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Political Correctness is Wrong
European Wall Street Journal ^ | Sept 5, 2001 | Derk Jan Eppink

Posted on 09/05/2001 9:44:31 PM PDT by gcruse

                   Political Correctness Is Wrong

                   By Derk Jan Eppink, a member of the cabinet of
                   European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein.

                   European imports of American products, especially cultural ones, have
                   always been a hot topic for pseudo-intellectuals, political militants and the
                   French government. I too would now like to join the ranks and protest
                   against a political phenomenon being rapidly exported from America and
                   not just to Europe, but world-wide: political correctness. Though
                   U.S.-inspired PC rantings cannot of course be blamed for the whole
                   fiasco, the Racism Conference in Durban, South Africa is to a large degree
                   a product of it.

                   This is because political correctness forces politicians to conform to the
                   agenda of any minority that claims victim status. It presses the media to
                   self-censor itself and restricts scientists to investigate only what is
                   perceived relevant to the group in question. Other professions are similarly
                   restricted, but the three named above are among the most important for a
                   healthy civil society. Its restrictive quality explains why political correctness
                   contains totalitarian elements and why, in turn, it becomes a tool of
                   totalitarians.

                   PC began its long road to its present exalted status with the American
                   protest generation of the 1960s, which not coincidentally also made cult
                   figures of such totalitarians as Mao Tse-tung, Ho Chi Minh and Che
                   Guevara. Then as now, its practitioners were attracted to it out of a
                   combination of liberal guilt and a fetishistic attachment to egalitarianism.
                   The egalitarian myth implies that all members of the group are of equal
                   value to society, that they desire comforts and risks in equal measures and
                   should hold identical opinions.

                   Various Stages

                   PC gets established through various stages, and it is in identifying them that
                   we gain an insight into the Durban circus.

                        Stage one is the recognition of victim status. Representatives of a
                        group put forward the claim that over a certain period, present or
                        past, they or their forbears have been treated unfairly. (Note that
                        whether the offending activity has ended or not makes no
                        difference.) A self-appointed leadership of the group then tries to
                        convince as many people as possible outside the group of the
                        justness of their cause.

                   They then find a "victimizer." For racial minorities in America this was
                   "white people." For feminists this was "men." For those whose inferior
                   cultural products could not compete with the classics, this was the
                   dictatorship of the ancients. When these three groups united through
                   political expediency, the composite victimizer became the "dead white
                   male."

                        Stage two is the negotiating process. The "representatives" of the
                        "victims" then demand compensation from elected officials, who will
                        acquiesce to such demands either out of feelings of guilt or simply to
                        gain re-election. Compensation could be monetary or through some
                        form of positive discrimination with regard to access to jobs or top
                        universities. A free society acknowledges that recognition stimulates
                        self-esteem and, purely for the self-interested reason of correcting
                        social pathologies, may give in and accept some of these demands.

                        But such compensation is not always enough for practitioners of PC
                        (which is really cultural Marxism), which leads us to stage three, the
                        demand for rewritten history. This stage transcends a minority's
                        freedom from majority dictatorship and obtains the obverse: the
                        minority's imposition of an agenda on the majority. Thus some
                        homosexual "leaders" are not content with demanding that the
                        heterosexual majority tolerate their lifestyle, which is a legitimate
                        request, but they insist on "affirmation."

                   The leaders of the group then claim an institutional place in society and a
                   legitimating role in history. It becomes "un-PC" to point out that they may
                   not be representative even of their group's views. It is sufficient that they
                   speak on behalf of the "oppressed." And it's not just the present that must
                   be made to accord with these political considerations; history too must be
                   reinterpreted to give the group centrality, and assign guilt. A wrongdoing of
                   many years ago, for example slavery, is examined according to today's
                   criteria.

                        In stage four, words that hitherto were anodyne become suspect. In
                        the United Kingdom the very word "Britain" becomes an object of
                        controversy because it is deemed to imply a hidden form of racism.
                        According to the Committee on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain,
                        the words "Britishness" and "Englishness" have "a systematic and
                        racial connotation." The "B-word" becomes an obstacle to a
                        multicultural society.

                   'New Moral Order'

                        Finally, we get stage five: a "new moral order." It is indeed, because
                        the bearers of cultural Marxism impose a framework that binds the
                        freedom to speak and (they hope) think. They may no longer
                        dominate the economic infrastructure, given that Marx lost that
                        battle badly, but so they try to dominate the political, cultural and
                        historical superstructure.

