When the concept of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS first began to take shape as part of the American consciousness, I embraced it with gusto. How refreshing it was to make the mainstream population, the government, and the media more cautious and aware about using bigoted stereotypical language in, at least, all public forums. The goal was to make it no longer acceptable to use words that denigrated or separated people because of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion etc. Changing centuries-old prejudice is an arduous task, but political correctness began to slowly take shape in the hearts and minds of America. It worked! And it is still working among evolved populations all across the country. This I gladly embrace!
The dangers of political correctness that I am cautioning about have nothing to do with the original concept but with the misuse of government power under the twisted guise of political correctness. Perhaps the scarcity of original thought within the current administration mandated using the same title for an altogether different meaning of political correctness. On the other hand, it could be called diabolically genius for them and very dangerous for us.
There is a cowardly trend currently going on in America that, I believe, weakens our moral integrity, distorts reality, is used as an effective mind control and allows history to be rewritten to suit the objectives or propaganda of whatever power group is in control. This trend is called POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. These two words, as they are projected and misused by the Bush administration, are abhorrent to me, and I have created a mental torture chamber where I have the power to flay those who invented and continue to perpetuate this concept. For all those who meekly and blindly follow “Political Correctness” you shall, like the Lost Boys in Pinocchio, grow donkey ears and lose the power of human speech, being able to only bleat like the sheep you have so easily become.
In order for this kind of “Politically Correctness” to work, the mass audience must either be threatened with dire consequences if they veer from their programming, OR they are seriously lacking in intelligence and independent thinking skills. The treatment of choice to cure this and snap us back into truthful reality would be to force all 300 million Americans to read and study the children’s fairy tale The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Although the phrase “Politically Correct” has been around for some time, the current Bush administration and the Religious Right have metamorphosed it into their super faux patriotism battle cry. The phrase seems innocuous when you first hear it, but intelligent scrutiny shows how dangerous it really is. I truly believe that in “Lingua Bush”, political correctness means DON’T COMPLAIN! In an administration destined for controversy from the beginning, one can almost understand the desperate need to invent a sobriquet or slogan that could quell any complaints or opposition to administrative policies or actions, while, at the same time, putting the would-be questioner on the defensive for being “rude”.
There is an old saying which goes, “Fool me once, shame on you – Fool me twice, shame on me” This leads me to ask: What happened to the collective intelligence and moral outrage of the American People? Have we found it easier to not rock the boat? Each time we assuage our conscience with our silence or inaction, another freedom is eroded, another job is outsourced, another home is foreclosed, another pension is stolen and another soldier dies in Iraq.
The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it”. History shows us many examples of what happens when governments are not challenged for their actions because the people, out of fear, apathy, greed or prejudice want to be politically correct.
The 20th century seemed to be filled with nightmarish examples of out of control Fascist governments rising to power, partly because of tacit acceptance by the general populous, who kept their silence and carried out their lives with “business as usual”. Some examples of extreme governments which “politically corrected” millions to death were; Germany under the Nazis, The Soviet Union, China under Mao and Spain under Franco.
Following is a checklist of 12 dangerous “red flags” with which each of us should become familiar and collectively speak out about our concerns and objections (without having concern for being “politically correct”). This list is taken from a book called “The Road to Fascism” and appears in the book “The Twilight of Democracy” by Jennifer Van Bergen whose interview can be heard and downloaded on this website.
Following is a checklist of 12 dangerous “red flags” with which each of us should become familiar and collectively speak out about our concerns and objections (without having concern for being “politically correct”). This list is taken from a book called “The Road to Fascism” and appears in the book “The Twilight of Democracy” by Jennifer Van Bergen whose interview can be heard and downloaded on this website.
- Powerful and continuing expression of nationalism
- Disdain for human rights
- Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
- The supremacy of the military
- Rampant sexism
- Controlled mass media
- Obsession with security
- Religion and ruling elite tied together
- The power of labor suppressed or eliminated
- Disdain and suppression of the arts and intellectuals
- Rampant cronyism and corruption
- and Fraudulent elections.
