Apparently, if you’re a British diplomat serving in the United States and feeling a bit overshadowed by your bigger and better ally, you simply bake a creepy cake celebrating the destruction of your hated friend’s capitol building and then tweet a commemorative photograph of this governmental goodie to all and sundry. Just a little Monty Python humor to shore-up those flagging members of the British diplomatic corps. Nudge-Nudge, Wink-Wink.
The British Embassy sent out the following tweet to the American public the other day that went like this:
Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time! pic.twitter.com/QIDBQTBmmL
— British Embassy (@UKinUSA) August 24, 2014
Some American citizens, including myself, did not take kindly to the British government making a joke out of a wartime attack perpetrated on American soil by our now supposed friend and ally. And we certainly let the British Embassy know how strongly we felt. So within hours of their Happy White House Destruction tweet, the dimwitted diplomats apologized.
But in the wake of that stiff upper lip apology came a slew of withering criticisms from various Talking Heads and commentators, conservative ones included, on how ridiculously politically correct our culture has become. Why should anyone be bullied into apologizing for engaging in lighthearted free speech. It was a Joke! Get Over It! Enough already!
Here’s an example of the kind of chest-beating cris de coeur to be found in the blogosphere from Tim Bevan at RealClear Politics:
Our suffocating political correctness and hypersensitivity to all manner of perceived offenses are among the most tiresome features of modern American culture. We all profess to want to get along in perfect harmony, but these days any joke or quip that is even remotely controversial will get you shipped off to (Chinese style) reeducation camp. Which is why both the British Embassy and Harry Reid buckled under pressure and immediately issued formal apologies. For trying to be funny.
Nice to see you posting 🙂 As a bakery owner and cake decorator, I want to know who made the dang cake? I can tell you I would not even entertain the order, no matter how much they were willing to pay.
Hi there, Mary. I bet the British Embassy has its own pastry chef along with a large kitchen and wait staff–the Brit diplomatic corp gets treated like royalty.