It’s all bonkers
NEXT week I will call for a complete boycott of the upcoming State Election.
I want to offer the Victorians the more acceptable face of anarchy minus the revolutionary pitchforks at the ready.
But what can possibly have brought me to this point in my life where anything including revolution is better than what we have?
Well, basically I think the whole world is completely bonkers and we need to re-establish some traditional values and thoughts.
We need to stop the obsession with minutiae, the unimportant and the trivial. While the www has its benefits and advantages it also encourages, promotes and propagates the white noise of mediocrity of mind and spirit.
This last week was the final straw in underwhelming chatter at the expense of a reasoned discussion of the important.
This next paragraph specifically is aimed at the womxn of Geelong. The what, you are probably thinking. Yup, all you womxn. Two organisations in the UK last week both fell foul of the constant pressure to be politically correct.
Both paid the price with scathing comments from men and women alike.
Women’s organisation Her Stories, which is sponsored by Swedish fashion brand H&M, sent out a press release which as Lucy Bannerman pointed out says “womxn” 15 times. It’s about a campaign “for womxn, by womxn” to help refugees, sex trafficking victims and “pregnant womxn”.
Her Stories claimed that spelling women differently emphasised the inclusion of trans women, people of colour, selfidentifying genderqueer and nonbinary people.
Can you believe this rubbish? So now, at least to Her Stories, the traditional spelling of women excludes people of colour?
The term was immediately slammed as “ridiculous” by feminists and “racist” by women of colour.
The Wellcome Collection, a museum and arthouse in London, had earlier joined in the affray by inviting womxn to view their art exhibition. They at least had the decency to apologise after being inundated with criticism for the ridiculous attempt at political correctness that no one else wanted.
They initially defended the word by saying that “womxn” created a space that includes “diverse perspectives”.
If you have any idea what the hell that means, please email me as I’m at a complete loss.
The Wellcome Collection later released a statement apologising: “We should have put more thought into whether this was the right term to use when communicating about the event. We made a mistake, and we should not have used it. We’re sorry that we made the wrong call,” it said.
No kidding. I’ll let Frazer Myers have the last word on this one: “One of the great lies of our time is that PC language is ‘inclusive’. It isn’t, it’s exclusive — used exclusively by a handful of cranks who have somehow been elevated to positions of cultural power. Nobody even knows how to say the word ‘womxn’ out loud.” Hear, hear! Well said, Frazer, although I prefer Gillian’s more pithy response: “a load of bxllxcks”.
Another example of too many people with too much times their hands is with Harry and Meghan’s sharing their joy at being pregnant. Surely this cannot be controversial.
Actually, the announcement was seen by some as “insensitive”.
Apparently Monday was the International Pregnancy And Infant Loss Re
membrance Day, recognised only in North America, Norway, Italy, Kenya and the Australian states of WA and NSW.
Now I am in no way minimising the devastation of losing a child, either in child birth or immediately after, but this criticism is faintly silly. Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association, said: “I imagine they didn’t know. I think it’s as simple as that … I can understand how people feel … but I have to be sure they had no idea of the significance of the day.”
At least some common sense amid the sea of vitriol and venom spat out by internet warriors.
Finally, the motion that almost got through the Senate titled ‘It’s OK to be white’. Now I have no problem with this statement, and I’m quite happy to say that I’m completely at ease with being white. I’m English, I’m white and, contrary to some sections of the media, I don’t lie awake anguishing over pre and post colonial deeds or breast-beat myself into unconsciousness as I worry over the affects over my ancestors’ actions. Do I care that neo-Nazis have adopted the slogan? Nope, because they don’t represent me. The other important point is that, had the motion been ‘It’s OK to be indigenous’ the ABC, the left and the touchy-feelies of this world would have been fulsome in their praise of the ‘first peoples’ being proud of their heritage. This is why the world is bonkers — go figure!