I did my usual thing this morning, read the (online) Gulf News & then browsed through the blogs. In Secret Dubai's* entry today, there is an 'attack' from an anonymous commenter, because SD used the term 'Colombian drug baron'. Hmmm.....Colombia.....drugs......coffee.....kidnapping to fund drug running......coffee........er.......Colombia is hardly a throbbing metropolis for yer average 2.4 family holiday is it? Of course there are connotations that will relate to the country because of its drugs.....it has a reputation for such things if I'm not mistaken?
On Underground Dubai's* blog today, there is an entry, with a specific warning about it's content & that it might offend those who are racially sensitive. The entry is merely the ever added to 'How Many People Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?' joke.

Where, oh where will this hyper sensitivity to racism end? I was born in England (we all have our cross to bear), in Kent, which is referred to as the 'Garden of England'. In other words, I'm from the 'south'. Hubs is from the 'north'. Our birth places don't make us a Southern Slapper or a Northern Git......we are what we are. North & South in the UK don't normally mix - there's a stigma about it which is no doubt centuries old. It hardly makes us racist though, when we take the piss out of our respective counties.

I grew up in South Africa, where racism was the norm. Despite it being the Rainbow Nation of today, there's still a shit load of racism, but it's of a different kind. There is tribal racism. There is colour racism. There is cultural racism. Reverse Apartheid hasn't worked & in my opinion will never work, and I feel it's gonna take a few more generations for the dust to settle & people to accept that they are whatever colour they are & also what ethnicity they are.
One thing we do have in South Africa - something that much of the World sadly lacks - is the ability to laugh & take the piss out of ourselves. We have a violent history & much tragedy, but by Christ, we can still have a good laugh, not only at each other, but with each other.

The American comedian Dave Chappelle pokes fun at 'niggers' (shock horror - the dreaded N word!), Barry Hilton, a very well known South African comedian pokes fun at anyone, but is classic for his imitating S. African Lebanese people. British comedians seem to be too kak scared nowadays, for fear of offending anyone, but it is terribly fashionable if you're gay & funny.

Political correctness & the over-sensitivity or fear of saying the 'wrong' thing really has gone far enough. If we were all the same, as in the same colour, same religion, same nationality, same sexual orientation, then the world really would be a bloody boring place. To those who take offense at unintentional generalisations, my message is simple: Get back in your box & lead your miserable existence. You don't know what you're missing.

*I haven't found out how to do the link in my text thingy yet.....I wonder if that's because I'm a Dumb Blonde.............oooops.........hang on, I might just offend myself...........