Archives
Hey, this is the archive section. Pick a year, pick a month, have a nosey.Shortie
PC World gone mad
20-10-2010Not the computer company but rather the concept of political correctness. I read online this evening that Dermot O'Leary, (that's our beloved X Factor presenter for any male readers of this site) has got himself in a spot of bother over a remark he made during Sunday nights show.
Now being a bit of an X Factor mad fan, I was curled up in my PJs with a cuppa on Sunday night watching said show and I could not think for the life of me what he had said that could have caused such an uproar. So with intrigue I continued to read the article only to come across the comment that caused a tweeting frenzy.
Cast your mind back, you may remember that Simon (we are on a first name basis) would have had to have chosen between two of his own acts had he not been so kindly spared the fate by the other judges and Dermot remarked that it was a bit of a 'Sophie's choice'. Cue massive uproar in the land of twitter and Dermot being forced to issue a very public apology.
Seriously?
I am all for political correctness and equality for all (lets not forget my heated entry on the Civil Partnerships Bill) but this has got to be PC gone mad! It was a flippant movie reference that has graced our screens so many times before this as comedy content. It is not used in context to the choice that Sophie had to make in the movie - it is rather a common turn of phrase that has made it into our everyday language. Now I am not the biggest fan of Wikipedia but just to prove my point I searched Sophie's Choice and in the entry it details such comedic references to the phrase such as:
In an episode of Friends when Ross is asked to choose between dinosaurs and sex he replies, "My God, it's like Sophie's Choice."
In an episode of That 70's show, Jackie had to choose between money or Kelso, which prompted Eric to say, "It's like Sophie's Choice for morons."
In another episode of Friends, Phoebe had grown attached to a puppy her mom had lent her and when Rachel saw Phoebe struggling with whether to give it back or not, she said, "Oh, I can't watch this. It's like Sophie's Choice."
So we can learn from this that two shows I grew up with an adored would clearly not have made it onto our screens today given how strict PC attitudes have gotten.
As I said I am all for political correctness - but when adapted and used in the right context. There has to be a line drawn somewhere or else we may kiss goodbye to any form of entertaining shows, books and music for fear they will be too 'offending'.
Dermot's comment was taken completely out of context and those people who tweeted up a storm should be ashamed of themselves for creating such media controversy - obviously they were just craving the column inches themselves.
Tags: pr stuff meanderings
Leave a comment