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Mr. President! Free Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean!
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Can Anyone Define 'Politically Correct'?
By Harris R. Sherline
March 31, 2008
I've been trying to understand exactly how the term "Politically Correct" (PC) is defined. What is it, specifically? Who determines what is correct and what is not? Are there regular meetings of some PC board or committee? Who appoints or elects them? Is there a guide or dictionary that is used to determine what is correct and what is not?
Although the answers to these questions may seem obvious, I do have some thoughts about the situation in America today.
To me, PC is BS (Bad Speech), but there are also "Politically Correct" images and conduct or behavior.
"I'm totally outraged and saddened by the statue that is supposed to represent the three firefighters who raised the flag amid the rubble of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. In case you live in a cave and haven't heard, although the three firefighters who raised the flag -- the photograph of which is one of the most poignant from that day -- are white, the statue depicts a white, Hispanic and black firefighter." -- Washington Post
This is Politically Correct extremism. The statue was supposed to be a demonstration of America's resilience on one of the worst days in its history and should be historically accurate. A memorial to 9-11 was not the time or place to make a political statement about ethnic diversity. Even the black firefighters union of New York said at the time that it's more concerned with real-life diversity, not the symbolic kind.
Political Correctness is censorship. Free speech in America has been hijacked. We are no longer able to openly express our opinions. Instead, we are constantly looking over our shoulders for the next ad homonym attack on our character or values for something we might say.
In "Once Upon a More Enlightened Time," James Finn Garner points out that children's classic fairy tales no longer carry messages that are considered socially unacceptable but that they are also actually re-written based on modern morals.
Political Correctness has taken over our colleges and newsrooms, two previously sacrosanct forums that are supposed to be bastions of free speech in our society. People can no longer say what they think without running the risk of sanctions, some of which may cost them their jobs or even expose them to the threat of bodily harm.
"Under the auspices of a national coalition of independent campus groups called Students for Academic Freedom, Mr. (David) Horowitz has been pushing for the adoption of an 'Academic Bill of Rights' (see studentsforacademicfreedom.org). The gist of the measure is summed up in a sentence declaring that 'no political, ideological or religious orthodoxy will be imposed on professors and researchers through the hiring or tenure or termination process, or through any other administrative means by the academic institution.' It goes on to state that 'intellectual independence means the protection of students as well as faculty.'" (Why should this be necessary?)
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