Can you believe all the fuss over Jeremy Clarkson’s suggestion that public sector strikers be shot? Can you believe that people have actually demanded that the BBC sack him and demanded too that he is denounced by “his friend” the Prime Minister?
Why? It is surely obvious to all but the most feeble-minded (of course, therein lies the answer) that the man was cracking a joke, a silly, perhaps crass, joke but a joke nonetheless. Have we really come to the stage where we take ourselves so seriously that we cannot laugh anymore or cannot treat public utterances the way they were meant to be treated. Are we so contaminated by political correctness and so full of righteous indignation that we cannot let these things pass any longer? A sense of perspective is needed here, Clarkson was joking and that’s all there is to it. Get over it and concentrate instead on resisting those who really do wish us and our society harm. Believe me, there are plenty of them out there and they really are completely deserving of our full attention and concern.