When PC Endangers Children<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
There is never a shortage of examples of political correctness in Western society. And there is never a shortage of examples of how PC can be damaging and destructive of the very things we should really be caring about.
 
The way we treat various individuals, groups or lifestyles with kid gloves for fear of offending or marginalising them may seem like a noble intention. The idea is to create a more tolerant society. But good intentions can often lead to bad outcomes.
 
Effectively, political correctness has meant treating certain groups in a favoured manner, even if it means other groups are disadvantaged. Indeed, it often engenders even greater intolerance and ill will. As Jacques Barzun put it, "Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred."
 
Thus muddle-headed notions of tolerance and getting along with others have meant a new strait-jacket has been imposed on us. Now we dare not speak our mind, for fear of being branded intolerant and insensitive. As another commentator remarked, it "causes us to lie silently instead of saying what we think."
 
But sometimes speaking the truth is the most important thing we can do, even if it does offend somebody. Sometimes standing up for what is right is more important than being worried about hurting someone's feelings.
 
A good example of all this can be seen in a recent episode of political correctness in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />UK. It is simply one of the more recent examples of how PC harms instead of helps. Many thousands of other examples could be mentioned. But this one is sufficiently worrying that it deserves a separate hearing.
 
According to a report in the British Daily Telegraph (September 6, 2007), children as young as eight were sexually abused for years while in the care of two homosexuals. But a much-needed response was slow in coming because social workers were worried about being seen as homophobic. The opening paragraphs of the story read as follows:
 
"A council's political correctness allowed a pair of homosexual foster parents to sexually abuse children in their care, a report has concluded. Managers and social workers were reluctant to investigate Craig Faunch and Ian Wathey for fear of being accused of prejudice. Instead, they were viewed as 'trophy carers' who, by virtue of their sexuality, had a 'badge' which made their actions less questionable.""A mother of eight-year-old twins raised concerns about them with social services after finding a photograph of one of the boys using the lavatory. But the authorities took no action, accepting that the two men had been 'naive and silly'. In reality, they had been using the boys for sexual gratification within months of being approved as carers by the Labour-run Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.""Faunch, 42, and Wathey, 33, were jailed last year for a string of offences against four boys, aged eight and 14, at their home in Pontefract, West Yorks. The victims were among 18 children placed with the pair, Yorkshire's first homosexual foster parents, between August 2003 and January 2005."
 
Action was not taken sooner because of concerns about being seen as politically incorrect. An independent inquiry into the incident found that the "fear of being discriminatory led them to fail to discriminate between the appropriate and the abusive. These anxieties about discrimination have deep roots, we argue - in social work training, professional identity and organisational cultures, and the remedies for these go beyond the remit of any single council or inquiry report."
 
As one social worker put it, "Everyone was saying, 'Everything is not right, there is just something about them'. They were viewed as important foster carers, you didn't want to be seen discriminating against a same-sex couple."
 
This may be an extreme example of political correctness gone mad, but it is by no means unique. So frightened have we become of certain minority groups, that we will bend over backwards not to offend them, even if it means turning a blind eye to some clearly unacceptable behaviour.
 
The homosexual lobby in particular has become quite adept at bullying the rest of society into submission. And much of the mainstream media has been happy to comply. Indeed, it is very difficult to find any articles in much of the press today that dare to even suggest that the homosexual lobby might need to be challenged.
 
So successful have the homosexual activists been that a rigid censorship has taken hold of much of the press. When was the last time an article appeared critical of the homosexual movement in such papers as the Melbourne Age, the Canberra Times or the Sydney Morning Herald? Yet many hundreds of pro-gay articles would have appeared in these PC papers in recent years.
 
We seem to be far more interested in placating the militant homosexual lobby than we are in defending innocent children. Here in the Australian state of Victoria, homosexuals can also foster children. While most homosexuals do not abuse children, a significant number do.
 
One study of 4,340 adults found that about a third of those who reported having been molested were homosexually molested. And another study reported in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy found that homosexual paedophiles victimise far more children than do heterosexual paedophiles (150 to 20).
 
As a recent example of all this, the founder of an under-18 homosexual disco in Melbourne was recently charged with 11 counts of sexual assault involving a child under 16 years of age.
 
If there is a known risk to children, then measures should be taken to minimise that risk, not increase it. But in an age of political correctness, most Western governments are far too concerned about pandering to noisy minority groups than they are with putting the welfare of children first.
 
But as mentioned, when we grant special rights and privileges to certain groups, often it is the rest of society which suffers. That was certainly the case in the UK recently. And far too often it is the case elsewhere as well.
 
It is hoped that some sanity will one day soon return to the West, and that we will start putting the community good ahead of vacuous notions of tolerance; and that we start taking seriously the interests of children, rather than those of aggressive minority groups.
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/06/nfoster106.xml
 
 
 
 
By Paul StokesLast Updated: 1:18am BST 06/09/2007Daily TelegraphA council's political correctness allowed a pair of homosexual foster parents to sexually abuse children in their care, a report has concluded.Managers and social workers were reluctant to investigate Craig Faunch and Ian Wathey for fear of being accused of prejudice.Instead, they were viewed as "trophy carers" who, by virtue of their sexuality, had a "badge" which made their actions less questionable.A mother of eight-year-old twins raised concerns about them with social services after finding a photograph of one of the boys using the lavatory.But the authorities took no action, accepting that the two men had been "naive and silly".In reality, they had been using the boys for sexual gratification within months of being approved as carers by the Labour-run Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.Faunch, 42, and Wathey, 33, were jailed last year for a string of offences against four boys, aged eight and 14, at their home in Pontefract, West Yorks.The victims were among 18 children placed with the pair, Yorkshire's first homosexual foster parents, between August 2003 and January 2005.An independent inquiry concluded that the children were let down by "failures in performance" of individuals and the systems operated by the council. However, it did not name the staff involved.The panel, led by Brian Parrott, the former head of Surrey social services, found: "The fear of being discriminatory led them to fail to discriminate between the appropriate and the abusive."These anxieties about discrimination have deep roots, we argue - in social work training, professional identity and organisational cultures, and the remedies for these go beyond the remit of any single council or inquiry report."The inquiry found that potential indicators of sexual abuse were inadequately investigated, understood or acted upon. At no time was an effective annual review of Faunch and Wathey conducted.One social worker told the inquiry team: "Everyone was saying, 'Everything is not right, there is just something about them'." She added: "They were viewed as important foster carers, you didn't want to be seen discriminating against a same-sex couple."A manager described Faunch and Wathey as "trophy carers" which led to slack arrangements over placements.Another said that by virtue of their sexuality the pair had a "badge" which made things less questionable.Faunch was jailed for six years and Wathey for five years at Leeds Crown Court last June, five weeks after taking part in a civil partnership ceremony.Passing sentence, Judge Sally Cahill QC told them: "You are presented as a couple, but this is not about homosexuality, it is about a breach of trust."Elaine McHale, Wakefield's corporate director of family services, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the report before it is presented to the full council next week.It is not yet clear whether individuals will lose their jobs as a result of the findings.Michelle Elliott, of the charity Kidscape, said: "Common sense went out of the window when they allowed political correctness to take over in this case."