On … Political Correctness
I guess I get confused easily. One of many ways is when a good thing is made a pejorative–especially in an age when so many claim theology and ethics are their primary concern.
It’s too late for “affirmative action.” The term has been drug through the mud, rode hard, and put away wet so long that hardly anyone can remember the initial impetus and good intentions of (let alone actual progress made by) the concept.
So now it seems most people sneer at “political correctness,” as well. What is there not to like about the idea of treating people nicely? What’s wrong with applying the Golden Rule? Is it just too much to ask to give up some crass humor at others’ expense, or purge a few words from our water-cooler speech?
The impetus behind the concept seems to lie in correcting some lazy habits in society, which have perpetuated for generations just because the some couldn’t handle the “other-ness” of smaller segments of that society. The term itself probably was invented by a sneer-er, but there’s so much mis-information out on the internet by rabid fringers it’s hard to tell.
The struggle is like so many others America has faced. Smoking is perhaps the most recent dramatic example of societal change. Today, the vast majority of us think it’s a bad thing, and understand certain addictive personalities haven’t yet quit. For generations, though, the feeling was militantly opposite, and no one could have envisioned the completeness of the turnaround. Early warners were villified, slandered, and more. Still, the facts and information trickled out, like water eroding a mountain.
Maybe the resentment builds from the idea of good intentions being reinforced by the legal system. Many see this as top-down, imposed morality; agreed, not the optimal way to achieve the goal. On the other hand–it took hundreds of years, and a war, to get rid of slavery, and another hundred years to overcome detestable obstruction to make something even approaching equal opportunity available to all our citizens. We wouldn’t need laws if all of us “got” the same concepts.
Of course, much of the “PC” noise has originated in academia. For all the conspiracy nuts who rail at the “liberalism” therein, here’s a radical thought: just because people who know a lot tend to hold a certain view, it may not be that they’re biased–it could just be they’re correct. There are wackos of every stripe with tenure, and, while teachers can have a charismatic effect of a handful of their students, it does no harm to be open to the world; otherwise, you just have the flip side of all those doctrinaire Islamic schools you’re complaining about.
In spite of ourselves, those you might consider “scolds” have slowly had some impact. The fact enough progress was made that a backlash developed must mean we’re on the right track. Yes, the application of schoolmarm-ish tactics by some is heavy-handed and counter-productive. But again, the greater good–can’t we agree on the goal, and discuss the tactics?