Political correctness has gone mad

Political correctness is killing humour, and that’s no joke

Tom Elliott, Herald Sun

STULTIFYING political correctness is slowly but surely killing our sense of humour. And the creeping dark tide of identity politics will soon make dressing up a thing of the past. Are our efforts to placate noisy minorities destroying our ability to have fun?

This week a friend of mine saw the Village People in concert. I don’t know how many original band members from the late 1970s still perform in this 2017 version (not many, I suspect), but timeless hits like Macho Man, YMCA and In The Navy still had audience members dancing the disco moves so popular 40 years ago.

Although my friend had a great time, his Village People experience was marred somewhat by his attire (or lack thereof). Prior to the concert he visited a well-known costume shop in Melbourne’s CBD. Previously he’d seen in the window a fringed buckskin Native American costume complete with feathered headdress. For reasons best known to himself, my 41-year-old friend wanted to attend the concert looking like the Village People’s Red Indian band member.

Unfortunately he encountered a young shop assistant full of righteous political correctness. She told my friend in no uncertain terms that because he was clearly a white male of European origin, it’d be “culturally insensitive” for him to impersonate a Native American.

I don’t know how many American Indians live in Melbourne, but I suspect the number can be counted on one hand. How is it remotely possible that someone wearing a feathered headdress in honour of a musician he admires can insult a race of people — on the other side of the earth, no less?

Taken to its extremes, this “culturally insensitive” argument must also ban kids playing cowboys and indians. Or is the correct term for this innocent childhood pastime now “evil white settlers persecuting innocent natives”? The mind boggles.

Back to my friend. He also considered attending the concert dressed as the Village People’s helmet-wearing, sunglasses-toting and tough looking construction worker.

But another problem then presented itself. Even though as children we had no idea about the band members’ sexuality, as adults we learnt that just about every musician in the Village People was gay.
My friend is married (to a woman), has three children (conceived the old-fashioned way) and is openly straight. Would it also be politically incorrect for him to dress as a gay man?