Stop being pushed around. Use words as they are meant to be used, and force the PC idiots to prove you wrong. They can't do it and the law is on your side.

I am offended by Political Correctness.

You just need to be firm but tactful. Have a stated policy that your centre will recognise a variety religious celebrations so children become familiar with the range of cultures in their community. Make it clear that all religions are respected. Invite parents to become involved. Explain that Christmas is pretty much a secular event these days, and that Christmas trees, holly and tinsel have nothing at all to do with Christianity. Some years ago I helped children at our local school make hot cross buns before Easter. Knowing that there were some Muslim children I told them that while it was traditional to put a cross on top they could put their initials instead so they could identify their own bun. All of them did so except one - a Muslim boy - who wanted to follow tradition! He proudly took home his bun decorated with a cross with no repercussions.

Sati: By saying 'boy' and 'girl', we are excluding these children from each other and we need to use 'inclusive language' in order for people to feel included.

Yes, this is bloody ridicules.

Sati: Growing up in Australian Culture has made me who I am today, and I am proud of that fact.

Good on you mate. We need more of you & your family. Unfortunately there are others who refuse to assimilate. My heritage is Brit, Scot & Irish. I celebrate Paddys day on Paddys day for my Irish heritage & Burns day for the Scots, etc, but mostly I'm Australian. I expect others to celibate their own particular days as appropriate for their heritage as well & I will happily help them do that. This is a good thing. But to exclude Australian culture from their everyday life I feel is wrong.

The Christmas etc thing. This is a result of people who have been to Uni & done all the Social Courses & graduated. This is what they are taught then they implement it. Mostly I find that it is not the immigrants that are making the complaints. My immigrant friends, of various cultures, are as p!553d off are I am at these Directors, covering their @r553'5, attitudes. 'Baa Baa Black Sheep, of course is of the same ilk. Disgusting.

Sati: are we simply voicing out our opinion about the changes that are affecting our lifestyle?

Too right mate, & dammed If I give a 5tu## about what they think.

Sat1: we have to watch what we do in case we offend somebody.

Not me. Their attitude offends me & I tell them so in no uncertain terms. If they don't like it, 5t!## 5#!t.

Sati: What are your opinions on political correctness?

It offends me greatly. But I guess you could tell that.

Too right JayB.
This article could only have been written by a real Australian.
"Australianism" isn't defined by race alone, it's something that you have to be born into, the "Australian Way" has never been so narrowly defined by real Australians as it is by it's detractors.
We can't blame non White immigrants for Anglo Saxon political correctness because they have no role in forming it's doctrine, nor can we blame them for the cowardice of those centre operators and others with positions of influence who cave in the second someone raise their voice at them.
People will try all sorts of shenanigans if they think they their opponent in an argument is going to be a pushover and Political Correctness can only produce weak people who can't stand up for themselves, who have to rely on the law or the state to protect them.

Is any of this true?
I have seen such complaints as this and it is invariably untrue?
Lets have abit more evidence before we all go off half-cocked!

JBower: Is any of this true?

Best crawl out from that rock you've been living under & live in the real world. M'dear.

One of my pet hates is when someone says, "I think that inappropriate."... looking around the room for approval.

Inappropriate to whom... themselves. Do I care what THEY think. What about what anyone else thinks? What about what I think? I have the right to voice my opinion in a manner I feel IS appropriate & fitting in that particular situation, without having to find out if I have to, "fit in to a particular clique."

I have seen some of these people voice one opinion to one group & the opposite to another group & a different opinion in another set of circumstances. Just to fit in with the group they are with at the time. They then get upset when I point that out to them & say, "that inappropriate." Go figure.

The school who stopped talking about Santa and putting up Christmas Trees because a muslim
Woman said it went against her religion should be ashamed of themselves for being browbeaten by this. Don’t they have any backbone or pride in their own cultural traditions.

Christmas is as much a big cultural tradition in the West as it is a religious one.

This muslim woman was showing her ignorance about this. Santa and Christmas trees have nothing to do with the religious side of Christmas and there is no reason that Santa and Christmas trees can’t be celebrated.

Surely they could have solved this by allowing the Muslim Children
A chance to get up and speak about Ramadan or whatever the Muslim celebration is on the days when that was occurring.

For educated people these school teachers and leaders showed very
Little intelligence in sorting this matter out without silly bans.

Cherful: For educated people these school teachers and leaders showed very little intelligence in sorting this matter out without silly bans.
This is what they are taught at Uni. & if they don't agree with what they are being taught they are threatened with failing their Teacher/Social Workers Course. From personal experience with one of my young soldiers when I was in the ARES & my wife’s best friend when they were doing their respective Courses. Anti men & pro Gay/Green/Minority/Women & very Politically Correct. To the point of having discussions of what can be considered Politically Correct Speak with the aim of changing the language. That was a great discussion with my wife's ex friend. (She tried to make her Gay)

Like Jboyer I too am skeptical about some of the claims in this article especially about the Muslim woman. I hear these kinds of claims all the time yet have never heard them come from the mouths of Muslims. The author admits that this was just a story told her by a past colleague. After all, how would you sue someone for having kids draw pictures of Santa Claus? I don't think it is actually a tort.
However, I also believe that political correctness is a serious issue in Australia and needs to be combatted. It is quite easy to combat though, simply by refusing to partake in it and always speaking the truth, regardless of whether or not others may be offended.

