The Dashing Chronicles: Political Correctness, Science, & Truth
- Winston McLean | July 27, 2015
I saw this recently, somewhere, and it bugged the hell out of me….
“Truth. The new hate speech. Political correctness is destroying the very fabric of society. Never before in history have people been so afraid to stand up against absurdity for fear of being labeled a racist, a homophobe, or a bigot. Get rid of political correctness. Let’s get people talking again.”
I, Dirk Delicious Dashing, agree, but just not the way you want.
Yes, political correctness is in fact destroying the very fabric of an increasingly small segment of society. And that segment is getting smaller. So yeah, your pain is real.
Even the rest of your statement is almost true. Almost. Let me demonstrate….
The next phrase in the “Truth” statement is, “Never before in history have people been so afraid to stand up against absurdity for fear of being labelled a racist, a homophobe, or a bigot.” This is absolutely true, and it has happened before.
There was a time, a few hundred years ago, when everyone in Europe – in other words everyone that mattered – was required to believe the world was flat or man was the centre of the universe.
Anyone who argued against these facts was labeled a heretic, a blasphemer, or from Kindersley, and was thusly placed under house arrest. If that didn’t shut them up they were sentenced to Cupar, a former Klingon penal colony.
By the way, I like that word, “thusly.”
It may reappear throughout this column.
“Column.” An odd word for what I am doing here, since the thoughts I am unleashing here are appearing in, as I count ‘em, four columns! I demonstrate thusly – imagine me waving my hand across the page as though I am showing you something you have not noticed before.
You took a break from reading to count the columns, right?
Hence, “thusly.”
But I digest myself.
At any rate, at one point in history it was absurd to believe the world was not the centre of the universe. Then some yahoo by the name of Copernicus came along and he said, “Yo, sports fans, we revolve around the sun, dudes!”
I’m translating from his native Polish.
Copernicus was placed under house arrest by the church bosses of the day, who realized the implications of this discovery. But once Copernicus’ ideas took hold other facts revealed themselves. And as open-minded people experimented with the new ideas they began to expand their understanding of the universe and their place in it.
That’s right, the universe does not revolve around us. We’re just one little planet amongst tri-gillions in the universe.
Real word that. “Tri-gillions.” It even feels right when you mumble it.
There’s only one thing wrong with this comparison. The writer of “Truth” is no Copernicus, though he feels unjustly condemned for his truth. No, he’s more like the nervous, bent and corrupt church bosses who were afraid of losing their grip on the world and their cherished fantasies about their lofty place in it.
At any rate, let’s get back to the rest of that deceptively simple “Truth” about political correctness.
The next phrase is a plea, as though delivered by an evangelist in full sweat across his fat, red brow: “Get rid of political correctness.”
What an enticing offer. Having to address people as they want to be addressed, with respect, is too much like work. Mental work. It’s almost like thinking before one opens ones’ mouth. It’s much easier to slander other people with handy, dandy stereotypes.
And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of science since it is responsible for knocking us off our “centre of the universe” perch we “men” enjoyed in them olden days.
Ah, the olden days. Back when you could smack your woman and kids. When you could ridicule and demonize others, and after say it was only in fun. When you could deny people things based on their race, and maybe shove them into ovens or brutalize their kids in institutions.
When you can degrade a person or a people through language,…you're damn right, it became easier to do unspeakable things to them.
Dirk says, “I won't say I was a slow developer, but teacher was quite pleased to have someone her own age in class to talk to.” – Thanks to Chic Murray for that one.
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