Politically Correct To The Core

In the early eighties, right around the time buffalo wings and potato skins arrived on the scene, the term “politically correct” was added to this nation’s lexicon (PC for short). Almost immediately the political Right and mainstream middle latched onto the phrase, using it to chide and ridicule the Left. Even the Left used it to ridicule the Left, which just goes to show how strong the backlash eventually grew. And many PC belief’s did seem overindulgent, needless, ridiculous.

The fact is, there will always be some insane politically correct issue bubbling up out there, just like there will always be a few bad cops on duty among all the good cops, and a few corrupt politicians hidden in among all the honest ones. Still, you seldom hear PC critics acknowledge that universal access for the handicapped was actually a pretty good idea (you know, accessible bathrooms, buildings, public transportation). And when was the last time you heard anyone complain that women delivering the mail should still be called postmen, or long for the good old days when Asians were Orientals.

The odd thing is that the Right has so many of their own PC issues, but you just never hear them defined that way. For example, if it’s PC to bemoan negative, stereotypical depictions of blacks and Latinos in film and television, then isn’t it PC to wail and complain about negative stereotypes of Christians and Italians (you know, the whole mob thing). When public schools are criticized as being PC because of inclusive curriculums that try not to offend anyone, shouldn’t we think it’s PC when the FCC pressures networks to make television less offensive? And why isn’t banning flag burning considered PC? Isn’t that an attempt to stop someone from being offensive? And isn’t it PC when a handful of parents complain to stop elementary school Halloween parties where children dress up as ghosts and goblins?

And seriously, doesn’t it strike you as PC to claim that the Ten Commandments are historical when trying to justify why they should constitutionally belong in a courthouse. Removing religion from the Ten Commandments and redefining them as a historical document seems about as PC as PC can get (even if it’s only being done as a disingenuous, calculated political maneuver). And aren’t those who campaign for school uniforms, something I personal believe in, PC for trying to force everyone to be as neutral as possible. And I’m guessing there are just as many on the Right as on the Left who agree that outside of Vegas, smoking shouldn’t be allowed in restaurants and bars. Yet it’s always the Left that’s tagged as being PC for banning second hand smoke.

Just remember that it’s the liberal Left who over the years have been bizarrely branded as PC for trying to strip away myth and distortions from our history textbooks, while the conservative Right has actively pursued keeping history as inoffensive and safe as possible to America and Americans. They simply don’t seem to want to “Remember the Alamo” the way historians tell us it actually happened, or to teach our kids that the Boston Tea Party was more about money than about independence. Even science is constantly being branded as PC, mostly over global warming, despite the fact that core samples from Greenland don’t really care whether anyone believes in it or not, they’re simply showing us that carbon dioxide levels are at their highest levels in 250,000 years. Those crazy, lefty, PC core samples. Why don’t they just move to Hollywood and drive a hybrid.

(Update: NASA recently announced they were cutting global warming research projects)