What do you think of PC and lad culture?
Political correctness is a phrase that divides a lot of opinion in society. Coined decades ago, the phrase has come to represent woke culture, offensiveness and people who are out of touch with modern linguistic norms.
What side of the debate you side with depends very much on who you are, and sometimes, your political leanings.
For every person that feels like political correctness is a force for good in a world which has become more tolerant over the years, there’s another person who considers it an attack on our freedom of speech.
JOE met up with comedian Frank Skinner, a man whose comedy has sometimes offended over the years, to discuss whether political correctness is a bane or a boon to our world.
"I think political correctness is basically about kindness and compassion. But I think when middle class white people get agitated about anything they get a bit silly."
Comedian Frank Skinner on why PC culture – despite sometimes being taken too far – is a good thing for society pic.twitter.com/Ere5abhbzO
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) November 14, 2019
Skinner was a seminal part of the British comedy and culture scene during the 1990s when the new lad culture reared its head. Like political correctness, lad culture is now a topic which provokes as much derision as anything else, and is associated with sexism, homophobia and generally outdated views.
We talked to him about the perception of lad culture, and whether it is truly representative of the young working class men that are regularly associated with it.
"I don't know if I look back on lad (culture) as a working-class thing. I think it was pretty much middle-class…"
Frank Skinner is often seen as the face of lad culture in the 90s. Here he reflects upon that era, and how working-class life is often fetishised by the media. pic.twitter.com/mKMZpgjHe1
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) November 12, 2019
