I wrote this as a paper for my Advanced Composition class a while back; got an "A" on it... and I thought it might spark good discussion here. It sure did back in class... ** I know it's long (8 pages double spaced), but skim it or something. You'll either like it or hate it! ** Official Cause of Death: Political Correctness I remember a time when innocence was unanimous, a time when kindness was assumed, a time when artificial reasoning wasn't necessary. I remember time when I could speak about people of other races, when school students could make Mother's Day cards in elementary school, and when I could proudly show my support for the destruction of Muslim terrorists, and even when our security wasn't hindered by ideals. That was then. This is now. A disease has crept into our society, diagnosed mostly by the people to be Political Correctness, or “PC.†We've always had some of it: from the days of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington to Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy. But in the past few decades and especially recently, our society has become handicapped – I mean “unfairly incompetent†– in the realm of being “truly kind.†Politically, all kindness is artificial anymore, especially on the campaigning side of the nation. Socially, kind words are only covered by the tracks and stench of the efforts to keep everybody happy. (And I use the term “stench†very affectionately. I would, ironically, hate to offend anybody with this paper.) The point of my paper is to scare you of the country we are becoming. I have news for all you PC advocates (if you don't kill me after reading this paper): We don't live in a Utopian society (Rather, we all live in a yellow submarine!), and we shouldn't either. The Utopia that the very-far-left-wingers want in our country is the utopia farther than classical communism or socialism. It is the practice that everybody is perfectly equal in all social ways, more than just in ways the government treats us. In order to accomplish this, we must be certain that we make no statement or gestures that could possibly offend or make uncomfortable another party, organization, race, group of people, or simply another person. This demands (sorry: “proposes stronglyâ€) that any bald person be referred to as follicularly-challenged and that any failures by somebody be considered untraditional success. It would have to go to the extremes of giving a girl the title of pre-woman or labeling somebody who is poor as economically marginalized. Essentially, we would become a dystopia. These are terms which cater to the needs or feelings of these types of people. A common defense in the issue of PC is, “Well heck, we don't want a perfect society, we just want everybody to feel equal in our country where every citizen should be treated equally. It's in the constitution.†I have no problem with this. The problem therein lies in the interpretation of what is written in the constitution, and in ideas such as this. This is the crux of warning which I offer to all readers. As you read this, know that I don't mean to offend anyone in the context of this paper. In fact, I try to avoid offending anybody whenever possible. Anybody can, and many probably try to! The often-hidden reality of offense, however, is that it is only a feeling. Offense is merely a feeling that a person “was attacking me†in some way or another. Feelings can be conveyed, but in the end, how you feel is your own choice. Now I don't mean this in an “everything is your fault†type of way, but you control yourself. Take pride in that; it's a wonderful thing! Think about it: nobody else can force you to do, think, say, or interpret something another way. It is humankind's greatest gift; let's cherish it and use it. Let people make up their own minds, not try to fix up what we do, think, or say, for other people in a way that is absurd. I don't have anything against trying to not imply offense, but there's limits. Notice these as I discuss the issue of PC in this document. While I believe that we should give every legal citizen of any race – for example – equal benefits regarding taxes, employment, etc, I do not believe that we should avoid identifying African-Americans as “blacks†or “Negroes†(and my spell-checker actually forced me to capitalize that!) because it seems “derogatory†to some. For example, after a day at the harbor last year, I pointed out an interesting boat by pointing (heaven forbid!) and saying, “That one – by the black girl over there.†A couple walking by heard me, gave me a dirty look, and swiftly walked away out of earshot. I suppose they would have rather I said, “That particular water vessel – by the Child-of-Native-Tribal-Immigrated-Parents-of-Color over yonder.†Am I one of the few that senses a bit of ridiculousness in this? It is apparent that over-usage of PC is crippling what is left of our society. We often read books like 1984 by George Orwell, or Anthem by Ayn Rand, and fear the possible future of losing all individuality or becoming exactly correct in all actions, thoughts, perceptions, and ideas. To all the readers of this paper, I declare unto you from an angle not necessarily of absurdity and inconvenience – but rather for fear of – the danger and sure-fatal bandwagon of the hypocrisy of this vile slime: political correctness. Anthem and 1984 were written just a few years after the Nazi party (No, not “Hitler's Political Regime.â€) was destroyed in World War II. There was widespread fear of the presence of totalitarianism and absolute power: control over our thoughts, control over our religion, control over our speech, worldwide. Today, this same phenomena is gripping those that still have free minds, but unlike World War II, this enemy is destroying us from the inside; it's not trying to invade us from out. It's an enemy hidden like we've never known before. It's an enemy to our freedom and all the original ideas this country was founded on. The next bit of my paper is dedicated to basing my firm accusations on published, notable facts. It is not just our country which suffers from this subtle and annoying enemy. In South Africa, children are no longer allowed to make Mother's Day cards in school because of the five percent of children who do not have moms, and guess what the head advocate of the movement said: merely, “We have to exercise great sensitivity.