"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." (Voltaire)
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Ladies and gentlemen, we as a people are too damn sensitive. And naturally, some people will no doubt be offended by this statement.
Let the hate mail commence.
Seriously, folks. I think we have taken Political Correctness (a.k.a. P.C.) to a whole new level. It seems that nowadays, everyone needs to watch what they say to everyone they meet just in case we may offend someone.
Think about it. In December, most stores have policies requiring their employees to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas as a way to avoid offending customers. When I went Christmas shopping, the cashier said, "Happy Holidays and thanks for coming."
I said, "Merry Christmas and have a nice day."
She smiled and said, "Merry Christmas to you, too."
I often wonder what our society would be like if people said what they meant and meant what they said. There would be a lot of upset people, that's for sure. But think about it. Imagine being in a world where no one has to second-guess the meaning or intention of what is said to them. Where everyone knows exactly what the other person just said because he or she said it quite plainly.
In other words, a non-P.C. world.
Imagine the warning label on a cigarette box:
Old: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy."
New: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Can Kill You."
Fewer words. Simpler explanation. Straight and to-the-point. Yet, if I say this to a smoker, they would get offended.
Normally, I'd go into a small explanation to say that I'm not against cigarette smokers. I'm not. But I've recently had to bury my aunt, who was a smoker and died of *gasp* lung cancer. So I won't.
I have a good friend of mine who lives this way. If he sees someone eating a Double Whopper, for example, he will say (quite loudly), "A heart attack waiting to happen." Needless to say, he offends a lot of people.
Two articles of note that I saw recently that prove my point.
First, a woman named LuAnn Haley got into hot water because she said that President Obama "is a hottie, with a smokin' little body." And people got offended by this. Why?!? If she thinks he's a hottie, what's the problem? The President wasn't even offended by the remark. He laughed about it.
As for Ms. Haley? She gets nasty comments and text messages.
Honestly, I feel sorry for her. She didn't really deserve that. She obviously admires the president. It would have been a whole different thing if she solicited him for sex or wanted to be his mistress.
Sigh.
Then there's the Kristen Stewart interview for Elle Magazine's July issue where she was talking about being constantly hounded by the paparazzi. She said:
“The photos are so … I feel like I’m looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can’t handle it. I never expected that this would be my life.”This, of course, caused a firestorm of controversy from rape victims, counseling groups and her own fans who cried foul, saying that she should not compare her violation of privacy to rape. She even issued an apology for it, saying that she made a mistake in her choice of words.
I have close friends who are rape victims. Me, I feel that any man who rapes a woman deserves to have himself castrated with a meat cleaver and no anesthesia. When I spoke with my friends about this, none of them felt offended by what she said. They all understood that she was not portraying herself as someone who had been raped, but as someone whose privacy has been violated. I thought the same thing.
Many people see it as the price of celebrity. When you choose to be famous, you give up the right to privacy. One of my friends said that it's the same thing as when her rapist said he did it because of the tight outfit and short skirt she wore made her too sexy to resist.
Let me say that I am not a Kristen Stewart fan. (Crap, I'm sure I offended someone now.) But to take her words out of context and be offended by it also means that her feelings on the matter should be disregarded and that she should not feel like a victim.
Never mind that one of the definitions of rape is "violation."
I know that a world without P.C. can't happen. I also have a theory as to why it can't happen. My theory is that a world of blunt honesty can only happen when we as a society can trust the intention of the person who is telling us the truth. We have to trust that the person means us no harm and that it is being done with the best of intentions. And let's be honest -- none of us trust anyone else that much. Maybe you might have that with a sibling, a parent, a spouse, or a child, but no one would trust a stranger with that much power.
And as long as that lack of trust exists, we will always have to approach every conversation with the same amount of caution as one does when walking through an area filled with land mines. It's because of who we are as human beings that the P.C. Beast will continue to be fed.
As for me, I think I'm going to start putting the P.C. Beast on a diet. He's a little too fat for my taste.
Crap. I used the word "fat." I'm sure that someone is upset by this.
Sigh.
To paraphrase Ice-T, we all have the freedom of speech. Just watch what you say.
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