The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie.
So begins a straight-forward commentary “The Big White Lie,†by a novelist named Andrew Klavan. A conservative born in New York and currently living in California, Klavan discusses truth, the idea of calling a thing by its name, and liberalism’s aversion to it.
Over the years, truth telling has become something “polite†people don’t do in public. By way of example, Klavan begins:
The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don’t have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine. I don’t have to say that everyone’s special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don’t have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don’t have to pretend that Islam means peace.
First, I’m glad Klavan recognized Toni Morrison as a superior writer to Alice “The Color Purple†Walker. I’ve always thought so, though Walker is probably more well known. As the author of one of my favorite books of all time, Song of Solomon, Morrison studied, understands, and appreciates the works of good writers, regardless of race. Her style has been compared to William Faulkner’s, one of America’s great southern writers.
With a decreasing emphasis on studying the Western canon, too many people have lost the ability to understand what is good and what is crap. With politically correct pabulum flowing through the streets like raw sewage, we’re knee-deep in crap, and people from the highest office to the lowest rung are afraid to call it crap.
But I digress. As Klavan acknowledges, it is politically incorrect to tell the truth. To call abortion murder is to be an extremist who wants to send women back to the Victorian era. Personal responsibility, accountability, and a desire to speak out for and protect the unborn limit a woman’s “rights,” I guess. For anyone to say that out-of-control black crime and illegitimacy rates are destroying the black community and that the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of those committing the crimes and having babies by different men is to be self-hating if you’re black and a racist if you’re white.
The political left depends on suppressing the truth or relegating it to the back room. Klavan writes:
This is leftism’s great strength: it’s all white lies. That’s its only advantage, as far as I can tell. None of its programs actually works, after all. From statism and income redistribution to liberalized criminal laws and multiculturalism, from its assault on religion to its redefinition of family, leftist policies have made the common life worse wherever they’re installed. But because it depends on—indeed is defined by—describing the human condition inaccurately, leftism is nothing if not polite. With its tortuous attempts to rename unpleasant facts out of existence—he’s not crippled, dear, he’s handicapped; it’s not a slum, it’s an inner city; it’s not surrender, it’s redeployment—leftism has outlived its own failure by hiding itself within the most labyrinthine construct of social delicacy since Victoria was queen.
I’m struck by the gradual, 40-year shift from rebelling against “Victorian†middle class morality in the 1960s, where people encouraged others to speak their minds and stand up to authority, to the present descent into unpalatable PC conformity, where speech codes are alive and thriving in government agencies, businesses, and on college campuses across the country. An innocuous but stupid comment can cost someone his job and reputation. What happened? Here’s my theory:
As this country has become more racially and culturally diverse, telling the truth about racial and cultural differences has become off-limits. At the same time, liberals want to apply separate standards to these diverse groups based on those differences. For example, you can’t talk about personal responsibility in the context of underachievement among black students, or you’re a racist. Yet, so-called affirmative action — a government-mandated racial classification system — exists to compensate for those differences (and not to combat racism, as some people believe). But to be PC is to pretend racial disparities like underachievement or high crime rates are caused by white racism instead of by individuals and something lacking within the subculture itself, and to say otherwise is taboo.
Additionally, we’re encouraged to “celebrate diversity†and embrace differences, but only the good stuff. We can’t talk about or even acknowledge the bad without being called nasty names. “Honest†dialogues aren’t really honest all. They’re one-sided victimhood rallies.
Do you see what I’m getting at? We all know what’s going on, but we’re discouraged from saying it out loud. As Klavan writes, “No one wants to be condemned as a brute.†No one wants to be called a racist. No one wants to be called a woman-hater or a self-hater. But that’s what awaits you when you dare look a thing in the face and call it by its name.
I decided years ago that I would try to wash away as much PC sewage as I could. I’ve spent the subsequent years trying not to step in it again. Sometimes it’s difficult, because the pressure to conform can be overwhelming. Lying to people certainly doesn’t help them, and I’d rather be right than liked.
Agree or disagree? Why?
(Photo credit: Boundless)
Update: Power Line’s Scott Johnson linked to this post (Thanks!) and routes readers to Johnny Carson’s classic copper clapper caper skit. Check out the video. A little comic relief is needed in this pitifully PC period. 
Update II: Military man “Dadmanly” has written what I consider a must-read post in response to Klavan’s column. I met the milblogger at last year’s Milblog Conference, which I live-blogged. Can’t attend this year’s conference. 
I’m in sunny South Carolina to attend a mini family reunion and celebrate my 40th birthday (May 5).
