Reaping the Whirlwind of Anti-PC

The Super Moon of 2014

Do you remember when not offending people was considered a good thing?  It seems like the dark ages.  Our parents would remind us that we should consider other people’s feelings before speaking.  If someone wanted to be called Bill we called them Bill, not Shorty.  If someone did not like to be singled out because they wore glasses, we did not call them “Four Eyes.”  If they liked the attention or enjoyed being “picked on” then we would playfully use such names.  But, we tried to gauge their feelings before using such “pet names.”  Sometimes we were wrong and hurt their feelings.  An apology would soon follow.  It was all part of being caring people who tried to not be offensive.

But something has happened in the last 50 years.  We have gone from not being offensive to going on the offensive!  We have confused being offensive with being offensive!

These words have two very different meanings.  The first means “Causing someone to feel deeply hurt, upset, or angry.”  The second means “Actively aggressive; attacking.”  We have resurrected an old weapon from the European culture wars of the early 20^th Century to fight our modern culture wars.  The offensive weapon of choice is the phrase “Political Correctness.” 

I found these tidbits in Wikipedia.

“In 1934, the New York Times reported that Nazi Germany was granting reporting permits ‘only to pure ‘Aryans’ whose opinions are politically correct.’”

“As Marxist-Leninist movements gained political power, the phrase (political correctness) came to be associated with accusations of dogmatic application of doctrine, in debates between American Communists and American Socialists. “

It entered US thinking via the 1970’s Radical Left when they would refer to those who continued to support offensive views of women, minorities, or other cultures as being politically correct, using the offensive words to gain political support from the “Silent Minority” that supported Nixon and, later, Reagan.

In the 1980’s, Allan Bloom, in his 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind, called the need to adhere to a party line to be one of the reasons that higher education had failed the American People.  The Anti-PC crowd took that to mean that Political Correctness, itself, was a sign of the downfall of America and must be resisted.

Over the next few years, the phrase began to find its way into the mainstream.  Its transformation was articulated by George H. W. Bush in a speech before The University of Michigan graduates in 1991 when he said, “’The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred, it replaces old prejudice with new ones. It declares certain topics off-limits, certain expression off-limits, even certain gestures off-limits.’"^[45]  In other words, being offensive had become a legitimate path of going on the offensive!

From there the phrase became a rallying cry for every reactionary conservative in the country.  Talk Radio championed the need to go on the offense by encouraging name-calling in the name of truth-telling.  PC soon became the ultimate pejorative that sought to silence or discount anyone who dared to disagree with this pre-Tea Party right-wing, i.e. Rush Limbaugh and his compatriots.

For the last 20 years this idea of being openly, offensively offensive has led us to reap the whirlwind of this Anti-PC movement. 

The 2016 election was fought and won primarily because Anti-PC had become mainstream.  It was expanded into a full-blown conspiracy theory that played on the fears and insecurities of an older, white and mostly male dominated culture.  According to this mythology, the Left was taking over and would take up arms against or otherwise take away the “rights” of those who opposed them.    The Left was seeking to take away the guns of those who would defend “lady liberty.”  The Left had organized the US military to round up dissidents under the code name Jade Helm.  The Left had installed a Kenyan-born president to establish sharia law in place of the Constitution. 

This Anti-PC movement found an unlikely champion in a TV reality host who used it to demonstrate that he alone, among all of the candidates for President, was honest enough to speak the truth.  Since his election he continues to advance the Anti-PC agenda by uncovering and “courageously combatting” the “deep state” that is destroying America’s greatness. 

Do not get me wrong.  I do not believe this is some Right-wing plot to establish fascism in the USA.  It is simply an idea that has become a cancer, preying on the fears and insecurities of a white majority that is losing power and control.  The Anti-PC movement is the last gasp of a dying 20^th century idea that needs to be abandoned to history.  It is a whirlwind whose end is coming, but not yet blown itself out.

I recently was reminded of just how far this whirlwind of Anti-PC has gone when I heard an older, white gentleman tell me about how hearing people use PC “makes me sick.”   Such a visceral description of his feelings spoke of how deeply he needs others PC to help him deal with all his fears and insecurities.  For him, PC steals away his joy and hope.  It renders him incapable of empathy for people unlike himself.  It makes him sick!

We are reaping the whirlwind of the anti-PC movement.  Any movement that condones, encourages, and emboldens insensitivity, callousness to other’s needs, and anger against those with whom we disagree cannot long endure.  Our society was founded on human dignity, justice, and equality under the law.  Either the anti-PC movement will be swept into the dustbin of failed ideas or it will sweep away our foundations. 

As has always been the case, history requires that good people stand up and do what is necessary to defend the rights of humanity.  However, until we find ways of going on the offensive without being offensive, we will be furthering the Anti-PC movement.  We will use the same weapons used by the Anti-PC movement; disparaging others motives and refusing to take others feelings into account.  We will unknowingly further the interests of those with whom we disagree.  But, when we can genuinely say that we love those with whom we disagree, and resist going out of our way to offend and disparage them, we will watch the broom of history sweep away the Anti-PC movement. 

