By: Chief Offender

Chief Offender — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 14:16:50 +0000

I enjoyed your article. This woke culture has gone too far. I call it “stealing offence” when offense is taken when it was not given. People will scan some writing, and completely miss the thrust of the argument and call out the author for using a certain word. I have been a victim of this myself. After writing a comment about how I enjoy black music and how most popular music owes a huge debt to it, with its origins in the delta blues and negro spirituals, I was called a racist for using “negro”. My argument clearly showed that I was very much supportive of the black people and culture, but they were triggered by a word, used in a perfectly correct historical context.
Dahl was “of his time”. Some of his introductions to Tales of the Unexpected are sexist, and racist, but I would never want to see them removed. They reflect the pervasive attitudes of his time, and only jar today because we have progressed. How on earth is “terrifically fat” more offensive than “tremendously flabby”? This demonstrates just how stupid this is. Two phrases that mean the same, but one is deemed offensive. I personally find the current trend of legitimising being fat to be offensive. As someone who used to be skinny, but is now overweight, I don’t like it. I don’t like being fat, I battle with it, but I am fat, not terrifically, but I’m definitely fat. I don’t want some probably skinny, woke millennial taking offense on my behalf – that’s patronising and offensive in itself. I find my own fatness offensive, and I have no problem with other people finding it offensive too. Obesity is not good. It is life threatening, it puts as much strain on the NHS as smoking used to, and it would serve humanity better, if these people were to focus on changing the obesity culture, rather than changing language in order to make obesity acceptable.
Comedians have been attacked by able-bodied people for making jokes about conditions like MS, yet praised by MS sufferers for laughing at the condition, not the person. People should stop stealing offense on behalf of others, and look into fixing their own addiction to the endorphin rush they get from berating someone who made a perfectly innocent comment.

By: Colin Swinburn

Colin Swinburn — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 17:04:33 +0000

Great article. It seems that people take offense too quickly these days. Once you start updating yesteryears texts, where do you stop? Bravo Noel Huxley for writing a considered piece on the need to leave texts intact so as to reflect the period that they were written in.

Comments on: Puffin v. Dahl

By: Chief Offender

By: Colin Swinburn