Dipping into a few blogs today by criminal justice "insiders", such as police officers and magistrates, it was notable that several of them have been writing recently about so-called politically correct initiatives.
In the posts, while they are not exactly as infuriated by the "PC police" as columnist Richard Littlejohn has been known to get, there seems to be some agreement that moves such as diversity training are unnecessary and patronising.
For instance, the Police Inspector blogger writes: "I do NOT need a two week diversity course to teach me how not to be nasty to people who are different from me."
Over on the Magistrates Blog, the anonymous magistrate <a href=""
http://thelawwestofealingbroadway.blogspot.com/2006/11/mind-your-language.html">reports that he recently received new guidelines from the Department for Constitutional Affairs entitled Eliminating Inappropriate Language in the Workplace. He quotes from the document which he says includes some "eye-opening" examples of "not acceptable" language.
Unacceptable language includes:
Old, middle-aged, young, girl, young lady, boy, lad, young man, part-timer, the disabled, the blind, the deaf, black mark, black sheep, black list, black look, Black Monday, coloured, half-caste, West Indian, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese (used as a catch-all [sic] phrase), British (referring to whites), immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, gypsies (used negatively), Gyppos, Ethnics, Jesus Christ (used as a curse), Jesus freak, bible basher, Jewish (acceptable to some), gay (as a noun), manning the phones, manpower, policeman, chairman, spokesman, fireman, foreman, workmen, lady doctor, woman judge, male nurse, male secretary, love, pet, dear (used in a derogatory way).
The blogger, who says the guidelines are an intriguing insight into the "bureaucratic mind" jokes that it is now "going to be difficult to hold a conversation with the girls in the office - whoops!".
Clearly, it is a valuable aim to try and reduce racism and homophobia in the criminal justice system, and elsewhere. But is the best way to do it by guidelines on unacceptable language and diversity training? Would it be best if people acknowledged they could learn something from these kind of initiatives and just approached them with an open mind? Is there an approach that would not leave people feeling patronised?
