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politically correct
By audhill | January 21, 2008
To honor MLK’s birthday, I’d like to take a little stab at political correctness.
It is my view that promoting politically correct speech is a bad idea. Political correctness catches as many dolphins as it does tuna in it’s all encompassing net. It is the stuff of alienation and power playing, not community building. It should be eradicated as a good and replaced with a culture of personal reflection and self and other acceptance.
Certainly there are borders to everything and some speech is malicious and ill intended, however there is no community where there are guardians of the language. It may be temporarily satisfying for some, but it is ineffective in the long term. It does not produce sensitivity, unless by sensitivity we mean hyper awareness and piety… not awareness of one’s own prejudices so much as fear of labels and not internal goodness so much as self satisfaction. The impact of self or other imposed political correctness is not merely the eradication of malice in speech, but the eradication of ease and trust between people. Real interaction (and therefore potential for communion) is replaced with hyperconscious efforts to negotiate safe harbor.This may seem like a good enough result to those who put their trust in surfaces, but I put my trust in honest interplay (which is messy but more productive).
For that reason, I think that a better suggestion is this: Do not resign yourself to the unsightly demilitarized zones of polite political correctness. Rather, endeavor to be forthright and truthful instead of self protective. Make a point of surrounding yourself with people who say what they think and who expect and accept the same from you. Laugh at the dicey and offensive if it’s funny, but rely on and listen to your inner voice to determine when and where a line is crossed. Avoid the pious and rigorously politically correct, not just because they are the least interesting of people but because these are often the most insincere. Do not be confused by opportunists making use of surfaces to serve their ambitions.
Value honesty, humor, curiosity and openness in others. Never ask them to say the right thing, although be free and brave enough to challenge ideas that you disagree with. That being said, do not offend easily. Accept that sometimes you will be offended. When necessary be unwilling to be silent. With real people create real bridges.
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