†And because of that, she won the case. It's hard to believe that statement alone won her the satisfaction of ruining everybody else's freedom to make Mother's Day cards, but it's true: behind that statement lay all the so-called “common sense†the judge needed to make the call. Because of this call, ninety-five percent of pupils are denied to carry a tradition. Not only will PC destroy our constitutional rights, it will destroy our traditions and way of life. And this is only the beginning. Imagine what our world would be like if... say... even half of the population started doing this. Charlton Heston said, “Political correctness is just tyranny with manners.†And it is so true. To define this quote a little more, we'll take another quote, this time from David Mamet, an American playwright and film director, "We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police [tyranny]; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder 'censorship', we call it 'concern for commercial viability'." Thought police. The term originally comes from George Orwell in 1984, but still applies to concepts we encounter today. We as a whole can control what other people think and say by scaring them into thinking they will offend us, or somebody, if they say, think, or do something that could even possibly be criticized. For this reason, politicians and people in power or authority have become most susceptible to PC. Our own Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff is “hamstringing counter-terror operations with pro-Islamic political correctness,†according to WorldNet Daily. Just hours before the attempted bombing on August 10, 2006, Chertoff issued a message saying, “[...] a significant number of extremists engaged in a substantial plot to destroy multiple aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States [...]†What type of extremists? This memo is just about as useful as a key without a lock. If a DHS official can't mention what type of extremists, then who can? President Bush in a press conference called the British terrorists and their ilk “Islamic fascists†but backed off after getting hard criticism from the Council of American-Islamic Relations. If we can't call them what they really are, then what do we call them? It's the same issue with black or Hispanics. Every time I mention “black,†it sparks controversy. What do you want me to call them? At this point, I obviously cannot call them what they are. It's a term that means “You have black skin.†It's merely a method of identification. Regardless of origin of terms, it's what is meant by use of a term that matters. If you have black skin, you are called a black person. I have white skin, and I am called a white person. So what's the big deal here? Granted, there are terms that actually are degrading (e.g. The slang word for “Negroâ€), but if you are black, why not be called black? No, these differentiating people are not “sensitive to others' feelings,†they are insensitive to the reality of life. This is one thing that makes those politically correct distant from the truth, from the way the absolute is, and the way things really are. That's a pretty scary thought. Arguments brought up with this approach often say, “If somebody really is 'dumb', you don't say 'You're dumb' to them. It is degrading. Likewise, you don't say 'You are black' to a black person.†No. This idea is fatally flawed: one cannot control being black, and for that fact, one should have no reason to be ashamed of it, and thus being called black cannot or definitely should not be demeaning. This is only an example; there is more than just racial terms which are in the grips of PC. A wise anonymous person once said, “Political correctness allows for two basic types of complaint: that people who behave or are the same are treated differently, and that people who behave differently or are different are treated the same.†Political correctness hurts more than our traditions and way of free thinking. It also damages our safety and security. Ever heard of “racial profilingâ€? It's a PC term started just a few years ago by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They were complaining that the New Jersey State Police were stopping a disproportionate amount of minorities on the Turnpike, and that led to follow-up arrests for stolen cars, drug smuggling, fugitives, etc. The police captain lost his job for saying that most crimes committed on the Turnpike were done by minorities. Police work has been strung tight since that phrase was born. Some police now ignore threats rather than be accused of racial profiling. Only severely speeding or severely reckless drivers are pulled over. Even since the reductions in amount of arrests made altogether, minorities still hold the top number for crimes committed on the Turnpike. This trend follows closely the same trend through the rest of the nation, a statistic according to the Federal Crime Office. This may sound terribly racist (I don't mean it that way), and I ironically must apologize for saying this but it's just the facts: the majority of felonies committed by minorities (blacks, Hispanics, etc) are proportionally greater than those committed by whites, or “Caucasiansâ€.1 This suggests that some minorities may have less respect for the law in our country that protects all of its citizens. It is not just on our police level that PC damages us; it is also in the national level: the level of Homeland Security, our Armed Forces, and our Intelligence agencies. The national and city (police) levels are not all, either. It damages us from the organizational, regional, family, school, and career levels too. Now let's take this issue down to more elementary levels: arts, entertainment, comics/humor, and satire. Many of you are familiar with the “Dilbert†cartoons by Scott Adams. In 1995, Adams wanted to add a female character to the strip to add a little gender balance. Thus Tina the Brittle Technical Writer came to be. When she appeared in the strip, Adams got flame letter after flame letter from technical writers – men and women alike – blasting him for “maligning their profession via too much stereotype.†To fix this up a bit, Adams added Antina to the strip for a little one-time joke. Antina didn't dress, talk, act, have a body like, or have interests like stereotypical women: (Dilbert (TM) copyright 1997 Universal Press Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved. His email “caught on fire again.