[talkSAFT]

Hate to be on the other side here, but this is exactly why the PC brigade get on their high horse, because of the way things are interpreted.  Now I do not know where you saw this information and I am not criticising your views in any way, but the truth behind this Mexican sombrero story illustrates the problem well of how something occurs and then is reported in a way which suits the agenda of some newspapers.

The Sombrero story is 12 words from a 600 word news article about possible legal challenges within Universities around who was and more so, who was not allowed to speak at Student Union events, such as that well known 'radical' Germane Greer, she was viewed as to feminist by one university to speak.   The part to you refer was half a line from that article "student unions have even banned the wearing of sombreros because it is ‘racist’".  This is an inaccurate and misleading statement by the press, it was not Student "Unions", it was one, the Student Union at the University of East Anglia. Neither did the Student Union ban them because they were racist, what happened was, a Mexican Restaurant in Norwich during freshers week, handed out sombrero's to the students.  The Student Union has a policy which states: at Student Union events, companies are not allowed to give out gifts which promote racial stereotypes.   Now I am not saying, that is a good policy and I am not saying it is not a little over the top, but I am saying, it is not,  "student unions have even banned the wearing of sombreros because it is ‘racist’".

Should I be offended?        

You're right to point out the Press slight misinterpretation, Salop. (After all, I read it in the Mail on Sunday - enough said!)

More to the point, though, a Student Union has such a ridiculous policy that it doesn't differentiate between what's offensive and what's totally and obviously not!
The over-concerned Students, who patronise any person (other than white British people) make up a policy against "promoting racial stereotypes" just in case that one person back in Tijuana might start crying.