Political Correctness
I met up with an old friend last night and we talked about a lot of things. The more we spoke the clearer it became that we are a pair of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs is probably the wrong choice of words as we are not quite extinct yet but we are definitely part of a dwindling group of people. This group is the small minority of people who do not make any concessions to the current vogue of being politically correct in word and deed.
Personally I find the politically correct types to be lacking in moral fibre and unwilling to be pinned down to an opinion if they think that it may come back on them. A lot of this has to do with the litigious nature of the world we live in today where people are more than willing to sue others for not protecting them from their own stupidity.
This attitude has flowed over into freedom of speech and people are now afraid to exercise that basic human right for fear of being denigrated or even sued by somebody who decides to be offended by someone pointing out their shortcomings or inadequacy. This is, of course, easier than eliminating the inadequacy. If nobody mentions it, it doesn’t exist.
Maybe we should go back to telling our kids the old fairy tales, starting with the one about the emporers new clothes.
I’m not sure Dinosaur is the correct expression. How about ‘Seen enough to know what we are talking about’? Or “Old enough that we don’t give a shit anymore”?
I believe there are a lot out there that agree with us, but as you say, very few with the balls to say anything in public.
It is a sad reflection on modern society really. What happened to the foundation of modern democracy – the concept of “I may not agree with what he says, but I will defend unto death his right to say it” (was that Voltaire?)
If we can’t say, and hence enter into discussions about what we really think, how can we move forward.
Heinlein sums it up quite nicely, although I don’t know if political correctness was the subject he had in mind at the time:
“The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on
skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.”
– author Robert A. Heinlein on censorship.