Political correctness is what politicians and the like use when they want to force on you something you don’t want. Kind language on the other hand is what we use so as not to unintentionally offend or cause harm. You have studied the issue academically and professionally but write by stringing together a pile of questions with no substance -looks like you’re doing research, or worse, dog whistling for what you were not game to say in text.

Rainbow sheep is so silly it has to be a hint at GLBTI for the reader and not really what happens. The obvious thing to do for the kids is to use white, black, brown sheep in different verses - note that these are the actual colours of sheep, they are all one syllable and they fit the tune while rainbow doesn't.

What is wrong with kind language that says what we mean but nothing more? I think respectful language and equality are intrinsically linked. It is what stops people from coming to you, noting your skin colour and, if it’s not white, calling you a dirty n**ger (can't type it here). You wouldn’t ask the police for help but call them “pigs” to their face. There isn't anyone who doesn’t want to be treated with respect and dignity.

What is Australian culture? Any one answer will deny a significant proportion of our people their culture. Even mateship and a fair go are on the nose because they are self-congratulatory denying that we have plenty room for improvement.

"Freedom of speech is becoming scarcely obsolete" means not obsolete which is great news. Freedom of speech should always be secondary to freedom of biology that we can't change like race, gender, sexuality, skin colour, disability, medical status, etc.

I guess we can be thankful that Political Correctness is only the belief system of a tiny minority of Australians and that outside the managerial and academic caste it has little relevance and is not applicable to everyday situations.
Normal people operate on what I call the difference paradigm, where gender, racial and ideological differences are accepted and form the basis of a sound and sensible appraisal of the society we live in.
Normal people who recognise that these things matter and that there are different traits, attitudes and behaviours associated with different groups can safely navigate a multicultural/multiracial society, a person whose approach to the world is based solely on a set of beliefs is going to struggle to get by.
These Politically correct types in government and academia are no different to the fanatical sects of Muslims, Jews and Judeo Christians, they're just a tiny minority of hysterical extremists who refuse to face reality and have to rely on dogma and a set of beliefs in a universal way of seeing the world just to be able to make it through the day.
There is no human race, there is no such thing as equality, and no possiblity of a universal set of values, there is only difference and diversity but from that diversity comes creativity, vigour and a vital energy, political correctness is the polar opposite of all that's good in the world since it's totally opposed to creativity and vitality.

,

It is truly a disturbing state of affairs when we are no longer able to celebrate Christian traditions in our Childcare Centres for fear of offending non-Western minority groups.

Australia is a Western country with a Christian heritage. If non-Western immigrants are offended by our Western Christian culture, they should not move to Australia.

It really should be a no-brainer. Don't want to assimilate into the Western Christian culture of mainstream Australia? Then don't come.

The problem lies with state-sanctioned multiculturalism. By re-defining Australia as a "multicultural country" (an oxymoron if ever there was one), our political and academic elites have signalled to newcomers that we have no culture or traditions of our own and that Australia is basically a "blank slate" for immigrants to expand their own cultures into. Thus, in the name of "diversity" and "tolerance", we have allowed non-Western peoples to move in en masse and dictate to us what we can and cannot celebrate in our own country.

Talk about unconditional surrender.

Byron M. Roth, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Dowling College and author of "The Perils of Diversity", on the link between multiculturalism and political correctness:

"Not surprisingly, the multicultural program these elites promote is, by its very nature, profoundly undemocratic, in that it imposes changes on society that citizens most assuredly do not want and which they resist when given the opportunity to do so. Hence the extraordinary repression of dissent in the immigration debate and the totalitarian imposition of political correctness wherever elites have power."

According to Roth, state-sanctioned multiculturalism can only be maintained through coercion:

"From the perspective of inclusive fitness, unfamiliar others are potential free-riders and, out of a concern that they will be exploited by others, people reduce considerably their altruistic attitudes and behavior in a general way in more diverse communities. This loss of trust is a symptom of a breakdown in social cohesion and is surely a forerunner of the sort of ethnic conflict that is always likely to break out if allowed to do so. This is undoubtedly the reason why multicultural nation-states are forever promoting tolerance and ever more punitive sanctions for the expression of ethnic hostility, even going so far to as to discourage the expression of opinion about the reality of ethnic and racial differences. Currently these measures are directed at the host population when they express reserva­tions about the wisdom of mass immigration, but this will surely change as it becomes ever more obvious that it is the presence of competing ethnic groups that is creating the tension and not the expressed reservations of the majority population. The real danger for modern democracies is that in their zeal to promote multicultural societies, they will be forced to resort to the means that have characterized all empires attempting to maintain their hegemony over disparate peoples."