November
24th
Martina, UK
hello Sir I am writing to you personally and like yourself I have been very concerned about the increase in PC correctness around me especially from the younger generation in businesses such as government, BBC and schools.
I have had numerous debates with people asking them "where are the guidelines or the rule book where it says I shouldn't say that word or this word."
None of them could answer that question. I have observed that people are very concerned and frightened of being immediately thought of as a racist , even when they have not made a racist remark, but they might have made a "slightly offensive" (in pc correct terms) pc remark. One being I think there are too many immigrants in this country" or I want to be able to wear my St Christopher to school or at my job.
One of The above remarks was made by a grandmother from the north of england 3 years ago and she was labelled in the newspapers as a racist. Until Nigel Farage from UKIP started openly talking about immigration everybody was frightened to talk about it incase they were labelled in a bad way. Because of ten percent voters agreeing with Nigel there has been a better arena for these discussions on immigration at present.
What I have observed over the years that normal people with a brain in their heads that was developed before the brainwashing of pc correctness are seething with anger and dismay at the way things are going in the uk. I was quite upset to see that the disease has got everywhere also.
I have seen people not get job because they were not gay, black or disabled and yet they were perfect for the job, I ask who is being racist? Its a reverse racism to the white population. I am consistently seeing young british people not even get part time jobs in coffeeshops (chains like Costa) or PizzaExpress. They have had a policy of employing young non british part time workers for years.
I have also noticed that those who like to preach pc correctness are often people who have chips on their shoulders and by preaching pc correctness they feel they are more important than us "uneducated idiots!". I personally have suffered from an asian woman who has married into the family who has called us all racists over the years for just saying words like poppodum. This woman also worked at the BBC.
Surely the crime of saying poppodum is not as terrible as stopping her husband from talking to his family and calling us racists for no reason is worse? However, she feels justified under her PC correctness rulebook. We were always being lectured by her "You shouldn't say that!" It became a mantra from her before she manipulated her husband not to talk to his family anymore. Her husband became so brainwashed that he called people from his home town "whiter than white posh bastards" with hatred in his voice.
This is when I saw the dangers of how people can get power over others by brainwashing them through the grey and cloudy smokescreen of pc correctness. Middleclass people are so nervous to be offensive that they apologise even when they are not wrong, they have been brought up to be polite and thoughtful.
Using these virtues against them is how I have sen PC correctness get a hold on our society. Its a shield for certain manipulative types in all areas of society to control us and herd us like sheep to some communistic/dictatorship type of society.
About 12 years ago I felt this wave of communistic thinking and was very concerned as my german grandmother had told me stories about Hamburg pre 1940 and how normal german people were frightened to talk to the jewish people.
I have felt we are being manipulated from all areas of our life into a very undemocratic society. People are slowly feeling it and they know something is very wrong on an unconscious level but its quite fightening for them to "wakeup" as this means taking responsibility and doing something about it. We have had marches here in London 3 weeks ago from young people being fed up over the way society is "enslaving" them.
People want to believe that those who make society decisions are doing it for their best interests, but more and more people are discontented , especially the young here who have suffered after the crash in 2008. There was also a bit of anger whipped up by the press towards the baby boomers here because they had it easier, jobs for life, cheap housing, pensions etc.
When you take a step back from the whole thing and look back to life 20 years ago, one can see how quickly life has changed for the worse. More cameras, more surveillance, more taxes, less permanent jobs, more zero hour contracts, higher education fees for universities, higher housing costs, more chemicals in food, gm food, more immigration, more vaccinations, harder to get school places, longer queues at the doctors, no treatment for serious illnesses until the very last minute, charters for this on websites but all bull and no action, more spin, more box ticking, more and more lies etc etc
We are certainly not living in a better age and our children are suffering as its so hard for them to attain the same standard that we had in the way of having a house and family and a secure job, hence the term "Bank of mum and dad" which has helped a lot of kids with deposits for housing etc before they die and the inheritance tax comes in at only 365k per person threshold. (less than an average terrace house in the suburbs)
What will happen when that last fragile financial help runs out? Who will help financially the children being born now? Or will the grandchildren be herded along with no choices left anymore.?
I have felt for 12 years that society as we knew it (In the 1970s and 1980s) has gone forever and a very dark era has begun. This society is manipulated by business and accountants and not by humanists.
So what can we do??? We have to wake up and take responsibility. However I have noticed that very few People do not feel united so they just look out for themselves and family even if they have woken up to the "corruption" of society.
