I love provocative post titles.
Yesterday I wandered over to LewRockwell.com, a sanctuary for libertarians. Writer Charley Reese captures the essence of the absurdity of political correctness in just under 700 words. He argues that political correctness and incompetence often go hand in hand. By the way, political correctness is defined as:
1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. 2. Being or perceived as being overconcerned with such change, often to the exclusion of other matters.
That’s a politically correct way to put it. I say it’s counterintuitive doublespeak to the utmost degree and thought control hogwash.
Reese uses the Brian Nichols episode to illustrate how PC and incompetence are intertwined. (Speaking of Nichols, if you don’t know what I think of him, see Murdering Rapist Thug Brian Nichols Caught in Atlanta. I’m still getting e-mail from irate blacks who criticize my use of “thug.” Most of the e-mails express no outrage toward Nichols.) I add my own twist to his examples.
Example 1 – Is anyone old enough to remember when convicts wore black and white stripes? The ensemble not only made prisoners easier to see, but it was symbolic of their shame. They were unfit for decent society, and those hideous stripes were a constant reminder. These days, stigma is un-PC. These days, calling a slut a slut is worse than being a slut. Calling a thug a thug is worse than being a thug. You get the idea.
We’re careful not to make people feel ashamed of what they do. That’s why prisoners on trial are unshackled and wearing street clothes. Stripes and handcuffs would “prejudice” the jury. Reese writes, “[W]atching a prisoner shoot a judge and a court reporter would certainly be more prejudicial than seeing him in handcuffs.”
Example 2 – I’ve heard people say, with a straight face, that small women are just as qualified to “guard” big, strong, dangerous male criminals who used to be linebackers. But as Reese says, “Feminism is an ideology, not a description of reality.”
I heard a rumor that men and women train under different standards at the police academy. Is this true?
Example 3 – Unmanned (unpersonned?) security cameras may lead to death.
Example 4 – Unintelligent intelligence may also lead to death. And it doesn’t help matters if criminals are smarter than the cops. Fulton County’s finest failed to search the entire garage for the car Nichols stole. Nice. Do they require IQ tests for would-be cops?
Example 5 – Securing the public transit system after a criminal escapes should be high on Fulton County’s “How to protect citizens after a raping murderer escapes custody” list. Reese notes that a civilian, not the cops, found the “getaway” car and a civilian, not the cops, talked Nichols into turning himself in.
Reese concludes:
My advice is to stay clear of Atlanta. It is overcrowded and incompetently governed, and its urban sprawl is spreading like a cancer all over North Georgia….Look at the ruined lives that political correctness and plain old stupidity caused. Even after the carnage, as of this writing, Fulton County authorities haven’t decided what crimes to charge Nichols with. How about murder? It shouldn’t take too many brain cells to figure that out.
That paragraph is loaded with un-PC insinuations, accusations and assertions. Every word of it is true, but as you know, truth is not a defense in a PC world. I’m reminded every day when I read my e-mail.
