I read a story on one of y’all’s blogs – I can’t remember which one, sorry. Might’ve been Defective Yeti - about Rob Murrie, a PC from Bedfordshire who gave a prank Secret Santa gift of bacon and wine to one of his Muslim coworkers. Dumb thing to do, in a teenage boy sort of way. Mothers and wives the world over smack their foreheads with their palms and go, “Oh, Lord help me, not another attempt at funny.”
But Arshad Mahmood, the recipient of the gift, considers Murrie a good friend, didn’t think he meant anything malicious by it, and “took in on the chin” (as you do, when your friends give you a hard time about something). He probably was thinking, “You’re a jackass,” but apparently didn’t voice that thought.
What he also did not do was complain. To anyone. Nor did the Muslim community. The local mosque seems to have had the idea that Murrie did a dumb thing, and we should all get over it. Bravo Mahmood and the local mosque.
But someone else complained, and Murrie was forced to resign due to the ensuing political and media pressure. This man’s life has been derailed, because he has an insensitive sense of humor. I find this ridiculous.
Then this morning I find this story. A reporter made a stupid remark on the Golf Channel. (Yes, the Golf Channel. This is what we’ve been reduced to.)
“But then, on Jan. 4, during the Golf Channel’s important telecast of, well, something or other, announcer Kelly Tilghman suggested the best way other golfers could slow down Woods would involve a back-alley lynching.”
And the tens of people watching from around the country cringe, think something along the lines of, “That was a stupid thing to say,” and go on with their lives. (It’s not like, with George W. at our helm, we’re not used to this.)
Tilghman apologized, Tiger shrugged and said, ‘No biggie,’ and the story ends there, right? Of course not. Because of course Tilghman had to be suspended anyway. I mean, this is America! We can’t have that kind of free speech around here!
But wait, there’s more…
The intrepid editor for GolfWeek Magazine (Golfweek? Really? I mean, really?) runs a cover with a noose. He is, of course, immediately fired.
This is out of control, folks. Don Imus is a prick, no question. He’s also a shock-jock. That’s his job (well, it was his job). So why did we fire him for being shocking?
George Allen uses the word ‘mecaca,’ not having a clue what it means (that part was stupid, too), and loses an election for it.
The examples are endless.
The longer this PC stuff goes on, the more tiresome I find it. Look, not everything is racist. My kids are a serious minority in their schools, their friends and mine are racially mixed, and none of us find this discomfiting. Occasionally, we even *gasp* rib each other about it. I don’t blink when a friend says to me, “Must be a white thing” when I say something goofy, or informs me that I won’t understand something because “It’s a black thing.” I mean, seriously, my kid’s favorite song is “White and Nerdy.” Tell me that’s not derogatory. And funny. And good natured. Who should I complain to? Who can I fire? My kids are going to be traumatized by the fact that they’re white! And nerdy! Call the ACLU, somebody, quick!
People in society stick their feet in their mouths sometimes. I think we all need to put on our big kid pants and move on. Impacting people’s lives and livelihoods because they say some bonehead thing or other is ridiculous and unconstitutional.
