Political correctness _ not exactly the four-letter word of the new millennium but not too far away either.
This sweeping malaise is turning us from thinking, feeling people into drones who only think `properly'.
You have to wonder how many public servants in Wellington have as their sole purpose to assess documents and legislation to ensure they properly conform with today's PC claptrap.
I guess in one way or another we are all guilty of adhering to this PC-ness.
One of the funnier things that arrived in my email inbox while I was away over Christmas was the following seasonal greeting but one which the PC police would be very excited about.
It goes: We wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to our friends and family, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone.
So we met with our attorney yesterday and on his advice we wish to say the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.
We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that New Zealand is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal.
It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting.
It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.
This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for the period of the acceptable so-called ``festive season' not exceeding two months from this date of issue, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
P. S. Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.
If you somehow managed to be offended by this message, please send your complaint to the Political Correctness Minister at The Beehive, Wellington.
- I hope all our readers have enjoyed their Christmas-New Year break.
My family and I spent time with our Australian family these holidays on the Gold Coast but I have to admit that the weather was better when we arrived home than when we left Australia.
With cyclone-like conditions heading down the Queensland coast, sunshine and enticing seas were not to be found anywhere along the Gold Coast for several days. It's nice to be home.
EDITOR: Welcome to the weird PC world we now live in
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.