Giving and taking offence

There's been a media row in the UK over the last week about some insults the London mayor, Ken Livingston, aimed at a journalist. Various people have chimed in saying that Ken should apologise, but now Tory MP Boris Johnson has weighed in with the opposite view. As Boris has pointed out, nothing Ken said was anti-semitic, it was just rude and offensive. And since it was meant to be rude and offensive, and Ken feels that he had reason to behave in this way, he really doesn't want to apologise and I can't see why he should. So called 'political correctness' has us thinking twice before we say anything, but it is worth remembering that being rude is a perfectly natural thing to do - it is part of the way we communicate, and sometimes we need to let the other person know that we are really pissed off. Those who would sanitise our language to the point that rudeness becomes impossible are mealy-mouthed weasels and they should sod off, right now.