Jottings snowflakes union , sorry , students ’ union which is waging war against the “ toxic ideals of diet culture ” and “ thin privilege .”
Meanwhile , a US academic has been suspended for using the Chinese word “ neige ” in a lecture on communicating . His students at the University of Southern California threatened to withdraw from the class rather than , “ endure the emotional exhaustion of carrying on with an instructor that disregards cultural sensitivities ,” adding , “ Our mental health has been affected .” ( Of course it has , dear ...)
So what was Professor Greg Patton ’ s heinous act ? In explaining that “ neige ” is used in Chinese as a filler when speaking – rather like “ um ” or “ er ” in English , he pronounced it – correctly - as “ nee-gah .”
And so it goes on . The snowflake brigade have even set their sights on our feathered friends , some of which , apparently , have unacceptable names . The Hottentot teal , for example , and the McCown longspur , named after a 19th century Confederate general , are reported to be likely candidates for renaming . When they get around to taking offence at the common or garden blackbird , let ’ s hope they don ’ t recommend we return to its Latin name , Turdus merula .
Possibly daftest of all , Sainsbury have withdrawn some mugs from sale after a complaint that they supported domestic abuse . They bore an image of Matilda , the eponymous heroine of Roal Dahl ’ s 1998 children ’ s novel , and a quote from the text : “ A brilliant idea hit her .” A researcher into violence against women described the mug as , “ hugely problematic ,” triggering a tsunami of Tweets urging Sainsbury to “ resist idiocy .” It hasn ’ t .
However , our favourite story of the month comes from Gloucestershire where a hair salon was accused of discrimination by advertising for “ happy ” staff . The Job Centre rejected the ad , advising owner Alison Birch that it might make some people feel they could not apply for the job if they did not consider themselves to be a happy person .
End of tunnel ?
But could there be flicker of light at the end of the cancel culture tunnel ? Full marks to the Wall Street Journal which has issued a strong rebuttal to a letter sent to the management and signed by 280 of the paper ’ s staff .
In their complaint , the workers claimed that “ misinformation ” was being published in the paper ’ s Opinion column , and called for a clearer divide between the News and Opinion divisions .
However , in a scathing public response , the paper said it would not , “ wilt under cancel-culture pressure ,” and reassured readers that it would continue to oppose “ a culture of growing progressive conformity and intolerance .”
It added , “ The opinion pages will continue to publish contributors who speak their minds within the tradition of vigorous , reasoned discourse .”
Revenge served cold
If there is an annual prize for the Best Act of Revenge , it must surely go to an anonymous 48-year-old in Leicestershire who left her job as a school librarian in February . The anonymous employee of Castle Rock School in Coalville departed after , she claims , her requests for more support in the library were not acted upon .
Before leaving , she left an interesting selection of titles on the top shelf which
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