# The U.K. Is Done. The U.K. Is Also The Canary In The Coal Mine **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097 "2008-12-20T18:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/61 "2008-12-22T16:29:23Z")
Philosophically, I agree with the tone of the OP. Though I don’t know precisely the vector of the current slouch toward milquetoast that the UK may (or may not) be suffering from, the plague of cowardly political correctness and general fear mongering certainly is not contained to said goofy island. It’s rampant here in the USofA as well. Even after 230 years we haven’t been able to come to a concrete conclusion about the need to respect and tolerate one anothers ideals and beliefs irrespective of their impact on our particular sensibilities. Anytime you ban one thing at the behest of the sensibilities of another you risk ostracizing the “banned”. In some cases (i.e. slavery, violent, overt racism) the practitioners are rightly walled-off from society. In other cases, like the ones reflected in the OP, the pendulum swings violently in both directions doing damage to things and people that weren’t necessarily broken or in need of change in the first place. As a side note, I find it best to refrain from insulting the Brits. The older world has done such an incredible job of skewering them over the years that any insults are absorbed and returned in such a way that your dignity is surgically removed, served to you on your own dishes and they actually manage to persuade you to thank them for the privilege. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/62 "2008-12-22T16:42:21Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the "rags? There are always more Indians than chiefs. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/63 "2008-12-22T16:51:03Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the “rags?” Because there are plenty of idiots who are either eager or stupid enough to take their rubbish at face value. There are also many who aren’t really bothered by the factual content (or lack thereof) of what they read on the Tube in the morning, and fair play to them. People (my patrician self included) sometimes like crap that doesn’t tax their brains. I prefer to watch sport than read nonsense, but that’s just preference. The trouble comes when one starts actually taking the crap seriously, and advertises one’s paucity of thought by writing it down and calling it a “thesis.” > [@](#): > > Wouldn’t this kind of almost support my notion of decline and decadence? Only if you were so spectacularly naive as to think that the UK were in some way unusual in this regard, or that it was ever any different. But you’re not that naive, right? Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/64 "2008-12-22T16:51:56Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > If nothing else (and I’m speaking less to your reasonably thoughtful post than to some of the other bashing of the “right wing rags”), this thread has uncovered a fair degree of elitism and classism against the benighted proles. An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the “rags?” Wouldn’t this kind of almost support my notion of decline and decadence? Sure, you can argue there has been decline or decadence. You can argue that nowadays the elitists read “legitimate” newspapers but the general population prefer tabloids to support your point, but then I’d argue that in classical times past the elitists read “legitimate” newspapers, and the general population read… nothing. That’s not decline is it? Rags of both side of the political spectrum are popular because they are easy to read like comics, get straight to whatever point they are trying to make, and write what people want to read. And sometimes show tits. Don’t get me wrong, the UK is not in the best shape, many things could be better. In some areas of society there has unquestionably been decline. We’re not at the stage of banning Christmas lights or locking up carol singings though. We’re just the same as most developed nations, struggling to find the best balance in a changing world. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/65 "2008-12-22T16:53:12Z")
I love the bold new model Britain. Nearly half of all the funniest story come from over there. If we didn’t have the Brits, we’d have to invent them. Not so ridiculous as the Swedes of course. But that would also take a divine intervention to best the Swedes on their own playing field. But really, everybody should learn to read Swedish. You guys miss all the best stories. This British is one of my favourite: > [@](#): > > As snow starts to settle in the northern hemisphere, a perennial symbol of the festive season has been dismissed by a British academic as racist, sexist and politically inappropriate for the 21st century. > > For Birmingham University lecturer Tricia Cusack the snowman is unacceptably white and male and his presence is “a reminder of masculine dominance, ordering and surveillance.” > > Cusack’s 15-page paper on the representation of snowmen in Christmas cards also argues that they are “phallic symbols” which condemn women to second-class status in society. > > In the traditional setting of the front garden “snowmen symbolize man’s domination of the outside world – while all women are indoors slaving over the Christmas dinner in the kitchen,” Cusack writes in the left wing periodical New Formations. > > “Is it accidental, in view of the Western narrative of active masculine domination of nature/female, that out of virgin snow a male icon is built – or erected?” she asks. > […] [Snowman is a sexist, racist: UK academic](http://beeqube.com/article/sno) This one is also a classic: > [@](#): > > A West Yorkshire hospital has banned visitors from cooing at new-born babies over fears their human rights are being breached and to reduce infection. [Cooing at new-born babies banned](http://beeqube.com/article/coo) - I hope no spoil-sport comes around and tells me they are jokes. That would so ruin my entire day. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/66 "2008-12-22T17:10:26Z")
Wow. An idiot academic and a hospital discouraging people from prodding other people’s babies for reasons of HUMAN RIGHTS (and controlling infection). Well, I’m convinced; anyone know of a handy bomb shelter? (How do you people even breathe unaided? It’s a fricking mystery.) ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/67 "2008-12-22T17:16:04Z")
Heheh… [http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/school-subjects-to-be-dicked-about-with-200812081444/](http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/school-subjects-to-be-dicked-about-with-200812081444/) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/68 "2008-12-22T17:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=Huerta88] An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the "rags? [/QUOTE] Less tits,gossip and sport in the non-tabs. It’s like asking why American Idol is more popular than the John Adams mini-series. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/69 "2008-12-22T17:25:53Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the “rags?” People like Clowns. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/70 "2008-12-22T17:27:48Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > People like Clowns. I don’t. They’re scary. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/71 "2008-12-22T21:22:21Z")
