their life? All the fuel cells to recycle, with yet more manufacturing?

And the whole bio-fuel thing? Yeah great in principle, but it has been discovered the output from the exhausts ain't that healthy, PLUS think of all the arable land that will be needed to produce all this stuff. You can guarantee that that will mean yet more forests will be cut down to provide us with it.

In Medieval times it was MUCH hotter than it is now. And the cards we have a Christmas showing people skating on the Thames is because at some point it was THAT cold. There really is not much we can do to stop it.

So call me a heathen, call me a heretic, but I am not being roped into the new religion!!

Parking O2 Finchley Road

This was going to be my first letter. I never got round to it. But how bloody annoying.

I wanted to get something from Habitat, so parked in the car park at the O2 centre - as there is NOWHERE else to park round there now. You take a ticket, you park up.

However, Habitat didn't have the thing I was looking for, so I popped over to Homebase and they didn't have it either.

But then I need to get my parking ticket 'validated' whatever that means. So APPARENTLY, just to park in the O2 carpark will cost me £5.00. FIVE POUNDS, for a 15 minute visit to shops that don't have what I need. I'm no paying that!

So I go to the supermarket to try to get it stamped, but am told I have to spend a minimum of £10 to qualify. I don't ACTUALLY need anything from the supermarket, which is annoying, and to try and spend £10 when you are in a hurry to get to another Habitat that MAY have what you are looking for, is not easy.

BUT .. there's more ...

If I do spend the £10 I STILL have to spend £2.50 to park.I think this is OUTRAGEOUS! I ended up parting with £5, but I tell you what, they won't be getting my business again, that's for sure. That is a bloody liberty.

Penalised for not spending money, but still having to pay if I do!!!