[Stumped]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

People who seem obsessed with not labelling groups in society for fear of being 'racist' or 'bigoted' when it is virtually impossible to have a reasoned debate about many topics without doing so.

Farmers generally work in rural areas so sooner or later the term 'rural area' is going to crop up in a debate over a rural issue, say foot and mouth disease. By association, so is a variation on the term 'rural folk' which isn't derogatory but separates the needs and views of those particular residents from someone who lives on the sixth floor of a tenement block in London. Decisions which affect farmers have been made by people who are not necessarily from that background and have not helped the industry but have been seen as the 'correct' thing to do. Again, I cite the rules on chemicals which have been used safely for years and yet are now 'dangerous' without the right certificate and have seen their prices rise astronomically, making them prohibitively expensive for people who need them to make a living. There is a huge amount of common sense in the algricultural and horticultural community which doesn't need new regulations to make things 'safe'.

Arguing the toss over terminology and wasting money on think tanks and committees to make sure that certain words could not be misconstrued by a small but vocal minority of the easily-offended is not the way forward.

The country is obsessed with pandering to minority groups, many of whom are not kicking up a fuss in the first place. I believe this was the point that Stumped raised in post #58.

I'll just put this to the forum as the epitome of PC Brigade conundrums: there is a Black Police Officer's Association and yet what would the reaction be if someone was to try and set up a White one? Is there a real subjective difference? Why is one racist and the other not?

If we all just got on with identifying and preventing actual real-life problems and fixing them in the simplest way rather than worrying over problems which don't exist we would probably have a better society.

Bang on, Ken. One only has to refer to muslims in whatever vein and you are accused of being bigotted, racist or being tied to some obscure political agenda which apparently upsets all those who would have you hung, drawn and quartered for even thinking something that they disagree with.