Attention! You Should Be Offended!

Desecration?

Courtesy Red Tory, I came across this article. It mentions that the patron saint of England, St. George, may be changed as he may be considered offensive to Muslims. Red Tory writes, "this is cultural sensitivity gone mad".

I don't think this is a case of cultural insensitivity at all. What I don't get is who decided this image is offensive to Muslims. From the article, it appears that the Church of England is worried that his image is too warlike. And it is the Church of England that appeared to have decided this could be offensive. I am sure they got a few crackpots who wrote letters but it looks like this is the Church's initiative.

I had a hearty laugh about that one. What is offensive to me is now going to be decided by someone else, be it the Church of England or the mullahs of Iran. The British also had a history of fighting India. All Indians (and Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and so on) have a bad memory of the Union Jack. Should that now be changed as well? I am sure if you ask any Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan living in Britain (and are British) about it, they would go hmph! They don't care! What matters is bread and butter issues like discrimination, jobs, taxes, education, health care and so on.

What offends me is if a politician preaches hatred against a particular sect. A person tries to shove his particular beliefs on me. If a legislator decides to ignore hate crimes. If a leader breaks his promises. If people are blind to abuses by their elected representatives, and so on. A flag, a symbol, a piece of ancient history, that's irrelevant. I am sure the Church of England has better things to do.

We look forward to having this debate again on cultural sensitivity come Christmas/Holiday time. Meanwhile, come Euro 2008, I will be waving my England flag on my car again.

Tags: Cultural Sensitivity Political Correctness