Posted by
Anthony on Saturday, April 21, 2007 2:13:07 AM
America: land of the free, home of the brave. Really? I content that it is the land of the oppressed and home of the wimp. Why do I make such an outrageous statement? Two words. Political correctness - which Webster’s defines as: “avoidance of forms of expression and action that exclude of marginalize sexual, racial, and cultural minorities” – and which has grown to mean anything that speaks against the prevailing wind of society, whether or not that has anything to do with minorities. Yet, things were not always so.
The founders of our great nation knew political correctness, opposition to which could often cost them their lives. When the first settlers arrived on these shores because they practiced a religion different from the “accepted” Church of England, they were not politically correct. When the Second Continental Congress voted for independence, they acted against the political correctness of the day which declared anything less than allegiance to the king to be treason. When the abolitionist movement to outlaw slavery began to take hold in this country, these politically incorrect people were willing to give their lives for what they believed to be right. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, in his principle of non-violence to achieve political and social ends, was himself politically incorrect, based on the prevailing racial and social mood of the time. The same can be said of the proponents of women’s suffrage, child labor laws, unions, civil rights, the eighteen year old vote, and the volunteer army. All these politically incorrect people, who didn’t care about the prevailing tenor of society, determined to do the right thing and get the job done.
What does all this mean? Quite simply, it means that we, as a nation, have become so lulled into speaking “correctly” and so afraid of offending everybody, that we have lost the ability to see something that doesn’t make sense and speak out about it. If the issue has anything to do with race, sexual orientation, or religion, we shy away and hide our faces.
To suggest, for example, that there are blacks – or should I politically correctly say, African Americans – who are as racially biased as some whites is politically incorrect. Yet, there are! February is Black History Month. I want a month designated as White History Month. That’s a racist comment!, you say – no, just a response to one. In Washington, some members of Congress belong to the Congressional Black Caucus (why is it not the Congressional African American caucus?); where is the Congressional White Caucus? Well, one might say, the Congressional Black Caucus came about to address the unique problems of black voters in this country. Tell that to a white member of Congress, representing a predominantly black district, who attempted to join the black caucus to address these very issues and was told that his skin color wasn’t appropriate. Tell that to the 160 black ministers from twenty-six states, who invited members of the black caucus to a meeting in Washington to address issues important to their predominantly black congregations, and to which meeting only one member showed up.
Let’s consider the subject of race. I ask, why do many black Americans take offense at not being called African Americans? One may say, “I’m a black-skinned person of African descent.” I ask, could not a white-skinned person of African descent also refer to himself as African American? That same person might say, “My roots are in Africa.” I say, I’m a second generation Italian-American; my roots are in Italy. In fact, I am lot closer to my roots than many other Americans are to theirs. Let’s get real here!
As another example, it is now common in America for those who believe in homosexuality to suggest that anyone who opposes their rights to get married or be part of the military are “homophobes.” Does that mean that those who oppose marriage as only the union of a man and a women are “heterophobes”? You’ll never see that word in the mainstream media. Many people may not have realized that, when this nation was founded, homosexuality was as repugnant and anathema to acceptable life as eating one’s own children. Many people may not have known that Washington himself drummed out of his army a homosexual colonel - simply because he was homosexual. Today, however, we are supposedly more enlightened. The book “I have Two Mommies,” often read in schools, undercuts the morals many of us are teaching our children; yet opposition to this book is pooh-poohed as bigoted and unrealistic. Meanwhile the well-documented Time Magazine article from renowned psychologist and author Dr. James Dobson, titled “Two Mommies is One Mommy Too Many,” is considered too biased for little minds. Instead of effecting a dialogue between people and communities of opinion, the community (in this case, clearly the minority) sling epithets.
Speaking of matters of sexuality… Some years ago, I fought for the principles of sexual abstinence to be taught in schools, as a salmon swimming against the prevailing tide of safe sex. I was told I was old-fashioned and out of touch. Old fashioned? Have we not looked around at the liberal-sex and safe-sex legacy we’ve created? - the millions of abortions and unwanted children in this country, the staggering numbers of sexually transmitted diseases, the horrors of AIDS, the increasingly earlier age at which kids (yes, kids) are experimenting with sex, and the increasing psychological problems our youth are experiencing because of emotional and physical relationships they became involved in long before they were mentally or emotionally ready.
Political correctness. I have barely touched the surface of the many weighty matters that cry out for recognition. Let’s see if there are any not-so-sheepish Americans willing to dialogue about things not so politically correct; or do we instead just sling mud at the other side, print labels on our home computers, and congratulate ourselves over cocktails that we are part of mainstream America? OK, America, it’s your turn. Be bold, be brave, but be honest. Are we too politically correct, too afraid to say anything for fear of reprisal, or are we still America: land of the free, home of the brave?