No Political Correctness

The term politically correct is an oxymoron in a democratic free society. It can only exist and be true in a dictatorship.

Those of us who care about critical thinking and open dialogue on all issues need to speak up now more than ever on the issue of political correctness because a viper has made it's way into the public discourse using a major platform to twist and exploit this nonsensical phrase that we have allowed to paralyze the public square. The viper is Donald Trump and the platform is nothing less than the American Presidency itself.

Trump continually states that he is not politically correct as his justification for what actually is bad manners and a nasty disposition.

The fight against political correctness is being greatly harmed by this despicable man and his followers. Making fun of people and reciting haneous over the top hyperbole has nothing to do with stopping this grotesque philosophy which seeks to turn us all into a stack of Pringles.

The two words are incompatible because political and politically are of politics and there can be no correctness in that arena outside of supreme dictatorships. Political thoughts within a free society are about multiple opposing views debating and sometimes arguing voraciously for your point of view and then compromising to arrive at public policy. If we are afraid to express our views truthfully without fear of physical or social retribution then we cannot create good policy or even have a thought provoking discussion with our fellow citizens, either formally or informally. You can do this in a respectful manner without seeking to demean your opponent. If you opt to be petty and nasty and use slang terms to beat up on your opponent you will in the long run lose your argument. But, there are those who will clap and cheer and falsely believe that you have struck a blow to political correctness when in reality you have  strengthened it.

Terrorists should be called out for who and what they are. Unfortunately there are some who want to be politically correct and not say that there are millions of Muslims who embrace a radical jihadist ideology based expressly on their religious beliefs. This extreme faction wants to establish a global Caliphate and implement Sharia Law. They will kill anyone who stands in the way of this, including and mostly their own fellow Muslims. There's approximately one and half billion Muslims in the world, so those extremist millions are in fact a small percentage but millions is not insignificant and we need to be able to say it and confront it. Donald Trump and his acolytes are exploiting this truth and twisting it to fit their own extremist views which do not wish to see the world as it really is and to condemn an entire group for the crimes of their minority. We will only defeat these psychotic thugs who are routinely carrying out terrorist acts when the legitimate Islamic countries rise up with Western civilization to stop them and it can be done. To say these terrorist groups are not motivated by a religious belief is to make a politically correct statement and it is wrong and dangerous. Saying that all Muslims are the same and should be blamed and barred from our country is illogical, totally without merit and should be called out for the stupidity it propels. Islamiphobia is being thrown around like loose change in an effort to squash anyone who argues the points I've just made. The problem is the word is not accurate. Those who foster political correctness are using it to shame anyone suggesting religion has anything to do with the problem we're dealing with. Phobia means fear, so perhaps Islamijihadistphobia is more on target. If you were bitten by a poisonous spider and survived it's infection I assure you a fear of that spider would become a part of your life. You wouldn't advocate the destruction of all spiderkind but that offending poisonous attacker would be public enemy number one and your shoe an instrument of it's end anytime you encountered it in the future. Fear can be irrational but it also has a primal root that serves to warn us of danger before we've even sat around and analyzed the situation. Early man sensed the danger of the powerful predator and fled it, returning later with greater numbers to remove the threat. We should all have a healthy fear of radical religious zealots of all persuasions, Jewish, Christian, Muslim or whoever, that believe with every fiber of their being that they are on a direct mission from their God and that mission is to kill anyone who refuses to submit.

The true liberals and conservatives are having their voices muted by the far right which seeks to build a Nationalist state with fascist undertones and a far left which seeks to establish a nanny state that manages even the smallest areas of our lives. The one thing that both of these sides agree on is eliminating free thought and honest debate. Shouting, ranting and social shaming have replaced sound reasoning and logic.

I have every reason to be bitter and say to hell with it, let it all crumble. I'm poor, have been oppressed, am a member of the so called forgotten and taken for granted.But I refuse to give in and relinquish the one thing I have that no one can take, my intellect and insatiable curiousity to turn the page. Permit me to share a personal story. Do you remember the Y2K hysteria and all that went with it? The world was gripped with fear that at midnight January 1, 2000 the world would suddenly crash and fall to anarchy because our computers would all self destruct because they wouldn't be able to flip the date. People were going crazy buying generators, hoarding food and water. A large number of my customers and friends were doing this, most were significantly better off financially than myself. These folks would ask me what I was doing to prepare for Y2K? I would respond absolutely nothing. This seemed to shock and disturb them. Well what will you do if "it" happens? I would respond, first of all nothing is going to happen except that you wasted a bunch of money and the people who sold you the stuff made a lot of money, the apocalypse is profitable. But let's say for argument sake that the world does descend into chaos. You fail to recognize that I am the face you must fear. I will thrive in that chaos because I'm smart and millions of desparate poor people just like me will need leadership. I will organize them and then we'll be coming to all of your houses with those generators and food and take them. This of course was all said tongue in cheek but some of those people weren't so sure there wasn't a kernel of truth there. After all, one orders demise is another's birth. It was politically incorrect for me not to fall in line and prepare for Y2K and to criticize it as complete nonsense, but I did and I'm so happy I was right. I didn't get to be the new Emporer but I did get to continue listening to dumbasses worry about the next make believe crisis. Joy.