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Has Political Correctness Gone Too Far?

The Dark Truth

By T.P SchofieldPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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‘Political Correctness’ is in itself conceptually illusive; and has transmogrified from its 1920’s German Marxist Roots. It’s abstract character and vast encompassment has left the phrase open to manipulation; with certain societal groups commandeering the ‘PC’ label for opportunistic motive. On the face of it; a code of ethics seeking to avoid offense and disbenefit to certain societal groups seems harmless, moral and almost altruistic. The reality however is more complex than that. Whilst the tenets of Political Correctness may be to preserve the feelings of others, the reality is that we’ve now switched off from the important topics altogether. Those who are prone to a conspiracy theory or two may even conclude that our avoidance of these ethical and moral dilemmas may play right into the establishment’s hands?

Has the advancement of Political Correctness brought with it a step towards a non-prejudicial, non-discriminatory society? No, it has ironically bred the opposite. As we repress and stifle the discussion of these controversial, politically ‘incorrect’ matters, we fundamentally smother any hopes of understanding them. How do we ever hope to break down barriers without discussing the differing opinions we hold? Last week in Richmond, Virginia the Liberal Monument Commission began its push to remove a Confederate-related monument; on the grounds it quoted the Jim Crow segregation laws. Simply concluding Jim Crow was wholly ‘bad’, and removing him from the history books doesn’t teach us as a society how to progress. Rather than censoring history and thus removing the ability to rationally debate, we ought to be educating ourselves through open discussion about why and how the Jim Crow segregation laws were able to flourish. It’s only at that point where individual prejudices start to dissipate. To change someone’s point of view is easy; you simply need a more convincing argument.

In the Western world we seem to be caught in a societal juxtaposition. Economically we rely on the competitive individualism that underpins neo-liberalism. However in society we strongly commit to multiculturalism, a systemic support for cultural and ethnical diversity which professes the importance of community. It seems as though multiculturalists have adopted the PC cause to use as ammunition, in the process vastly distorting the very essence of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism pivots around every religion and faith being protected and respected; however we’ve reached a point now where every religion and faith must be idolized equally. Historically Western propaganda has always manipulated us to vilify those whom are different; although we’ve now reached a stage of over-humanization in which we are insentient to even comprehend differences. Furthermore Political Correctness has killed our perception of ‘scale’. There was mass outrage last month regarding the New York Times’ description of violence against the Palestinians on the Gaza Border. Yet the 35 Palestinians killed in the Israeli’s attack on a Palestinian university last week seemingly went unnoticed. It seems through our linguistic freedom being attacked, we’ve intellectualised the world’s controversies to a point in which we’re desensitised to the horrors of the real world.

The clash between political correctness and society transpire when groupings attempt to make wholly ‘politically incorrect’ issues PC. The brutal reality is that rape, slavery, misogyny, racism are fundamentally non PC; and attempting to censor them in a non-controversial ‘family friendly’ manner is nothing short of an insult. The truth is in order to overcome individual prejudice regarding discrimination; a wholly controversial, non-PC discussion must be held. If we take the issue of gender pronouns for example; the main prejudices often stem from a generational outlook that finds the issue alien and unknown. They aren’t intrinsically opposed to gender neutrality; just often disorientated to such a progressive outlook. The problem is that so often nowadays we perceive confusion and skepticism as targeted opposition, thus discouraging frank and probing debate about divisive issues. The only way to challenge these predispositions is through transparent debate; it simply can’t be achieved by society collectively dictating what we are and are not allowed to discuss.

Often the champions of Political Correctness mask the advancement of minority rights as their own achievement. It’s important to accede however that liberalism’s inherent commitment to ‘right’s sharing’ is not a phenomenon triggered by Political Correctness. The abolition of slavery, women gaining the vote and the welfare system; to name but a few, didn’t come to fruition because of PC pressure, but the West’s deep-seated obsession with Liberal Democracy. In fact Liberalism has a complicated relationship with Political Correctness. Liberalism has never relied on rigid ideological dogma, but more-so a fluid set of principles all thriving to achieve individual liberty. Liberalism has always had a commitment to controversial ideas; constantly challenging convention. It’s worth noting that under a society suppressed by Political Correctness vast amounts of civil rights advancements may not have come to fruition.

It’s important to acknowledge that Political Correctness has vast encompassment, and broadly dismissing the movement is wholly inaccurate. For me the #MeToo movement has proven somewhat an antithesis of the PC idiom. Rather than suppressing controversial discussion the #MeToo movement has encouraged open, transparent discussion in a controversial subject. Instead of suppressing debate and thus burying the scale of the issue, it actually has exposed the fundamental issues underpinning an incredibly male-centric industry. We are finally openly debating the grey area of what constitutes harassment, at last expelling this notion of ‘casual’ abuse.

Political Correctness has reached a stage of not just filtering what people can say; but what people can think. Its vast infiltration into all areas of life has led it to undermine the very principles of freedom it set out to protect. This is not due to the movement’s impure ambition or its followers, more-so society itself. As a culture we’ve entered a phase of semi-conscious apathy; requiring opinions to be overly simplistic and black and white. The truth is that these complex situations regarding gender, race, sexuality etc are anything but simple. Banning a monument, a phrase, a word because it is out and out ‘bad’ is deeply flawed, and ignores a whole host of cultural, historical and societal motivations. Through making certain words un-sayable; and thus certain thoughts unthinkable, the movement is maintaining the very barriers it wishes to knock down.

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