I read an article by Eddie Scarry in the November 6, 2008 issue of the The Johnsonian. The title of the ariticle was "Problems with P.C. idiocy." As I read the article, I laughed at the good points he made from beginning to end. The basic message of the article was that political correctness, which was prominent in the 1990's, makes effective communication in normal conversation nearly impossible and therefore should be done away with. A personal example he used in the article had taken place during his participation in the student political debate.
He was attempting to explain the irrationality of keeping enemy captives in Iraq comfortable during wartime. However, after commenting on prisoners' 8 daily prayer sessions, (there are actually 5) there was a spark of argument at his words and everyone in the room acted as though they were offended. Scarry points out that while the other students were chastising the political correctness of his choice of words, not one of the students took in his original message (That enemy soldiers should not be treated as if they were guests of the prison). All the students heard was, "and the prisoners' eight prayer sessions." Political correctness is idiocy.
An even more ridiculous example, if that is possible, was seen in a 2002 California lawsuit against a teenage girl for saying the common phrase, "that's so gay" in class. A LAWSUIT? really? That is just going too far with the idiocy of political correctness. I can recall that phrase being spoken more than ten thousand times in my high school years. The word "gay" these days can almost be considered slang, for in most cases it does not in any way refer to homosexuality. I do not know how that 2002 case turned out, but I am definately on the poor girls side.
Scarry goes on to end the article with a bit of humor. Read it in the comments section.
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If there ever came a day when Americans stopped speaking altogether, it wouldn't be because technology has made us antisocial, as some predict.
It would happen because people could no longer afford to pay for lawyers to represent them in civil lawsuits; moronic lawsuits like the one high school student Rebekah Rice faced for saying "that's so gay" in a California classroom in 2002.
Lawsuits like this, spurred by the manifestation of political correctness, would be the root of our lack in conversation, should that day ever come.
In the 1990's what we know as "political correctness," or P.C., came to prominence. At the time, it was a logical way to increase social awareness and make public discourse more conscientious.
Since then, it has become a way for people to feel justified in throwing public tantrums any time they need a good cry.
It wasn't until the student political debate that I realized how asinine and arbitrary political correctness is.
I sat on the panel and during the Q&A with the audience someone asked how Americans could win the war on terror.
I responded basically by saying that first, we should stop worrying so much about the treatment of captured terrorists and that Democrats are constantly making sure the detainees "have a full night's rest and are uninterrupted during their eight prayer sessions."
Apparently my comment on "eight prayer sessions" was not politically correct; thus warranted a reprimand from the College Democrats:
"First of all, if I was a Muslim in the audience, I would be very offended," they bleated.
I hadn't said anything about Muslims.
Any fair-minded person could understand that I was emphasizing the frivolity of keeping enemies comfortable during war time.
That message probably reached few, if any at the event.
Instead, everyone was made to wallow in the language I chose and its imagined hostility rather than the valid point within it.
Fortunately, I haven't seen the nastiest weather a politically correct climate can create.
Super seniors at Winthrop might remember Christine Byington.
In 2005, she wrote a column in this very newspaper that made national headlines.
In her column, Byington stated that whites face a struggle comparable to the one blacks and other minorities did during the Civil Rights Movement.
Of course, as what has come to be expected, this incited an outrage. It's almost as if some students held their breath until their faces turned red while stamping their feet.
They had been offended.
Shocking as it is, a forum was then held by Winthrop in order to pacify the whiners and for Byington to explain her message to everyone.
Eventually, the pressure created by the P.C. pushers led Byington to withdraw from Winthrop; score one for the hysterical softies.
Thanks to political correctness, people are now standing by straining their ears for the slightest utterance of anything remotely offensive so that they can belt out, "you can't do that!" or file a lawsuit.
Paranoia plagues our dialogue.
I say we abandon the P.C. way.
If that means everyone suffers a blow to their ego from time to time, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
It's cheaper than hiring any lawyer I know.
And besides, lawsuits are gay.
An article by: Eddie Scarry, The Johnsonian
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