Political Correctness Is About Street Cred
Good points in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen by reader Paul Paquet:
Re: Language police on social media not out to get us, Feb. 7.
Kate Heartfield is absolutely right that we shouldn't be cruel to each other. But a lot of Twitter political correctness isn't about cruelty, it's about increasingly disproportionate responses to increasingly minor "offences." When Benedict Cumberbatch said that there weren't enough parts in British movies for "coloured" actors, it was more important for white liberals to police his language than it was to join him in decrying racism in British filmmaking. Every instance of this sort of hyperbolic hysteria teaches people than it is extremely dangerous to talk to or about people from different backgrounds, even if you're on their side, unless you are hip to the latest vocabulary trends. Being offended online isn't about effecting social change, it's about showing off your liberal street cred. It's about showing how superior you are to people who have transgressed increasingly artificial boundaries.
Racial and religious mores are 'bred' into us I believe deep in the 'lizard' brain.
A lesson learned by most at some point is that even if you are someone's BFF you should not get involved in any manner that might be critical of them. Suggest that some of their behaviour contributes to a bad situation and see what happens. (Inquire about why it's okay for Sharpton to not pay taxes and be free is my fav.)
Thus it is safer to 'hip' and come down hard on 'safe' targets. Words, agreeing w/them even though logically they are wrong, and etc. . .
Mob rule rules.
Bob in Texas at February 13, 2015 6:20 AM
Two word ... Moral exhibitionism.
A few more words ... This is nothing new. Actually, it's as old as civilization itself. Traditional religion (Christianity) is dying in America, but people need religion. Christianity's replacement, Liberalism or Progessivism, is a virulent, fundamentalist, dogmatic, and intolerant religion. Just as fundamentalist Christians would compete to see who could sing loudest in church, liberals now compete to see who can cry racism the loudest in their new, electronic, media-enabled, fundamentalist church.
Jim Simon at February 13, 2015 7:38 AM
@Jim Simon:
Well, that would certainly explain Liberalism/Progressivism's rather obvious blind spot on truly horrifying activities practiced by other cultures in general, and Islam in particular.
The silence on multiple aspects of Islamic treatment of women is telling. . .
Keith Glass at February 13, 2015 9:20 AM
@Jim Simon:
Well, that would certainly explain Liberalism/Progressivism's rather obvious blind spot on truly horrifying activities practiced by other cultures in general, and Islam in particular.
The silence on multiple aspects of Islamic treatment of women is telling. . .
Keith Glass at February 13, 2015 9:20 AM
@Jim Simon:
Well, that would certainly explain Liberalism/Progressivism's rather obvious blind spot on truly horrifying activities practiced by other cultures in general, and Islam in particular.
The silence on multiple aspects of Islamic treatment of women is telling. . .
Keith Glass at February 13, 2015 9:20 AM
Islam is not competing with Progressivism for hearts and minds (and media attention) in the US - Christianity is. The existing mindset must be defeated for the Progressivism religion to take hold. The enemy of my enemy....
The two will turn on one another when the common enemy has been defeated, or earlier if one becomes a threat to the other.
The French Revolution and the various Communist revolutions used violence to subdue competing religions and mindsets. Lacking that handy tool, modern Progressivism must use ridicule and legal machinations to achieve dominance.
Conan the Grammarian at February 13, 2015 11:54 AM
By this reasoning, Conservatism leads to fascism.
Oh, the extremes to which those DANGEROUS OTHERS will go to foment their reprehensible agenda.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 14, 2015 12:09 PM
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