> [@Racer1](#): > > Heheh… > [http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/school-subjects-to-be-dicked-about-with-200812081444/](http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/school-subjects-to-be-dicked-about-with-200812081444/) Fantastic! It’s like a DailySunExpress mashup - don’t know how I missed that. If you combine that with the [Twat-O-Tron](http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/the-twat-o-tron/) to accurately simulate the ‘readers views’ page it would completely replace most of the UK media. [QUOTE=Huerta88] An interesting question would be if the U.K. is in great shape, why are the “legitimate” papers (per the patricians who have slammed the tabs) so much less popular than the "rags? [/QUOTE] Heh. Why is talk radio and Fox News so much more popular than anything offering balanced, accurate information? Because given a choice between having to think or having their prejudices and preconceptions pandered to, most people choose the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/72 "2008-12-23T09:26:36Z")
Bernard Levin would be rolling in his grave. [Reference](http://content.usatoday.com/travel/flights/topic.aspx?topic_id=035q4SA8vC4ay&pt=a) ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/73 "2008-12-23T11:39:30Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Show me one thing in this post – dumbass – that remotely resembles “holocaust denial.” > > Oh, you can’t? You’re just calling names? Carry on then, dumbass. You don’t want to be considered a fascist don’t adopt their calling card. Until that time I shall continue to consider you a fascist without the courage to openly stand up for your beliefs. You being a brain-damaged right-tard appears to be independent of your username though. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/74 "2008-12-23T11:46:17Z")
I am thinking of changing my username to “JimAryanNation”. It’s not my fault those fascists have hijacked the phrase! ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/75 "2008-12-23T12:03:45Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I am thinking of changing my username to “JimAryanNation”. It’s not my fault those fascists have hijacked the phrase! You wouldn’t believe the stick I got when my user name was Paedo109 after my uh, favorite brand of orthopaedic shoes. Shoes - yes that’s the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/76 "2008-12-23T12:25:00Z")
I blame the Gnomes, those buggers should be banned ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/77 "2008-12-23T14:30:00Z")
“My name used to be ‘Gay’, but nowadays that has _connotations_, so I changed it to ‘Rampantly Homosexual.’” To be fair, though, I’ve seen no real indication that the OP is any sort of Nazi, and it’s not like he couldn’t have been born in '88 (although he’s reactionary enough for it to have been 1888). Or maybe he likes fat ladies, who knows. It’s possible to get too attuned to these little internet codewords. The sort of idiot who puts “88” in his handle for Nazi reasons usually isn’t shy about hiding them. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/78 "2008-12-23T14:33:30Z")
I know a guy who uses it in his AIM screenname because it’s his favorite poker hand. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/79 "2008-12-23T22:04:58Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > You don’t want to be considered a fascist don’t adopt their calling card. Until that time I shall continue to consider you a fascist without the courage to openly stand up for your beliefs. Right, except to post it in my username – then deny my beliefs. That makes lots and lots of sense. Fucking dumbass. By the way, fucking dumbass, people who actually understand human nature understand that those who hold obsessive, irrational, extreme beliefs are not, as a rule, so clever and cunning about not “openly standing up for [their] beliefs.” If you ever met a real Ilumminati conspiracy theorist, political exteremist, neo-Nazi jackass, your problem would not be that they lacked “the courage” to share their theories with you. It would be getting them to shut up, for one second, about voicing them 24/7. > [@](#): > > You being a brain-damaged right-tard appears to be independent of your username though. My OP isn’t even particularly “right” wing. Many of the aspects of the U.K. that I consider ridiculous are independent of political ideology. Liberals and conservatives alike can and do have civil liberty problems with, for instance, the BBC license fee enforcement regime, or with various aspects of the Nanny State. > **[Pupils face 'lock-ins' to stop junk-food lunches](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/pupils-face-lockins-to-stop-junkfood-lunches-801749.html)** > > Schools have been told to consider "lock-ins" at lunch-time to stop pupils going out and buying junk food during the midday break. > **[Latest news & breaking headlines](https://www.thetimes.com/)** > > The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment. Nor was my OP only about “political correctness,” though there is, again, nothing politically extreme or bizarre about thinking that, say, the below is fairly ridiculous. > **[tollbit-host.com](https://tollbit-host.com/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2176315/Father's-Day-cards-banned-in-Scottish-schools.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097/80 "2008-12-24T01:54:38Z")
I think this one fits in nicely here: > [@](#): > > … No sooner had the storm over the liquorice Nogger calmed down when the Anti Discrimination Bureau in Malmö Aftonbladet (Swedish only) decided to up the anti and attack the classic GB ice-cream called “88” because it is clearly connected to Nazis. Yes, Nazis. > > See, “88” stands for “Heil Hitler” in modern Nazi-parlance apparently, as “H” is the 8th letter of the alphabet. Nevermind that the 88 ice-cream is much older than the newly invented code-language for Nazis, and nevermind that hardly anyone knows the 88 code unless they are a modern Nazi (not even the English version of the Wikipedia, though the Swedish version does). According to a spokesperson from GB the 88 first appeared way back in 1964. [Ice cream names cause debate - are the names racist or Nazi codewords?](http://beeqube.com/article/icec) - as I remember it, in fact the “88” was used because it is the international amateur radio signal for something like “love & kisses” or some such thing. Gotta love the Swedes. I want to move to Malmø and marry a Swedish feminist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-u-k-is-done-the-u-k-is-also-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/478097.md?page=5)