As you know political correctness is an authoritarian leftie construct to take away our rights and freedoms. To force us to conform to their dystopian world view. To make all of society one uniform shade of grey. We have reached the stage where much political correctness is enshrined in British law and where people go to jail for thought crimes. It is utterly disgusting that there has been such a profound lack of critical faculties in our governing class to allow this to happen. The BBC are the main culprits of forcing this on our society as part of their social conditioning. They should be ashamed.
As a social liberal and libertarian I have no objection whatsoever to homosexuality. People, with mutual consent, can do what they want in their bedrooms. As for homosexual marriage, that is nothing whatsoever to do with the state, people should marry whoever they want.
But I don’t like homosexuality and I don’t know any homosexuals who I like. To me what they do is un-natural and thus a perversion. They are queer. And one thing I especially dislike is that they have stolen one of the nicest words in the English language and applied it to their activities.
Gay means happy. If a place is gay it is bright and attractive. Shakespeare used the word well:
Henry VI, Part IIIÂ [III, 2]
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap,
And deck my body in gay ornaments,
And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
Richard IIÂ [III, 3]
I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman’s gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
Through most of my life most of the people I know have called homosexuals queers. Very many still do. This is frowned upon by the politically correct. Well bad luck. Queer is a far more accurate description than the hijacked word. Gay. Sad would have been a better word to hijack. And everyone knows it.
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You are too right about ‘Gay’. I call them what they are but the ignoramuses don’t even know when a description of them is ‘politically correct’.
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Very interesting opinion from a self proclaimed sensible and reasonable person. I am glad though that in my lifetime, a large number of people no longer hold opinions similar to yours. The world would be a far far poorer place if it were not for the creative, musical, literary, poetical, artistic folk who you are so against and call queer.
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JB,
You think it is terrible to believe in free speech and that the government can tell us what to think, on pain of criminal prosecution.
Sad.
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I stand by my right to call you a fucking ugly dipshitted cunt then.
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“Gay”, like “queer”, is originally a pejorative as applied to homosexuals. So if you’re upset about the changed meaning, your complaint is with homophobes.
It’s true that “gay” and “queer” are now also used by homosexuals. But that was originally a tactic for disarming abuse from unpleasant people – rather than an attempt to hijack nice words.
You seem to think you get to decide how other people use words (“Gay means happy”). In which case you’re not really into freedom of expression. Or maybe you just like provoking people without giving much thought to what you’re saying?
Your profile picture suggests you’ve known unhappiness. Poor luck with the ladies? Not uncommon among men who have a problem with “queers”.
I’ve never read your blog before but sometimes when people present themselves as fearless libertarians it’s really just an excuse to be an arsehole. What would the women in your life say?
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Martin S
Ad hominem attacks are not a valid form of debate among educated people.
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I’m not going to comment on your opinions, which as you rightly say you are entitled to have. But on a purely linguistic level (I’m a lecturer in etymology and a lexicographical analyst) your argument about the word ‘gay’ being ‘stolen’ by homosexuals is wrong—the ‘happy’, ‘carefree’ meaning of the word is itself a reflex of the earlier Middle English word ‘gaie’, which meant ‘colourful’ or ‘showy’. Post-Shakespeare, ‘gay’ steadily came to mean ‘uninhibited’, ‘hedonistic’, ”worldly’, ‘flamboyant’, in a steady, predictable semantic development. Finally, in late 19thC slang it was commandeered and applied by heterosexuals to homosexual behaviour—not ‘stolen’ from the language by homosexuals, and applied to themselves. If you dislike its use, then it is the heterosexual community you have to thank.
Whatever your opinion on homosexuality may be, the evidence you have chosen to back up this particular argument is not lacking, but just incorrect. With all due respect, if you wish to use data like this to reinforce your opinions—and, in particular, opinions that could be deemed controversial or prejudiced—then a little research is always better than snap presumptions.
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You are a very sad, pathetic man. Firstly, political correctness aims to provide an environment where minorities or people from disadvantaged groups are not discriminated against. Not only LGBQT but also ethnic minorities, the disabled, women. As a white male I can see why you might have a problem with this. Also, you contradict yourself throughout your article. Firstly you state,
“I have no objection whatsoever to homosexuality. People, with mutual consent, can do what they want in their bedrooms.”
NO objection whatsoever. But in the next paragraph go on to say how you don’t like homosexuals and that what they do is a perversion.
“But I don’t like homosexuality and I don’t know any homosexuals who I like. To me what they do is un-natural and thus a perversion. They are queer.”
Also, you mention how for most of your life people around you have referred to homosexuals by the term queer, which you acknowledge if not politically correct. Do you then think that it is ok and acceptable for people to refer to individuals of colour using racial slurs if they provide the defence that when they were growing up they heard people using those terms?
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I don’t know if this is a surprise to you but most people can sit through Shakespeare without sniggering at the use of the word ‘gay’.
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Just out of interest, could you please provide one single example of someone ‘going to jail over a thoughtcrime’?
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Simon S. Google is your friend
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1PRFE_enGB640GB640&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=thought%20crime%20jail