Mercy Muroki: We shouldn't be afraid to deploy common sense against oversensitive softies

A pensioner has painted white a Native American totem pole he owns, which depicts a black figure, after a neighbour complained that having the wooden figure sitting in his garden was racist.

Brian Connery, who is an enthusiast of Native American culture, installed the totem pole in his front garden, which shows a black figure grinning in a blue suit. But that was until some absolute wetwipe of an individual decided to report the pensioner to the literal police as a potential hate crime.

Now, luckily, because I do believe this country hasn’t entirely lost its marbles, the police ruled he had not committed a hate crime and didn’t take any further action. But not before they reportedly tried to record it as "a possible public order offence, due to the visual representation which cause alarm and distress to members of the public.”

Alarmed and distressed by a wooden figure on a totem pole in a pensioners garden? I’ll tell you what is likely to cause alarm and distress to members of the public, when police time and resources are dedicated to thin-skinned cry-babies rather, you know, catching actual criminals.

It's not like there are stabbings, and murders, and robberies, and rapes going on. Now, Mr. Connery said this about the incident: "The complaint was made that it was racist, I repainted it white, and that’s it. The police were happy with it. Everyone was happy with it.”

But is that it? Because it never really is it when you capitulate to these people, people who want to spend their limited time on this earth taking offence at innocuous – often inanimate – objects.

You give them an inch, they will take a mile. So, how do you deal with people like this? My message is this: If someone accuses you of hate – be it racism, homophobia, transphobia, pick your poison – and you know deep down that they're being completely unfair, unreasonable and ridiculous - don't just take their word for it, don’t just immediately capitulate. Ask them, politely, to explain what exactly is racist (or transphobic, or whatever it happens to be) and let them have their piece.

And if, after that, you genuinely see where they’re coming from – then fine. Admit the error in judgement, and move on with your life. But if all common sense dictates that you have done nothing wrong; that they are being ridiculous. Stand your ground. Because I don’t want to live in a world where common sense is not used to filter our the right from the ridiculous.

The pooled judgement, reason and common sense of the general public is good enough for juries, who have peoples lives in their hands – quite literally in places like America where the death penalty exists. It surely must be good enough them to dictate when people are being morons...

The saying goes “common sense ain’t so common” – but I disagree. I think common sense is common in Britain. And I think we shouldn't be afraid to deploy it at full force against oversensitive softies.