The Truth Behind Political Correctness

Here's a purely rhetorical questions: how can something that was wrong from the start go wrong? Political correctness was never a good idea, but the ramifications are either worse than its creators ever dreamed or (heaven forbid!) it's exactly what they had in mind from the beginning.

According to Philip Atkinson, "Political Correctness (PC) is the communal tyranny that erupted in the 1980s. It was a spontaneous declaration that particular ideas, expressions and behavior, which were then legal, should be forbidden by law, and people who transgressed should be punished."

Mr. Atkinson points out that freedom of choice and freedom of speech are the community's safeguards against tyranny and states that the rational behind political correctness was to keep people from being offended.

For example, if you accept the word of the experts' and abide by the law, you will not punish your children in any significant way, not in a way that will teach them that there are consequences to their actions. I learned right from wrong because my mother punished me the old fashioned way, long before there was any local awareness of PC. I hated it, but it did me no lasting damage. Rather, it taught me that there were definitely consequences to be paid if I was dishonest, disrespectful, or stole something that didn't belong to me. If she had been limited to making me take a time out and sit on the couch for half an hour, I would have been up to my old tricks in no time.

When I went to school, people who didn't earn good grades weren't given good grades just so that they would feel good about themselves. You got to feel good about yourself when you accomplished something of value, like studying, learning, and passing tests on what you were supposed to have learned.

How do you raise a child who will become a responsible, caring, and resilient adult if merely existing in the world is all you have to do because PC will protect you from ever being told the truth about yourself? Will the real world think you're the most special person ever? Will you reap all the rewards of hard work if you don't produce anything? If you learn when you're in your 20s that everything you've been taught was a lie, and the world is definitely not your oyster, will you explode with rage? Go on a rampage with your automatic weapons to punish those who refuse to learn that you're a superior being and entitled to have whatever you want?

I think personally it's largely a bad thing; it seems to be a substitute for good manners. At the end of the day nobody should abuse another person because of colour, religion, disability, gender or sexuality. This is something that should be instilled into everyone as good manners.

What political correctness has done however is allow all kinds of lifestyles and radical viewpoints gain confidence due it not being PC to challenge them. Things like Islamic Fundamentalism, Female Circumcision, Extreme Religious beliefs and practices are all increasing because of the PC brigade and its PC gag on any criticism, and this is why overall I feel it so detrimental.

Touching of any kind is not politically correct. If a child falls down and skins a knee on the playground, a reassuring hug from a caring teacher can help dry the tears and make it better. I know. I had some very kind and caring teachers. My little friends and I used to skip around the playground holding hands, having some actual physical contact with another human being. That's no longer allowed either and can get a child expelled from school.

We played cowboys and Indians as well as cops and robbers a lot and aimed and shot at each other, using our index fingers as guns and making silly sounds to indicate that we'd pulled the trigger. I've never killed anyone as a result of my childhood play. As an adult at work, I've been fortunate enough to have made many friends. Sometimes one or the other of us is away for a while, traveling on business or on vacation. There have always been hugs when we saw each other after an absence, with both male and female friends; friendly hugs, human contact with people we care about and who care about us. Physical contact is supremely important to us as human beings. It is an expression of caring. It's the human thing to do. It's no longer acceptable, and could get you fired.

If you doubt that Political Correctness is a problem, just think back over the last several years, when it has reached its worst level, with the official truth proclaimed in the face of contradictory evidence. Go back 10 or 20 years; it was there. Go back as far as you'd like in the 20th century and you'll find evidence of the development of the official truth that, at times, has made us doubt our own sanity or ability to interpret truth as the government and media tell us we should.

I think people should be able to say what they want, within the confines as what is considered basic manners, when they want, to whomever they want. We are supposed to have freedom of speech but now you can't say lots of things. We have to bite our tongues before we think to say anything instead of just talking freely. If I want to call someone something more power to me, whether they are white, black, Latino, male, female, etc. That is my right to my opinion and it shouldn't be held against me. Once we start banning folk from freedom of expression and speech we are on a slippery slope and it has left us with the ridiculous system we at present and its only getting worse. Can't call waitresses, waitresses. Can't call flight attendants, flight attendants. This country is turning into a bunch of Muppets who get into positions of power and will lead us all to our downfall

This should be an area of concern especially for writers for example. How would your passion to write be affected if you knew that every word would be under government scrutiny and if expressing anything other than the government's official versions of the truth might cause you to lose your job, land you in jail, or worse. I recommend reading Bill Lind's article as it provides a good, brief history of the origins of Political Correctness and its implications for all of us. Perhaps in this case, knowledge is power: you can't fight what you don't recognise or understand.

However I detest political correctness, but one thing I detest more, is people who call other people "politically correct" just because they have a different opinion.