Forbidden Words

I saw a list of words and phrases which will no longer be allowed for use by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Association (originally thought that CNN was referring to U.S. government workers). At first, I thought it was a joke but apparently it's true. What's frightening about this is that a small group of influential people in the population can make a decision like this and it will definitely influence public opinion until we all think alike. We should all be wary of the power of outside influences.

"Blacklist" and "black mark" are forbidden. I'm assuming that this is because they somehow denigrate the black population but has anyone ever associated these words with a skin color? Not me.

A phrase which has been deemed unsuitable is "whiter than white". Again I'm assuming that this somehow is supposed to insult a skin color but I'm not sure which one. Personally, I associate this phrase with getting my white clothes as clean as possible.

Bureaucrats love to play with our minds and they've really done it this time. You should be very careful when forbidding words or even books because you are, in essence, toying with our freedom of speech. It's a way of attempting to control the masses and the sad thing is that it works.

I remember when dark skinned people were referred to as negroes but then that became unsuitable and we were told to refer to them as "blacks". That was okay for a while and then we were told that the socially acceptable phrase had become "African Americans". That's where I dug in my heels and decided that "black" was perfectly okay since my race was referred to as "white" and I'd never been offended by that. So, until every person on earth is referred to by their distant ethnic affiliation, I will remain a white lady (actually a pale, freckled lady) and not be called an "Irish/English/? Canadian". I like to joke that I'm a mongrel and I find no shame in that. We are what we are.

We already know that skin color is of no importance so why do bureaucrats think that by eliminating common words from our speech we'll be less race conscious? I'm aware that the person I'm speaking to is pale and freckled or has a nice tan but so what? I'm also aware if they're male or female and if they're young or old. There are physical differences in everyone that we take notice of but that isn't a terrible thing.

My favorite comedian, Russell Peters, said that one day everyone will be beige and I thought that was probably true and pretty funny at first. Then I thought about how boring that would be. It would probably make the bureaucrats very happy to see everyone looking like little mirror images of one another, speaking the same politically correct language, and marching around like robots but what kind of world would that be? Heaven forbid the day when someone gets the idea that we should all be the same sex!

I say we should not allow the bureaucrats or the bleeding heart liberals to destroy our diversity. They have no right to erase our individuality unless we give it to them and I'm digging in my heels.