For this to happen, we must learn to love, understand, take into account the feelings of others, and resist with all our might those who truly believe that PC is destroying our way of life.  We must show them a better way.  We must walk with them as they take that first step toward the new, non-offensive life that awaits them.  Do they have to agree with us?  No.  Do we and they need to learn to be kind to each other and love each other anyway?  Absolutely!  That is what legitimate correctness, political or otherwise, is all about.

Bob Dees

(Next month I will be dealing with another facet of this topic, “The High Art of Taking Offense.”)

But something has happened in the last 50 years.  We have gone from not being offensive to going on the offensive!  We have confused being offensive with being offensive!

These words have two very different meanings.  The first means “Causing someone to feel deeply hurt, upset, or angry.”  The second means “Actively aggressive; attacking.”  We have resurrected an old weapon from the European culture wars of the early 20^th Century to fight our modern culture wars.  The offensive weapon of choice is the phrase “Political Correctness.” 

I found these tidbits in Wikipedia.

“In 1934, the New York Times reported that Nazi Germany was granting reporting permits ‘only to pure ‘Aryans’ whose opinions are politically correct.’”

“As Marxist-Leninist movements gained political power, the phrase (political correctness) came to be associated with accusations of dogmatic application of doctrine, in debates between American Communists and American Socialists. “

It entered US thinking via the 1970’s Radical Left when they would refer to those who continued to support offensive views of women, minorities, or other cultures as being politically correct, using the offensive words to gain political support from the “Silent Minority” that supported Nixon and, later, Reagan.

In the 1980’s, Allan Bloom, in his 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind, called the need to adhere to a party line to be one of the reasons that higher education had failed the American People.  The Anti-PC crowd took that to mean that Political Correctness, itself, was a sign of the downfall of America and must be resisted.

Over the next few years, the phrase began to find its way into the mainstream.  Its transformation was articulated by George H. W. Bush in a speech before The University of Michigan graduates in 1991 when he said, “’The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred, it replaces old prejudice with new ones. It declares certain topics off-limits, certain expression off-limits, even certain gestures off-limits.’"^[45]  In other words, being offensive had become a legitimate path of going on the offensive!

From there the phrase became a rallying cry for every reactionary conservative in the country.  Talk Radio championed the need to go on the offense by encouraging name-calling in the name of truth-telling.  PC soon became the ultimate pejorative that sought to silence or discount anyone who dared to disagree with this pre-Tea Party right-wing, i.e. Rush Limbaugh and his compatriots.

For the last 20 years this idea of being openly, offensively offensive has led us to reap the whirlwind of this Anti-PC movement. 

The 2016 election was fought and won primarily because Anti-PC had become mainstream.  It was expanded into a full-blown conspiracy theory that played on the fears and insecurities of an older, white and mostly male dominated culture.  According to this mythology, the Left was taking over and would take up arms against or otherwise take away the “rights” of those who opposed them.    The Left was seeking to take away the guns of those who would defend “lady liberty.”  The Left had organized the US military to round up dissidents under the code name Jade Helm.  The Left had installed a Kenyan-born president to establish sharia law in place of the Constitution. 

This Anti-PC movement found an unlikely champion in a TV reality host who used it to demonstrate that he alone, among all of the candidates for President, was honest enough to speak the truth.  Since his election he continues to advance the Anti-PC agenda by uncovering and “courageously combatting” the “deep state” that is destroying America’s greatness. 

Do not get me wrong.  I do not believe this is some Right-wing plot to establish fascism in the USA.  It is simply an idea that has become a cancer, preying on the fears and insecurities of a white majority that is losing power and control.  The Anti-PC movement is the last gasp of a dying 20^th century idea that needs to be abandoned to history.  It is a whirlwind whose end is coming, but not yet blown itself out.

I recently was reminded of just how far this whirlwind of Anti-PC has gone when I heard an older, white gentleman tell me about how hearing people use PC “makes me sick.”   Such a visceral description of his feelings spoke of how deeply he needs others PC to help him deal with all his fears and insecurities.  For him, PC steals away his joy and hope.  It renders him incapable of empathy for people unlike himself.  It makes him sick!

We are reaping the whirlwind of the anti-PC movement.  Any movement that condones, encourages, and emboldens insensitivity, callousness to other’s needs, and anger against those with whom we disagree cannot long endure.  Our society was founded on human dignity, justice, and equality under the law.  Either the anti-PC movement will be swept into the dustbin of failed ideas or it will sweep away our foundations. 

As has always been the case, history requires that good people stand up and do what is necessary to defend the rights of humanity.  However, until we find ways of going on the offensive without being offensive, we will be furthering the Anti-PC movement.  We will use the same weapons used by the Anti-PC movement; disparaging others motives and refusing to take others feelings into account.  We will unknowingly further the interests of those with whom we disagree.  But, when we can genuinely say that we love those with whom we disagree, and resist going out of our way to offend and disparage them, we will watch the broom of history sweep away the Anti-PC movement. 

For this to happen, we must learn to love, understand, take into account the feelings of others, and resist with all our might those who truly believe that PC is destroying our way of life.  We must show them a better way.  We must walk with them as they take that first step toward the new, non-offensive life that awaits them.  Do they have to agree with us?  No.  Do we and they need to learn to be kind to each other and love each other anyway?  Absolutely!  That is what legitimate correctness, political or otherwise, is all about.

Bob Dees

(Next month I will be dealing with another facet of this topic, “The High Art of Taking Offense.”)