                   The consequences -- however un-PC it may be to point this out -- are
                   antiliberal. Whoever infringes the rules is instantly charged with "hate
                   speech," and as with all totalitarianism, to be charged it to be convicted.
                   And the worst thing about is that nobody has won anything. Members of
                   the groups that were identified as victims will no longer feel part of an
                   open, free society, but will be force-fed myths that will lead them to see
                   other groups as the enemy.

                   By now it should have become clear that PC threatens free society. It
                   causes group thinking and enforces conformity through intimidation. It
                   smothers debate and worsens problems. In a free society all may say what
                   they want, dress as they please, eat what they like and pray to the God
                   they believe in. The community, even the world community, is better
                   served by an open debate and intellectual challenge than by a "new moral
                   order" that seems good but isn't.

                   -- From The Wall Street Journal Europe

 


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:
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" The community, even the world community, is better served by an open debate and intellectual challenge than by a "new moral order" that seems good but isn't. "
1 posted on 09/05/2001 9:44:31 PM PDT by gcruse
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: gcruse
good article, it's time to end this.
3 posted on 09/05/2001 10:03:46 PM PDT by knak
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To: gcruse
"The egalitarian myth"

What of the proposition that people want to live in huge but enclosed nation states?

Who's right or PRIVILEGE was it to impose that on the rest of the people?

4 posted on 09/05/2001 10:29:14 PM PDT by libertarian_usa
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To: gcruse
PC is not only wrong, its a well known Fascist Tactic! What does this tell us about the Left?!?!?! Welcome to the NWO!
5 posted on 09/05/2001 10:45:52 PM PDT by brat
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To: LLAN-DDEUSANT
"The next King of the World will be an American president"

Is it too late to clone Elvis?

6 posted on 09/06/2001 8:03:35 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: LLAN-DDEUSANT
Are we supposed to crouch in terror at this bit of news? So an American President signs an Executive Order proclaiming him(or her)self President of the World? Because of this, according to you, China, Russia, India, Iraq, Egypt ect... are just going to lay down and agree to this? Please, think these things through before you write them, for your own sake.
7 posted on 09/06/2001 8:14:10 AM PDT by Republic of Texas
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To: libertarian_usa
What of the proposition that people want
to live in huge but enclosed nation states?

I see no difference between that and choosing
to live in a gated community.  Is it a bad thing?
I also find it necessary to have a lock on the
door to my home.   Now I need a lock on
my betraying thoughts, else I lurch into hate
crime.

Who's right or PRIVILEGE was it
to impose that on the rest of the people?

Impose the nation state?  The will
of the people who live in it, I suppose.
I sort of like it, myself.

8 posted on 09/06/2001 8:20:46 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: gcruse
Political correctness is also known as cultural marxism for good reason. It is a way for the state to control our speech and thoughts in order to advance socialist control.

When I was a kid we used to say "I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it". That is the American way. Now we charge people with hate crimes, that is the Soviet way.

9 posted on 09/06/2001 8:31:01 AM PDT by OK
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To: gcruse
Excellent article...thanks for posting.

Political Correctness is sensorship!

10 posted on 09/06/2001 8:37:39 AM PDT by bigjoesaddle
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To: gcruse
I too would now like to join the ranks and protest against a political phenomenon being rapidly exported from America and not just to Europe, but world-wide: political correctness.

Uh... Isn't political "correctness" coming from all sides of socialism, including the E.U. and U.N.?? Why does this author solely blame the U.S.?

11 posted on 09/06/2001 9:43:03 AM PDT by SunStar
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To: SunStar
I think it started here. ICBW
12 posted on 09/06/2001 9:54:48 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: gcruse
bump
13 posted on 09/06/2001 2:44:36 PM PDT by bigjoesaddle
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: LLAN-DDEUSANT
The article is dead-on. PC is a front for socialism (which I don't favor), and a way for people who have done nothing to steal from those who produce (which I gather from your writings, you do favor). PC is a way to do this and attempt to mask the theft under a rightious banner. Why would I disagree with an article I agree with?
15 posted on 09/07/2001 8:40:27 AM PDT by Republic of Texas
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: JMJ333
Paging your Nibs.
17 posted on 09/09/2001 7:12:11 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: gcruse
my nibs? Dare I ask what a nib is? I had to go to google [lest I be a hypocrite] and a nib can be any number of things. *sigh*

for soap and..er... hehehe

18 posted on 09/09/2001 7:17:27 PM PDT by JMJ333
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To: gcruse
Another excellent article on the subject:
The Origins of Political Correctness
19 posted on 09/09/2001 7:23:26 PM PDT by Commiewatcher
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To: JMJ333
I looked it up. I have heard the expression 'his nibs' all my life and didn't realize it was an insult. My bad. I take it back.
20 posted on 09/09/2001 7:35:16 PM PDT by gcruse
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