"Political Correctness" - an evil to be confronted and defeated.

A guest post by Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats.

If we are to enjoy true democracy, there has to be debate and no subject should be off-limits. “Freedom of Speech” should be just that; freedom to express an opinion on any matter regardless of how contentious or even distasteful others may find it.

There are, of course, certain proper limitations on Freedom of Speech; defamation being an example. There is, however, an insidious limiter of our Freedom of Speech under whose tyrannical rule we have, to a lesser or greater extent, all succumbed.

The Tyrant’s name? Political Correctness.

Political Correctness hides behind a (seemingly philanthropic) smokescreen of not wanting to “offend” people, (individuals or groups). However, its true purpose is simply to stifle debate.

By creating a myriad of groups and ways in which to “offend” them, the Politically Correct have also created a minefield that makes ordinary folk fearful of expressing a point of view that may “give offence”.

The source of the fear? Assorted labels that the Politically Correct apply to dissenters. Most of these end in either “ist” or “phobe”, and include, “extremist”, “homophobe”, “islamophobe” and, of course, their Ace of Spades, “racist”. Nobody wants to have any of these labels (and particularly, “racist “) applied to them, so most folk endeavour to ensure that their language is “PC”.

The consequence? The Politically Correct no longer need to formulate an argument. All they need to say is, “You don’t need to listen to him, and he’s a Racist.” Or, “Don’t listen to her, she’s a Homophobe.” It matters nothing that an argument has been carefully formulated; if it’s not PC, you needn’t listen.

One final PC epithet that must be mentioned is “Bigot”. Anyone who dares to express a point of view on, say, immigration, that isn’t entirely favourable, risks being labelled a “Racist” or a “Bigot” or both.

A bigot is someone who believes that the only valid opinion is his own. The Politically Correct believe that the only opinions that are valid, are theirs, and woe betide anyone who dares to express another. Funny, that! The people who call everyone else “bigots” are actually the ones who will not tolerate any other point of view.

Clive Lavelle was the English Democrats' candidate for Weston-super-Mare in the 2015 General Election.