Lindsay Perigo
The Politically Incorrect Show - 18/04/2000
[Music - Die Fledermaus]
Good afternoon, KAYA ORAAAA & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Tuesday April 18, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit & excellence against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.
[Music up, music down]Lest you thought the Aussies, who like to vaunt a no-nonsense, cut-the-crap approach to life, are free of Political Correctness & its attendant absurdities, let me quote from a recent article in a Queensland paper, The Courier Mail. Headed up "Another put-down for the short guys." it says in part:
"Short males are less likely to succeed in life & often earn less money than their taller counterparts, according to experts. 'Heightism' is rampant in Australian society, & short people, short men in particular, face constant discrimination. It is a fact proven by research, such as an American Medical Association study of 12, 536 people which found short men earned significantly below-average wages. The study also found earnings rose by 2% for every 10cm of height. Recent research at Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital also found young males were discriminated against on the basis of their height, & short boys were more likely to repeat a grade than their taller counterparts. University of Queensland social psychology professor Michael Hogg said 'heightism' was not an overt type of discrimination, but was 'deeply ingrained' in Western culture & was used to form a quick evaluation of a person. 'Tall men are perceived to be strong & powerful in our society, while short men are thought to be weak & not very successful, so we tend to have automatic, negative reactions to them,' he said."
Well I'm glad that the good professor is onto it, & that taxpayer money is being well spent on his salary. But isn't there sexism here? How come short women don't rate a mention? Surely, if this prejudice exists, they must be equally long-suffering, oppressed victims of it as well? Whatever, the solution, of course, is obvious, & in this country it should be assigned to those stalwarts of anti-discrimination, Phillida Bunkle & Laila Harre, for enforcement. 'Heightism' must be added forthwith to the list of grounds on which it's illegal to discriminate. Mzzzzz Bunkle has already mooted the outlawing of lookism - discrimination on the grounds of beauty or handsomeness - & Mzzzzz Harre has already announced that she intends to force employers to hire disabled lesbian Maoris, so it's only right & proper that 'heightism' should now be banned as well.
Come to that, there's a particularly insidious form of discrimination that is rampant throughout the radio industry which I would commend to the attention of Comrades Bunkle & Harre - I've been aware of it for some time now, & I call it 'voiceism' - the hiring of radio announcers & talk-show hosts partly on the basis that they have good voices. This is demonstrably unfair to those who don't, & this injustice should be rectified immediately.
Actually, wouldn't it be simpler just to ban the hiring of anyone, period? That way we could guarantee that no discrimination of any variety was being practised, including those forms of it that are as yet unidentified, & bring the vile, exploitative capitalist system crashing to its knees as well - an outcome that I know would make Laila & Phillida deliriously happy. And in their happiness, can we not all rejoice, indiscriminately?
Politically Incorrect Show, tongue planted firmly in cheek ... 309 3099.
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