Stop Being Politically Correct and Offend Some Asians Already

Politeness has stopped us from saying crazy things for far too long.

Here’s a gem of a column from Sun Media’s Charles Adler, in which he decides it’s time to talk bluntly about vague things. Adler's argument appears to be that the amorphous boogie man of political correctness has not only stifled dissent, but interesting conversation altogether. “How tired are you,” Adler asks, “hearing one more conversation about how … the toilet seat we buy in Canada is more expensive than the same one in the U.S., even when the stupid thing is made in Canada?” This is what we talk about, apparently, when the Canadian population is collectively hit by the “Politically Correct semi-trailer.” He goes on to blame the popularity of texting and TV on the fact that, barred from saying anything interesting, we prefer not to talk to each other. He then daringly breaks the taboo by engaging himself in a mini-debate over whether Asian university students are snooty to white kids, or do “the white kids not want to drink with and sleep with the Asians?” Hopefully we can expect similar insightful commentary on Canadian television soon, as Sun TV was just granted its licence by the CRTC. Also, who exactly is Adler talking to that he can’t get away from toilet-seat based topics? Perhaps we can find him some new friends?

The National Post’s Lorne Gunter also takes on political correctness, but is at least a little more focused. “Efforts to remove Christmas from the holiday season have bordered on contortionism in recent years,” he writes, citing the fact that schools now have ‘holiday assemblies’ instead of Christmas assemblies, and retailers tell employees to say ‘happy holidays.’ The ‘war on Christmas’ has become a perennial topic of debate, and while we can probably agree that some people go overboard trying to accommodate others, it’s less clear that anyone is trying to prevent anyone else from celebrating Christmas however they choose. The lady at Walmart could wish Gunter a ‘Krazy Kwanzaa!’ and he’d still be free to walk around hollering ‘Merry Christmas!’ until he’s blue in the face. It might not be a bad way to spread some good cheer, come to think of it.