According to the Daily Mail, Scotland Yard has banned the use of the word “blacklist” because – you’ll never guess – it’s racist. They have instructed fellow police to use the terms “red list” or “green list” instead.
A few years ago I published a book titled Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror. Banned in the UK? Fortunately, no. When the book was reissued in paperback with some additional chapters it was retitled Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming out Conservative in Tinseltown.
That was for cheesy commercial purposes – not for PC – but never mind. I got off Scot (or Scotland Yard) free. Otherwise I might have to rename the book Green Listing Myself: Memoir of a Tennessee Senator Cheated Out of the Presidency or something equally loathsome. Sometimes you get lucky.
Meanwhile, next time you’re in England, watch what you say. You might get blacklisted. I mean red listed. (Hey, isn’t that McCarthyite?-ed. No, it’s McCarthyist.)
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