†This time, Adams was accused of making fun of lesbians. (Maybe it's because his tie was flat in the last panel.) Apparently, there's no safe ground in the comics industry anymore. That's not as innocent as it sounds: heed the fact that cartooning is just one small portion of the realm of art, entertainment, and other cultural ideals we (should) hold dear to us. I've brought up merely a few minor examples here because of the limitations of practicality of this essay; and not only is political correctness harmful in an uncountable number of ways not practical to impose in this paper, but it also is extremely hypocritical. Advocates for PC argue that it is a constitutional responsibility that we treat everybody equally. This is in reference to earlier in my document about the Utopian society and what (generally) the rather far-left ideally wants to achieve, which is impossible anyway. It is also a Constitutional right and demand that we have freedom of belief and of speech. Political correctness only limits this, and therefore, by abiding by PC, we violate not just one but two major ideals of the U.S. Constitution, because we cannot believe or speak what we feel is right. We could not speak about anybody else. Ever. Or any thing, for that matter. We would become dissident, bound people. There would be no “Iâ€. There would only be “Us†and “Weâ€. All sense of individualism would be lost in the efforts to make it impossible to offend a person, and there would be no happiness, because there would be no negativity. There would be no way to comprehend anything other than existence, which in and of itself, cannot be conceived with that type of brainwashing anyway. I hereby call out to all those that wish to maintain and preserve our human, God-given rights to speak out against political correctness and make known to the country what we need to keep and what we need to change. It's time for this ridiculousness to end, for the absurdity to end, for us to stop this before it gets worse, and start the new era of true freedom. Let end the subtle political view of kindness and compassion to all: and let us accept that there will always be one who disagrees or does not approve. This is life, so let's buck up and live it; not try to make it perfect. It would only end in ruin, disgrace, and loss of what's left of our human element. Say Christmas when you want to. Say “Black†if you refer to them. Make cards for your parents on Mother's and Father's day... put what you want in comic strips. Don't lose the traditions because of the so horribly flawed ideals of this PC scum. Don't sit there and conform. It will only destroy you... and it is your choice. Be thankful that it is, for it may not be very long.
Excellent article, Chilium! No doubt you'll probably get some slack for it, but I respect that you chose to share it with others and put your ideas and thoughts into a hostile forum for others to see where you stand. That takes courage. Well done!
Considering nearly every post I see by you in this DP P&R forum is complete and utter drivel I am impressed with this and agree with you on most parts. Well written buddy!
Love the article - please consider posting it at article-gems. We love though provoking articles. P.C. - I'm sick of it. It makes workplaces an intolerable place. Death to P.C. Freedom of speech means just that FREEDOM - you can't have it both ways.
I give credit where it is due chulium. Political Correctness is the bane of society and drives many people crazy.
Brilliant post chulium. Rep on way. Political correctness has turned the UK into a banana republic without the benefit of fresh fruit!
Wow, thanks. I expected this to draw up more controversy and debate than agreement, but heck... I'm not gonna complain.
great writing!!! sadly enough weasel doesn't agree...then again, he probably didn't even read it...also, since he considers you a dork, that means he is probably a C level student at the best....thats what the c level students at my high school labeled the A students anyway...
Do you have anything relevant to the article you want to say or do you just want to personally attack someone you disagree with? As for the article, I agree with it 100%.
Me too buddy. In fact, I had to go and lie down for a couple of hours to get over the shock. Usually chulium posts complete shat but this is a great post from him and deserves all the kudos it gets.
Yeah... in the writing of the paper, actually, I had to "tone down" some of my language (ironic, huh?) - e.g. I couldn't use the word "retarded" (even properly!) to talk about mentally handicapped people in my paper because my teacher wouldn't allow it. Something about "negative connotation". Needless to say, I gave in only because I respect her and I wanted an A. The two paragraphs about racial profiling also caused quite a stir; some didn't like that I used the words "Mexicans" (even if they're from Mexico) and some also didn't like that I wrote that "... SUGGESTS that blacks and other minorities have less respect for the law that protects all its citizens" - something about my singling out blacks and complaining about minorities (even though I have stats from 3 sources to back it up on my printed piece). Oh well My English department is infested with PC, so I felt compelled to write it. Thanks for the comments ^_^
I was enjoying the new non-PC vibe, douchebag Most of the things that article talks about are a joke, oh noes someone got upset, who cares? I don't think anyone really cares if chulium calls black people blacks, in fact I call black people blacks all the time and I've never had anyone ever complain about it. Who cares if dilbert gets hate mail? or if kids in south africa can't make mothers days cards, they are such none issues its laughable you know that most of that is based on income and poverty then race right? Where is you school located?
Ahh, now I understand. ass Back in my day you could write and get graded on the quality of the writing, not on what opinions were expressed.
That's not an example of "PC" - that's an example of broadcast indecency. The airwaves have rules that all stations have to abide by. PC is not about that; PC is more about thought censorship and police.