From "Do I Stand Alone" by Jesse Ventura
Thou Shalt Not Offend: Political Correctness Has Gotten Out of Hand
I remember back in the mid-eighties when I first started hearing the term politically correct. It was usually considered a good thing. It forced us to take a look at the way we were using language, and it shone a new light on some of the bad stereotyupes we were unintentionally reinforcing. Remember that? Suddenly we were looking at words like handicapped and realizing that it sounded like we were saying people with disabilities went around looking for a handout!
But over time, the concept got out of hand. It got co-opted by groups that were going beyond just raising the public's awareness, who started using the concept for shock value, to try to get a rise out of people. That's when we started getting Native American groups protesting Disney's Pocahontas movie, saying it advocated child molesting. "Huh?" you say? Well, even though the Pocahontas in the movie was portrayed as a teenager, the real Pocahontas was only about twelve, which in their minds meant John Smith was robbing the cradle! Never mind that in the Powhatan tribe at that time in history, that's the age at which most girls did get married.
Political correctness has gotten so overly sensitive that it seems like nobody can take a joke. When I went on David Letterman's show in February of 1999, I made an offhand joke about the streets of Saint Paul being laid out by drunken Irishmen. Suddenly, headlines were popping up everywhere calling me anti-Irish! They printed the comments of an irate Irishman whom I'd horribly offended. Of course, what they didn't tell you is they went out looking for an offended Irishman. They had to look pretty hard. They kept interviewing Irish people until they found one who was offended. Who knows how many people they had to talk to before they found one?
Political correctness is supposed to be linked with tolerance; I'm sure originally it was meant to apply equally to everyone. But now that it's been commandeered for political agendas, it doesn't apply to everybody anymore. Case in point: You can bash men all day and nobody will say anything. Look how many TV commercials portray men as imbeciles who can't even operate a washing machine. Next time you go to the movies, count how many times men get whacked in the groin. But don't you dare turn that same treatment on women! Christianity is okay to make fun of and misrepresent and portray as corrupt—count how many times you've seen priests casually depicted as child molesters. But Wiccans and New-Agers are off-limits; you're not allowed to joke about them or portray them as corrupt. If political correctness were actually being universally applied, there would be just as much outrage no matter who was being bashed.
I remember back in the mid-eighties when I first started hearing the term politically correct. It was usually considered a good thing. It forced us to take a look at the way we were using language, and it shone a new light on some of the bad stereotyupes we were unintentionally reinforcing. Remember that? Suddenly we were looking at words like handicapped and realizing that it sounded like we were saying people with disabilities went around looking for a handout!
But over time, the concept got out of hand. It got co-opted by groups that were going beyond just raising the public's awareness, who started using the concept for shock value, to try to get a rise out of people. That's when we started getting Native American groups protesting Disney's Pocahontas movie, saying it advocated child molesting. "Huh?" you say? Well, even though the Pocahontas in the movie was portrayed as a teenager, the real Pocahontas was only about twelve, which in their minds meant John Smith was robbing the cradle! Never mind that in the Powhatan tribe at that time in history, that's the age at which most girls did get married.
Political correctness has gotten so overly sensitive that it seems like nobody can take a joke. When I went on David Letterman's show in February of 1999, I made an offhand joke about the streets of Saint Paul being laid out by drunken Irishmen. Suddenly, headlines were popping up everywhere calling me anti-Irish! They printed the comments of an irate Irishman whom I'd horribly offended. Of course, what they didn't tell you is they went out looking for an offended Irishman. They had to look pretty hard. They kept interviewing Irish people until they found one who was offended. Who knows how many people they had to talk to before they found one?
Political correctness is supposed to be linked with tolerance; I'm sure originally it was meant to apply equally to everyone. But now that it's been commandeered for political agendas, it doesn't apply to everybody anymore. Case in point: You can bash men all day and nobody will say anything. Look how many TV commercials portray men as imbeciles who can't even operate a washing machine. Next time you go to the movies, count how many times men get whacked in the groin. But don't you dare turn that same treatment on women! Christianity is okay to make fun of and misrepresent and portray as corrupt—count how many times you've seen priests casually depicted as child molesters. But Wiccans and New-Agers are off-limits; you're not allowed to joke about them or portray them as corrupt. If political correctness were actually being universally applied, there would be just as much outrage no matter who was being bashed.
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