A recent article in The Economist (Vol 418 No 8992, June 4, 1996) states that free speech, the basis for all liberties, is under attack on several fronts. Part of this attack stems from political correctness, “the idea that people and groups have a right not to be offended. But if I have a right not to be offended, that means that someone must police what you say about me, or about the things I hold dear, such as my ethnic group, religion, or even political beliefs. Since offense is subjective, the power to police is both vast and arbitrary.” (p 9). This is dangerous for our freedoms and for progress for if we are to become better we must be able to freely express various views.

The article goes on to say that the University of California suggested that ‘it is a racist “micro-aggression” to say that “America is a land of opportunity”, because it could be taken to imply that those who do not succeed have only themselves to blame.’ The stupidity of this is absolutely unbelievable but by no means rare. Therefore, I sought to research and present other such idiotic gems. They include:

• A school in Seattle renamed its Easter eggs ‘Spring Spheres’ to avoid offending people who do not celebrate Easter;
• A UK recruiter’s job advertisement for ‘reliable’ and ‘hard-working’ applicants was rejected because it could be offensive to unreliable and lazy people;
• A UK Council has banned the term ‘brainstorming’ because it may offend epileptics;
• The song Baa Baa Black Sheep is now considered racist. Children are being taught to sing Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep;
• Santa can’t say Ho Ho Ho because it is offensive to women;
• Fairy penguins are now being called little penguins because the word fairy is supposedly offensive to the gay community;
• According to the US Equal Opportunity Commission it is illegal for employers to discriminate against criminals because it has a disproportionate impact on minorities;
• The term “manhole” is being replaced with the terms “utility hole” or “maintenance hole”;
• In San Francisco authorities have installed small plastic “privacy screens” on library computers so that perverts can continue to exercise their “right” to watch pornography at the library without children being exposed to it;
• A Washington college said that their non-discrimination policy prevents them from stopping a transgender man from exposing himself to young girls inside a locker room;
• Some schools in the US have, at Christmas, a “holiday tree” instead of  Christmas Tree.

The above examples are quite absurd yet someone has come up with the absurdities and many others have accepted them. This masks the more serious implications of restriction of free speech. Consider the use of repression by certain governments and the laws of blasphemy which ban debate about religious matters.

Many countries have laws against blasphemy, including 14 in Europe. Islamic governments which punish blasphemy against Islam want the ban on insulting religion written into international law. The Economist (June 4, 2016, p 54) reveals that some Western judges agree. A Danish court ruled in February that burning the Koran was criminal hate speech, thus reviving a law that hasn’t been used to convict anyone since 1946. Europe is also full of archaic laws that criminalise certain kinds of political speech.

Free speech underpins all freedoms and is the basis for betterment of societies and all our institutions. Political correctness often leads to absurdities and is a restriction of the freedom to speak and a means to mould society in a particular manner. Such restrictions must be resisted.