Comparing the treatment of Jewish people brutally murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz to the treatment of transgender folk in Scotland is beyond crass.
It reduces one of the most barbaric acts in human history to a level which insults and vilifies the millions of innocent victims of the holocaust.
But it’s sadly a symptom of the increasingly hysterical bastardisation of language and overwrought expression which is robbing words of their true meaning and impact.
Dundee SNP Councillor Lynne Short made the ill-judged comparison in a speech in the City Square in a rally in support of the transgender community.
She has since issued a very short apology for her choice of words, but it’s not the first time that those in the public eye have made invidious attempts to elicit sympathy for groups of folk who have no fewer rights than you and me.
The transgender community is a tiny percentage within the population but they correctly enjoy all the same rights in law that you and I do, and indeed more than some of us do.
Danger of ridiculous comparisons
I don’t demand that my characteristics as a ‘ginger’ be protected and they’re quite rightly not.
It would be ludicrous if they were, and yet short of shaving my head or dying my hair, I’m irredeemably identifiable as a Red Head, and have like all Carrot Tops had my share of leg pulling, and in my youth attempted bullying, which being a nippy wee sort, I was eminently able to handle.
Am I drawing a ridiculous comparison demanding that my auburn thatch be treated with the same kid gloves of those whose personal gender identity doesn’t correspond with their registered birth sex?
Well why shouldn’t I do so in a world where so many minority groups seem to be permanently offended and demanding that they receive special consideration?
As it happens I’m claiming no such thing; to do so would mark me out as a complete narcissist, a characteristic which sadly appears to be noticeably increasing among the many groups who think they are deserving of more exclusive and exceptional treatment than the rest of us.
Trans rights along with many other characteristics, though, are given special legal protection from discrimination and most fair-minded, compassionate folk understand there are good humane reasons to do so.
However I suspect I’m not alone in beginning to weary of the constant demands for special considerations which elevate the rights of certain identities and groupings above those of the general population.
‘Spectacular misjudgement’
The tactics of constant complaint, of haranguing and demanding, and insisting and insulting, are showing signs of back firing among the wider public.
In the case of Councillor Short’s poorly crafted address, her articulation has potentially done damage to her chosen cause, with any modicum of sympathy that might have existed among a wider audience being harmed by the ludicrous analogy with a death camp.
There are no minorities in Scotland whose experiences come within a million miles of the barbaric, inhuman, and genocidal treatment the Jewish people suffered at the hands of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, which was a stain on humankind.
To juxtapose the horrendous evils of a brutal pogrom and slaughter of the Jews with that of a tiny minority of folk who have issues regarding their sex and or gender is a spectacular misjudgement.
Language is important, as we’ve witnessed over the weekend, with MSPs standing in front of signs calling for the decapitation of those whom they disagree with.
Those who hold positions of power should always be acutely conscious of the power of their words.
Trouble at the Beeb
My old employer the BBC seems to have lost its way.
A review of the process of hiring the corporation’s chairman is to be undertaken after claims – revealed by the Sunday Times – current appointee Richard Sharp helped secure a loan of £800k for then PM Boris Johnson, shortly before getting the job.
Along with regular accusations of political bias, the Beeb also gets criticism for ageism.
Recently the hugely popular 68-year-old Steve Wright was punted from his slot on Radio 2 for Scott Mills, 20 years his junior, and widely-admired 71-year-old Scot Ken Bruce is also leaving for the Bauer-owned Greatest Hits.
Amid claims the BBC no longer cares what listeners think, while making cuts at regional stations including axing some programmes on Radio Scotland, some folk wonder what the future holds for the broadcaster, formed a century ago.
In a modern world with a huge variety of alternatives in radio and television available, the landscape since its birth has changed dramatically.
Perhaps there’s no longer a case for the TV licence.
But recent behaviour is ammunition for those who think market forces and competition should dictate whether the BBC still has any place in a modern world.
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