In the US, there are few things more popular to attack than 'political correctness'. I don't mean PC as simply not using a few insensitive words, but PC as some enormous left-wing conspiracy to rob people of their rights of free speech. This devilish thought-control has apparently made us into a bland, timorous nation where straight, white, Christian men are banished from the halls of power and influence to make way for the takeover of black, lesbian Wiccans.
And yet, not everything we don't like has happened because political correctness has become overwhelming. If you can believe it, some things needed changing. Alot of the 'traditions' we've kept around for the past 50 or 100 or 2,000 years were simply garbage that needed cleaning out as soon as possible. Besides, all the supposedly unassailable minorities (such as blacks, gays, Muslims, etc.) are hardly free of criticism and suspicion; while white, Christian men continue their dominance over American political and economic life.
Cries of 'PC! PC!' have become a dismal, obvious excuse for lazy racists, sexists, homophobes and sundry other bigots across the country. Yes, such people really do exist! It's almost become a sort of game; various right-wing figures try to outdo each other to make the most sweeping, offensive, unjust generalization before hiding behind the cover of 'sticking it to the PC police'. One can hardly listen to some conservatives argue for more than five minutes without hearing him (or her) lean back, sneer, and, with the air of someone revealing that ice is actually frozen water, declare "It may not be PC to say so, but..." as if that gave them free reign to say absolutely anything, no matter how stupid or untrue.
Just browsing around on FreeRepublic as I sometimes do (though I don't reccomend it to anyone else) I find two accusations of 'PC liberal trash'. One involved Philadelphia public schools requiring a course on black history, and another involved the banning of a poster who had submitted an article supporting the theory of global warming. Heavens! Teaching science? Learning about black history? In America? What a crazy idea!
Political correctness, like any good cause, can be exploited. Yet its aim remains to challenge the idea that the things some people are used to are somehow sacred or 'traditional' and therefor immune to change just because we haven't had the sense or the courage to do something about it.
3 comments:
I just finished reading "Why I am Not a Christian". I was appalled, but not at all surprised, that Christians blocked Bertrand Russell's appointment as professor to a New York state college. Clearly Mr. Russell is a qualified teacher and should have been respected as such. Thus, something needed to change.
However, it seems that the shoe is quite literally on the other foot. It is unfortunate that conservatives cry "P.C." Sometimes this is merely a way for them to be allowed to--as you mentioned--say something that is indefensible. One may claim that blacks are inferior to whites. However, telling the purporter of such nonsense that he is a fool is not political correctness, it's common sense and honesty.
Now then, do we have a problem with the P.C. police? Certainly. Those in power often lord it over those underneath them. Bertrand Russell should have been allowed to teach freely, just as Pat Buchanan should be allowed to speech without having to be coated in salad dressing.
I think that you and I, as well as any reasonable person, would agree that open discourse is a good thing. Our universities should be places for said discourse. Sadly, that which I have read bodes otherwise. I cannot use my personal experience here as I go to a largely politically apathetic engineering university.
If by P.C. you mean teaching doctrine that might run counter to Victorian era thought I am with you one hundred percent. Teach evolution and global warming as scientific theories. Teach black history within the scope of American history.
If, on the other hand, by P.C. you mean ignoring thoughts that run counter to neo-liberal thought, I cannot support you. I am not saying that you are, only that in some environments, P.C. has been used as a weapon no less violent than that which wrongly struck Russell down from that which was rightfully his.
We have safely defaced most traditions. When neo-liberal thought becomes tradition, will you welcome a new wave of P.C. to usher out traditions that may indeed be "simply garbage"?
I agree with you that not all aspects of political correctness are the "instruments of oppression" that some people claim they are. Standard practices of PC have indeed rid us of harmful cultural stereotypes.
However, PC-militancy is a problem that stifles honest debate. By this, I mean the standards that prohibit any criticism of any 'protected group'. To say that affirmative action doesn't work all the time or that women are underrepresented in the 'hard sciences' out of choice rather than blatant discrimination or that terrorism currently thrives where radical Islam is most influential or that South Asian culture can sometimes be restrictive is immediately responded to with charges of "racism" by the PC police.
And on another note, FreeRepublic is hardly the place to find representative opinions of mainstream critics of PC, or of mainstream conservative thought in general. Follow your own advice and don't judge whole groups of people based on their extremists.
"racism" or "sexism" by the PC police.
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