I think everyone knows I am talking about the latest incarnation of a two-letter abbreviation: It stands for political correctness. It has become so widespread that it defeats dialogue because we are so concerned that we might offend the other person, we go out of our way to hide what we are saying. I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise given how minority groups now dominate the airwaves. It seems that mainstream opinion has now been totally blunted, because, after all, we mainstream folks are all bigots for what we believe.
Maybe Gore Vidal says it best:
“As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.”
― Gore Vidal
Minority views get special treatment. Everyone should go to college you know … or did you? I thought college was only achieved by those who worked harder and deserved to go because it was an essential level of education for them to do what they intended to do. Medicine and Law required even more college training and, even if you wanted to be one, you probably couldn’t because it was so difficult.
There was a multi-part series on TV this last weekend on the Nazi Gospels that documented how this relatively small party of zealous individuals took over public opinion in Germany and spun their delusional beliefs into a national fervor. It was chilling and a warning to us all when desperate people who otherwise have little hope are presented with a seemingly attractive idea. Of course, it didn’t encourage critical comment or even critical thinking since it included a totalitarian enforcement of the ideologies using the Gestapo.
Seems like we are seeing widespread adoption of these methods and our news cycle seems to encourage others to gather up like-minded believers and grab their spotlight in the media. I don’t think I need to enumerate the number of “radical” groups around the globe and the consequences.
I want to focus on the energy dialogue here in the United States. I think we are victims of the PC Police here as well. I wrote a blog on energy bullying about six months ago. You can see it here if you would like. I want to focus on the bigger idea of PC itself. I think this may be a disease in our society. We can’t talk about anything anymore because, in some way, we might be denigrating others.
There are no rights and wrongs … there are simply differences of opinion or points of view. There are no good or bad ideas either. What? Is that how we built this country? Freedom to believe what you want and to express your opinion is fine, but there are still good and bad ideas. But, just as soon as you talk about the rest of the story in any area, you are deemed a bigot or worse.
Let’s just admit that Gore Vidal is right. It is a disguise. The Emperor is nude and not pretty. Our courts have become PC police and our news cycle is really not news at all … it is a propaganda cycle. We don’t trust government at all … that is, except those who are dependent upon it.