Thankyou again for your work, I recognise your clear thinking and respect you for your site,.and the origins of PC correctness article was excellent.
All we want is a choice and to have freedom of choice and this is being slowly and deliberately taken from us bit by bit in a very deceitful method of control.
P.S. I thought you'd like this: The A-Z of political correctness
May
30th
Shannon McIntosh
Dear Mr Philip Atkinson I want to first say how much I have enjoyed reading the content of your website. Your views have given me many refreshing moments of insight as to why we as a civilization have lost our way.
I am a young writer with to many years ahead to accept the future of our culture is doomed and as such have begun a blog to encourage conversation and context to how we could reverse our decline. I would be honoured if you could put together a short piece of work that I could post on my blog site. If you accept my request I would of course leave the editing to you with the hope your despair for our situation shines through and motivates my followers.
The little work we have done thus far can be found at http://thechangeseekers.com/
We use Twitter to promote our blog and try to direct posts under #changeseekers
My twitter alias is @reasonedchoice
Thank you for your time and I look forward to a response.
27th
Sandra Pinnel San Jose, California, USA
Impressed Hello Mr. Atkinson, I want to first extend my gratitude for publishing your website "ourcivilisation" on the Internet. By doing so, you are utilizing the Internet in the manner in which it's creators intended: to share information and knowledge. I have learned so much from you - and, sadly; I can identify so many signs of the decline you describe in our society in The United States today.
I was born in 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I have seen many changes occur during my short lifetime so far. One of the most obvious changes I have observed is that there is no longer any sense of "community" that used to exist in most neighborhoods - and I'm sure that you'll agree this change has far-reaching ramifications; none of them good. My recognition of this loss has compelled me to strive to establish cohesiveness in the neighborhoods that I have lived in over the years. And, my success in doing so makes me a true believer that one person can make a difference! For example, I currently reside in a home with friends that is on a piece of property that includes a convalescent home in the front area, and a small 10-unit apartment complex in the rear of the property. Our home is in the center, and I park my car in a small parking lot between the two other places; so that I do encounter folks who work in the convalescent home and people who live in the apartments. I've lived here for about six months, and upon moving here, no one spoke to one another. So, when I encountered someone, instead of just ignoring their presence, I'd take the first step and say a common salutation with a sincere smile, such as, "Good Morning!", etc. All of the people who work in the convalescent home are Vietnamese, and when I first started greeting them, their facial expression was first, one of surprise; then they smiled and said "hello" back. I next progressed to asking "how they were doing today"; or "isn't it a beautiful day we're having?" - and now they all say hello and wave to me first! I have made a difference! Same with the people in the apartments - after seeing them drive through a few times, I took the initiative to start waving as they drove through, and they waved back. Some of them now come outside regularly to visit and talk about cars or local news, that sort of thing. This one youngster recently got his first car, and I could tell he was so proud of it - it's an older used car, but he shines it up. He was backing out the other day as I was walking to my car, and I complimented him on his new car - then as we parted, I said to him, "Now, be careful driving out there; there are some crazy people on the road .." He said, "I will -" I closed with, "Keep your wits about you, cause I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt." I venture to say that judging from the look on his face, no one had ever told him they cared about him (he lives with a mother and a stepfather that we hear arguing a lot). I like to think that what I said made that boy feel better about himself that day.
I thought to write to you today because I just stumbled upon something that is right up your alley - and I was really startled when I encountered it. You are likely aware of this, but I wanted to mention it to you anyway. Someone - I don't know who, has decided it's the right thing to do, to change the "BC" (Before Christ) to "BCE" (Before Common Era)!! And, they've changed the "AD" to "CE" (Common Era)!! I'm providing a link to a few articles about this whole affair - it's outrageous! I am of the belief that you can't go around changing fundamental things like this in language - and I intend to keep using the "BC"/"AD" as a standardized, established time reference. From the dates on these articles I'm giving you the links for, this change is not recent - but I only inadvertently just learned about it. Here are the links:
http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/why_3530.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/magazine/bc-ad-or-bce-ce.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8737038/To-BC-or-BCE.html
I'd like to know your take on this whole affair, Mr. Atkinson - I see it as just one more shining example of the decline in our society. Thank you again for taking the time to exert all the effort to creating and maintaining "ourcivilisation.com." I refer people to it regularly, and many people out here benefit from your information. I figure if we can get enough people to read it and then identify the changes, maybe we can collectively turn it around. I don't ever lose hope!