Great Britain: Fury over 'PC' Guy Fawkes ban (Political Correctness changes ancient tradition)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | November 2, 2006 | VINCE SOODIN

[Stoat]

 
Ban ... on Guy Fawkes

Fury over 'PC' Guy Fawkes ban

 
By VINCE SOODIN
November 02, 2006
 
 

 

 

 

 
FURY erupted today after Guy Fawkes night was banned by “politically correct” council chiefs and replaced by a Bengali folk tale.

 

Tower Hamlets Council in east London has chosen an “alternative theme” for fireworks night - traditionally based on the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

Instead council bosses have shelled out £75,000 on a fireworks display based on a Bengali tale called Emperor and the Tiger.

Sunday’s display at Hackney's Victoria Park is expected to attract 20,000 but there will no mention of the Guy Fawkes plot.

The move came under fire from George Galloway and campaigners.

Mr Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said: "It beggars belief that this council should organise a Bonfire Night without a bonfire or a Guy."

John Midgley, spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said the council's move would "explode in their faces".

He added: "There's a time and a place for everything and November 5 is for Bonfire Night. It's time for common sense and for people to tell bureaucrats that politically correct actions like these undermine our historic occasions and harm community relations."

Tower Hamlets' Bengali population of 65,000 make up about one third of the London borough.

But Bengalis dominate the council and its cabinet with 31 of the 51 councillors.

Tower Hamlets council insisted they were neither being politically correct nor forgetting the gunpowder plot.

A spokesman said: “Since introducing the themed events four years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 3,000 to a massive 23,000 people at last year's event. Let's judge the event by how much people enjoy themselves on the night."

[paudio]

Unless, of course, he's against it because the council decided to go with Indian folklore, not Islamic folklore...

[zeugma]

I just watched that movie for the first time last week.

Loved it.

Wish I'd have had time to put together a Guy Fawkes costume for halloween.

[Stoat]

Unless, of course, he's against it because the council decided to go with Indian folklore, not Islamic folklore...

That sounds just like Galloway....how very insightful of you. 

[1066AD]

Nice thought but I can just imagine the result here in the 'burbs of having a Guy Fawkes bonfire and fireworks !
Can't even do that July 4 !

[Stoat]

Nice thought but I can just imagine the result here in the 'burbs of having a Guy Fawkes bonfire and fireworks !
Can't even do that July 4 !

Well, the way to do it would be to start out small.  Invite a select group of friends whom you think would be receptive to such an event to meet you at a local city, county or State park that features a built-in firepit or barbecue.  After you finish cooking the food on the barbecue, build up the fire as big as is manageable and then you pull out your (small) Guy Fawkes effigy and dangle him by a pole or just throw him in the fire.  You can use this opportunity to tell those who don't know about Guy Fawkes and the history of Bonfire Night.  You can tell of how you used to make BIG bonfires back home, and I'll just bet you that someone will say "hey, I have some property outside of town....how about if we do this in a BIG way next year?"

It might grow into a tradition....look at what happened with "Burning Man", and how big that event became.....and the difference here is that Guy Fawkes Day actually has some real and very significant history behind it.

Just a thought   :-)

[dayglored]

> This just in: The PC crowd has reached a compromise by renaming Guy Fawkes night with Gay Folkes Night, which insiders confirm that "after the bonfires are lit, it'll really be flaming!"

Fabulous!!

> No comment about the Golden Showers.

It's just as well. Ya just gotta wonder what they're thinking, in this day and age, with such a name.

Then again, there's a bar/restaurant in Corning, NY (home of the famous glass-blowing plant and museum) called the "Glory Hole". It's a perfectly straight neighborhood place... go figure.

[Zetman]

Interesting.

Now I know where Stephen King gets his ideas. In one of his "Dark Tower" novels, the people of a small town have a similar bonfire festival each year. In his story, the pretend men who are consumed by the bonfires are called "Stuffy Guys" instead of "Guys", and they are stuffed with straw, not newspaper.

[Straight Vermonter]

Your idea is also disproved by the fact that the only pre-imperial nation to resume its independence was Britain, which was cut loose by Rome, rather than seizing independence.

My point was not that they wanted to be free from Rome but rather they wanted the benefits of the empire but they were not committed to the empire.

So much has been written about the problems the legions had because they eventually became dominated by foreign troops, I don't need to repeat it here. The same problems, however, existed in all areas of the empire. Those administering the empire no longer were concious of building a better empire. In large part I think because they were not in fact "Roman".

Who in the last 3 centuries sought to "find Rome in bricks and leave her clad in marble"?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Who in the last 3 centuries sought to "find Rome in bricks and leave her clad in marble"?

Well, of course in the period after Marcus Aurelius Rome was already clad in marble, and building was going on in provincial cities. Also the architectural skills were declining as was going on in everything in the Empire.

The truth of course is that the idea of patriotism was to the entire Empire, no longer the city and people of Rome, who were no longer dominant.

[tet68]

I think we both (English and American) share an understanding of individual rights even if over done
sometimes, the idea of an individual taking on what seems to be overweaning government sits well with us.

from another site.

Nowadays on Bonfire Night people organise their own parties or attend big organised fireworks displays. They stand around the bonfire, set off fireworks and eat lots of nice warming Bonfire Night foods, like sausages and jacket potatoes. They might also remark...

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
We see no reason,
Why gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot!

...Which sort of suggests that people rather admire the cheek of Guy Fawkes, trying to blow up Parliament, and that's why they celebrate Bonfire night, rather than celebrating the fact that his plot failed and he was caught!

[kalee]

I am beginning to doubt that "there will always be an England".

"Britons, awake!"
The empire too, we can depend on you.
Freedom remains. These are the chains
Nothing can break.

There'll always be an England,
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me.

[mware]

It kind of sounds like our Halloween.

Sad that the PC'er are messing with the kids fun.

[mware]

Which sort of suggests that people rather admire the cheek of Guy Fawkes, trying to blow up Parliament, and that's why they celebrate Bonfire night, rather than celebrating the fact that his plot failed and he was caught!

They did know how to deal with traitors.

[Mrs Ivan]

Wow... even Galloway is against it.

Presumably because it is not an Islamic theme.

[Future Snake Eater]

"England prevails!"

[dd5339]

What? No Guy Fawkes day? What are they turning into across the pond?

Semper Fi

[kaboom]

I don't think that this is PC at all. Being PC implies that one is trying not to offend, whereas this is an offensive elimination of a British tradition in order to promote non-native culture.

Your analogies are spot on.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It must have ben a tough call, though, for George Galloway. On the one hand, Guy Fawkes day, for 400 years the annual opportunity to bash Catholics:

A penny loaf to feed the Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: the Pope is dead. --

Or, garner support from the Muslims by featuring the Bengali folklore instead!

Both wonderful things. OH, what to do... what to do...

[Dick Bachert]

Along with Spain, France and Germany, Britian is GONE!!

Sorry, but since you DID, after all, mention “PC” in your post, you are simply the latest recipient of a newly discovered definition of the term, to wit:

Political Correctness:

”A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”

By spreading this definition around, perhaps we can employ one of the more effective methods of deflating and defeating the fools who practice and promote it: RIDICULE.

Unless stopped – and soon – PC will DESTROY Western Civilization -- if it hasn’t already.

PASS IT ON!!