The Dangers of Political Correctness

Even though political correctness was created with a good purpose, most of the time it does more damage than good. The most explicit instance of damage is how political correctness fans try not to offend anyone.

The standards of our country have transformed drastically over the past few decades thanks to a society that was created by and for a system (communism) that we have not accepted for as long as The United States has existed. This has forced me to ask, what consequences do we allow by permitting political correctness to rule what we do, say, and think? Political correctness has touched every American in some way or another. It has helped some while limiting the imaginations and ideas of many more. Its standards and principals have become rooted in our social values and the consequences shaped by it can be felt on a global scale. This Disease in our society must be dealt with decisively if our way of life is to survive.

In Political Correctness: The Scourge of our Times published by the Independent UK, Agustin Blazquez introduces us to the origins of political correctness and condemns its censorship of the American mind. Political Correctness, according to Blazquez, was invented in Germany during the Third Reich as both a propagation technique for communism and a solution to the western way of thinking. He points out that for communism to extend its reach it had to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization by chipping away at the rights of its people; one way to do this was to change our speech and thought patterns by spreading the idea that vocalizing our beliefs is disrespectful to others. Blazquez also shows through several examples how “PC’ness” is a sophisticated and dangerous form of censorship and oppression, imposed upon the citizenry with the ultimate goal of manipulating, brainwashing, and destroying its society. He also goes into some depth about the double standard of combining religion and state in our country; as well as the proliferation of Political Correctness by our educational system. Blazquez concludes his argument by stating, “it’s one thing to be educated, considerate, polite, and have good manners; and another to be forced to self-censor and say things that are incorrect in order to comply with the arbitrary dictums of a deceiving and fanatical virus that is embedded in our society.”

In The Imus Fallout: Who Can Say What? Published by Time Magazine, James Poniewozik addresses Don Imus’ comment referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy headed hoes.” Poniewozik explores the details of political correctness as it relates to race class, and gender. He represents his case through an inquiry into who can say what? The recent incidents involving: Michael Richards saying nigger, Isaiah Washington saying faggot, and Mel Gibson saying f*cking Jews, aid him in the pursuit of an answer to his question. “It used to be assumed that people were free to joke about their own kind,” says Poniewozik, but all that is being changed by many factions, especially comedians. However, why is it ok for Dave Chappell, or Iisa Lampaneli to use racist and sexist speech and not ok for Don Imus? Poniewozik answers this question by telling us that the line is drawn different for different people depending on any number of things. The main importance is that you purchase the right to say offensive jokes through some form of your own vulnerability. Both Poniewozik and Blazquez confront the validity of political correctness in our society; Poniewozik finds that “PCness” has a place in our lives if used more like common sense, while Blazquez believes that political correctness is a scourge that we must abolish, both articles forced me to question the origins and mediums of political correctness, while also analyzing the results and effects of it on our civilization.

Common sense should be the ultimate guide when deciding the appropriate way to approach any situation. In spite of their disagreement over whether Political Correctness should be an entity in the U.S. both Poniewozik and Blazquez agree that it is used in situations where simple common sense would do the trick. Poniewozik shows his distaste of how political correctness operates when he examines why some people can use racially denoted words while others cannot. But he also supports its use in the case of Don Imus, because he put himself in the shoes of the women from the Rutgers basketball team. I got a sense of confusion from him about the subject, especially when it comes to where we draw the line on what you can and cannot say. However, common sense seems to be universal when these kinds of situations arise.

While Poniewozik seems on the fence about Political Correctness you cannot misinterpret Blazquezes hatred of its origin and the roles it plays now. He believes that as a principle political correctness should be abolished. There is an overwhelming consensus that political correctness originated in pre-WW2 Germany as a tool of communism. Blazquez is only one of many to promote this fact. If only more people knew where this practice was born and the reasons that it was instituted I believe everyone would share in Blazquezes loathing of its control over our social interaction. Blazquez also tells us about the double standard of religion and state present in our society. In the winter of 2006 Christmas decorations at schools were being attacked as unconstitutional for the first time in America. While at the same time there was school staffs having their students pretend to be warriors fighting for Islam. When will this sordid action of mixing religion and state come to an end? It is unacceptable to have children witness authority figures putting down our own culture just to make other people feel better about themselves. People wonder why American children are more depressed than ever. Well when you take away everything a child loves in holidays, and everything they think because it might hurt someone’s feeling’s that is what you end up with, a depressed person.

The origins of political correctness are very distinct and its movements around society exceptionally systematic. Political Correctness was created as an Idea at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany which was founded in 1923 by a group of thinkers who got together to find a solution to the biggest problem facing communism in Russia. That problem was, why isn’t communism spreading? They deduced that the problem was western civilizations belief that the individual can develop good ideas on their own, which was contrary to the communist view of the team over the individual. So to undermine the western way of thinking they decided to spread the idea that relating your beliefs to others could be disrespectful and that you need to change the way you think and act so you won’t be impolite. After its creation it reached the rest of the world mostly through the Frankfurt school. A prime example of its capabilities is Cuba. Once political correctness took hold it was not long until Fidel Castro turned Cuba into a Fascist Communist Government. In the U.S. the main driving force behind political correctness is our educational institutions as well as our government. Political Correctness has used many vehicles to worm its way into different societies. One thing is for certain though, once it is embedded in your culture it is near impossible to remove, and it has a destructive power unlike any we have ever faced.