The backlash over “political
correctness” is really hitting the fan these days. Donald Trump is being lauded
as a hero for “telling it like it is” when it comes to Mexicans. His commentary
on Senator McCain was less successful. Everywhere one travels on the information
highway there is someone whining about the terrible burden of political
correctness.
The definition seems like a
good place to begin. Webster’s defines PC as: agreeing with
the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way
that could offend a particular group of people.
Try
as I might, I can’t find fault with that. It sounds pretty simple. It sounds
like good manners. Sticking to good manners would go a long way toward solving
all kinds of problems.
Political correctness was not a thing when I was growing up. People in my parent’s circle didn’t use racial, ethnic, or religious slurs in public, but in private after a few cocktails…well people might slip and air their bigotry or racism. As I became a teen, I began to experience the misogyny as well. In the early days of the feminist movement, one of my father’s friends told me (quite patronizingly) that if women wanted equality, they needed to earn it. I didn’t have the words or the analysis to adequately respond to that statement. I wasn’t Susan Bruce then.
Political correctness was not a thing when I was growing up. People in my parent’s circle didn’t use racial, ethnic, or religious slurs in public, but in private after a few cocktails…well people might slip and air their bigotry or racism. As I became a teen, I began to experience the misogyny as well. In the early days of the feminist movement, one of my father’s friends told me (quite patronizingly) that if women wanted equality, they needed to earn it. I didn’t have the words or the analysis to adequately respond to that statement. I wasn’t Susan Bruce then.
Prior
to the 1970’s people didn’t worry about offending anyone else. It wasn’t even
considered. White, protestant, and heterosexual were the norm. Any deviation
from that was often remarked upon. Racist and ethnic slurs. Slurs against
various religions. Slurs against people with disabilities. Terms like “cripple”
and “retard” were accepted without any thought. You know all of the names for
Jews. I don’t need to repeat them. You
know all of the slurs used on folks of Latino or African American descent. The
latter group has had quite a workout since Barack Obama was elected president.
One locally coined term that made it to national news is “jungle alien” as regular
readers will recall.
My
question is this - what is the upside to using these terms? Are there people
who really think this is daring and edgy? Is it a form of tribalism, making it
clear to those who are “different” that your white, heterosexual, Christian
tribe doesn’t accept people with brown skin, people who love differently from
you, or people who believe differently from you? Or is it merely being a big
public jerk?
Before
anyone starts to complain about “being shut down,” stop. I’m not telling you
that you can’t use any terms you want. You are free to do so. In fact, I
appreciate it when you use racial slurs or fly the stars and bars from your
pickup truck here in New Hampshire. It tells me exactly what you are, and that
means I can shun you. I don’t have to work at it because you’ve made it easy
for me. I am also telling you that when you use those words, you will be judged
and criticized for them. That’s the thing about free speech that bigots never
seem to understand. You can say whatever you want, but you are responsible for
what you say.
The
latest edgy statement of freedumb here seems to be flying the Confederate flag
from a pickup truck. Who knew that NH was the cradle of the Confederacy? Those
who do it, say they do it to “honor the Confederate dead.” Horse hockey. They
do it because they’re racist. It’s that simple. No matter how many black
friends they say they have, they do it because they’re racist. No matter how
much they claim to love rap or hip-hop, they fly a Confederate flag in NH (or
anywhere else) because they’re racist.
We’ve
never gotten past racism in the United States because we swept slavery under a
rug, and pretended we were done with it after the Civil War. We didn’t fully
acknowledge it what it meant to us as a nation. We didn’t acknowledge the
reality that people were bought and sold like cattle, and forced to labor for
no wages. We didn’t acknowledge or even question what that did to the slaves
and their descendants. We never questioned what that did to those who did the
buying, selling, and oppressing. White America has made no reparations. The
wounds remain unhealed. And the ugliness has reached a fever pitch because
there’s a black guy in the White House.
The fortune of this country was built on the backs of slaves. The US would not be the wealthiest country in the world had it not been for slave labor. Until we do face it, get honest with it, and make reparations (whatever that looks like) we aren’t going to move past it. Not when people are still nursing hurt feelings over losing the Civil War and the opportunity to enslave people they consider lesser beings because of the color of their skin.
It’s a pity Lincoln didn’t just let the confederate states go. We wouldn’t have Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, or even Donald Trump running for president right now.
The fortune of this country was built on the backs of slaves. The US would not be the wealthiest country in the world had it not been for slave labor. Until we do face it, get honest with it, and make reparations (whatever that looks like) we aren’t going to move past it. Not when people are still nursing hurt feelings over losing the Civil War and the opportunity to enslave people they consider lesser beings because of the color of their skin.
It’s a pity Lincoln didn’t just let the confederate states go. We wouldn’t have Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, or even Donald Trump running for president right now.
It’s going to take a long time to eradicate prejudice and bigotry. In the meantime, I suggest political correctness. Being polite is seldom a mistake.
