| |
Discussion of Holocaust to be banned to avoid offence
22 Feb 2005
All discussion of the Holocaust is to be banned in case it offends anyone, the government announced today. Earlier, London Mayor Ken Livingstone refused to apologise to a Daily Mail group journalist whom he had likened to a concentration camp guard because he had said he was only doing his job while harassing Mr Livingstone outside a party.
Speaking outside his shiny new offices, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said it would be better for society as a whole if everyone just kept quiet. "The Holocaust is a difficult subject, but it's in the past now and we must all move on," he said. "There's no point talking about it because it will just upset people."
"Jewish people in particular can be offended by outdated and inaccurate stereotypes, so it's important that we don't keep banging on about them," he added.
Professor Douglas Ramsbottom, an expert in offensiveness from Bootle University, agreed with Mr Clarke's assessment but his tirade of abuse at our reporter cannot be printed. His colleague, Greg Mullet, said: "Our research suggests that Person A is often offended when Person B says something rude or offensive. The solution here is obvious - we should all just stop talking, and then everyone would be happy because no-one would say anything nasty. I'm going to start now."
Mr Mullet scribbled an additional note saying that it is also possible to be offended by the written word and therefore that should be banned too. He then screwed up his note and walked out of the interview.
The government is said to be considering adding the academics' proposals on to its latest anti-terrorism bill today. "In the spirit of the legislation," a spokesman said, "all discussion of its contents will also be prohibited."
Log in to read/write comments on this article
Hey, look at this!
|
|
