Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Marcus Brigstock
Marcus Brigstock has an amusing column today, in which he defends 'Political Correctness' from the barbarian anti-PC hordes. The second half of the article, however, is bollocks.
Accusations of politically correct thought control have become a pathetic and transparent excuse for lazy racists, sexists and Islamophobes the land over. Challenging PC has become a game of chicken for bigots - daring each other to run out into the busy PC motorway and say something stupid before dashing back for cover. Who will dare to go the furthest without actually invading Poland? The Tories? Ukip? The Daily Mail? An excellent comic by the name of Chris Addison has said, "You can tell people who read the Daily Mail because they follow every stupid thing they say with the phrase '... but I suppose that's not politically correct', and think that makes it OK to say whatever they want."
Brigstock was the presenter of the very, very funny spoof history show called 'We are History' which was on the Beeb 4 or 5 years ago. I've never met anyone else who saw this show - it was a weekly 10 minute gem tucked away sometime in the TV schedules, when no-one tends to watch. The show basically took the piss out of history programmes presented by boorish, pompous 'personality' presenters - you, know like that idiot military historian, Richard Holmes, who seems to spend a lot of his time presenting to camera from the saddle of a white charger and with a sabre in his hand. The funniest moment in 'We Are History', I think, was when Brigstock's character, 'David Oxley BA (Hons)', clambered out of a long boat in a horned helmet and brandishing a plastic sword and then charged, yelling and shrieking, up a beach 'to give us some idea of what a viking raid would have looked like'.
Accusations of politically correct thought control have become a pathetic and transparent excuse for lazy racists, sexists and Islamophobes the land over. Challenging PC has become a game of chicken for bigots - daring each other to run out into the busy PC motorway and say something stupid before dashing back for cover. Who will dare to go the furthest without actually invading Poland? The Tories? Ukip? The Daily Mail? An excellent comic by the name of Chris Addison has said, "You can tell people who read the Daily Mail because they follow every stupid thing they say with the phrase '... but I suppose that's not politically correct', and think that makes it OK to say whatever they want."
Brigstock was the presenter of the very, very funny spoof history show called 'We are History' which was on the Beeb 4 or 5 years ago. I've never met anyone else who saw this show - it was a weekly 10 minute gem tucked away sometime in the TV schedules, when no-one tends to watch. The show basically took the piss out of history programmes presented by boorish, pompous 'personality' presenters - you, know like that idiot military historian, Richard Holmes, who seems to spend a lot of his time presenting to camera from the saddle of a white charger and with a sabre in his hand. The funniest moment in 'We Are History', I think, was when Brigstock's character, 'David Oxley BA (Hons)', clambered out of a long boat in a horned helmet and brandishing a plastic sword and then charged, yelling and shrieking, up a beach 'to give us some idea of what a viking raid would have looked like'.
