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Political Correctness: The Truth (Part 1)
Political Correctness has been cloaked in a wrap of social conscious, open mindedness and higher intellect; however, the truth is that it's rarely kinder or gentler. It is not "fair" nor does it result in immediate gratification. It does not usually result in positive feelings. It is almost always uncomfortable.
There are times when maximum effectiveness is attained by calling "a spade - a shovel".
Remember the mantra from the sixties: "If it feels good - do it." Well, this was the start of the downward slide.
A better approach would have been, "If it makes you feel good - do it." In other words, if your behavior is positive, productive, relevant, moral, ethical and law abiding, you will feel good because you are secure in yourself and not ridden by guilt, remorse or fear.
Proper Political Incorrectness is a back to basics approach that uses the idea that sometimes you just have to tell the truth, and the truth is often unpopular and inconvenient - but it is still the truth.
Truth should be used to do a reality based check of purpose vs. intent vs. product. It is another form of confrontation and, on occasion, can be used as an intervention technique.
Because society has become so sensitized to the nuances of political correctness and because society has become so litigious in its response of real and imagined wrongs; political correctness has become the standard evaluation of behavior and demeanor.
Political Correctness supposedly can remove some of the potentially motivating negative aspects of our lives. It is a hard lesson to learn, but invariably we learn more from the bad things that happen in our lives than we do from the good things.
From that stand point, it has become common to believe that Political Correctness (in this country) grew out of misbehavior on the part of white males. Since we were the dominant socio-economic group, we ran things.
We were in power, so the thought became that white males only developed things that were appropriate for white males. On the surface, that made sense and seemed to be valid; but that was just part of the smoke screen that was used to "initiate" changes we're still dealing with.
In the sixties, the nation began to experiment with sex and drugs. That generation determined that families were disposable, morals were passé, drugs were good, the establishment was wrong, adults could not be trusted, the government was evil and father really did not know best.
For a while it seemed like the inmates were running the asylum. Music and movies reflected the fantasy life of teenagers - not a good swap for reality.
Change is a natural and predictable element of our universe that can be harnessed for our advantage. Change is also a shift in thought ability, direction, purpose or state that was affected through internal and/or external processes, but not all change is healthy.
The philosophy of Political Correctness permeates today's society. Society has developed the opinions that feelings are more important than behavior and that feelings control behavior. Social promotions - programs evaluated solely on the intent of the program not the performance of the program - are all directed at feelings.
Political Correctness believes it is more important that a person feels good than that he behave properly. Results are not important. The goal is what is important, and it is not relevant if the goal was attained or not. It is only important that the intent was politically correct.
It believes we can and should make the world a fairer place. If you remove the problem, you have accomplished something worthwhile.
In years past, in the world of business and the military, things were greatly simplified. If you were a company, the rule was you need to make a profit or the company will fail. In the military, you need to succeed in your mission or you will die. However, during the sixties and seventies, both business and the military began to change.
Political Correctness, equal opportunity and treatment, affirmative action and other methods were used to even the playing field and to help become more sensitive to the needs of others and the rights of all.
I've also watched as Political Correctness has made supervision more difficult and the seemingly positive programs have created more problems than they have solved.
I have learned that not everyone has integrity or is honest, and some folks never have the intention to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
I have learned that "When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation" or any company (quote Anonymous).
However, the truth is we were fooled and seduced. I'll tell you more next week in Part 2 of Political Correctness: The Truth.
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