The Fun Police

I remember the bad old days when everyone tried so hard to be 'politically correct', and I kind of thought those days had ended. After all, it's exhausting being perpetually indignant. And while social media provides lots of fodder for people to indignant about, not all of the upset is deserved.

Now, I get the issue with the unfortunately named US congress member, Anthony Weiner. He is very appropriately having his last day on the job today because he sent pictures of his member to women he'd met on facebook and twitter. That's just rank stupidity and frankly, very creepy.

But I really think we should let off the hook the Toronto city councillor who tweeted yesterday that he loved his job because he got to hang out with hot chicks at a plaque unveiling ceremony. Have you been to a plaque unveiling? While it's very nice for the folks being honoured, you must admit they can be hokey and boring. Often, there's a dearh of snacks. Having someone good looking nearby would certainly help pass the time.

So I agree with Rob Parker's refusal to apologise after he removed the tweet. Here's what he had to say to the Toronto Sun when asked he'd learned a lesson: "If the lesson of the day is you can’t have any fun around here, then no one is going to have any fun. If people are going to look for ways to take offence in circumstances where no offence is intended and no offence has been taken and third parties insist in finding offence on their own, that’s a bad day for all of us."

He's right. No offence was intended, and none was taken. Let's let go of the gotchas and look for real things to talk about. Who was being honoured on those plaques, anyway?