Will P.C. Destroy the World? 21 October, 2006
Posted by paralleldivergence in apple, Borat, Brad & Phil, education, mac vs windows, My Thoughts, Political Correctness, windows.trackback
No, I’m not referring to Microsoft’s undeserving world dominance at the expense of Apple, I’m talking about Political Correctness. To most people, P.C. is viewed as little more than a joke, but this perception has given it the ability to insidiously erode the foundations and values that make up a democratic society. Like a termite colony, P.C. has been munching on logic, commonsense, discussion and free speech. Our society depicts a strong, healthy and modern facade, but a tiny scratch to the surface reveals an unsure, hesitant, cautious, insecure and frightened population.
A joke once fondly shared among workers is now left unsaid because of fears of reprisal. Sure, it may have been “offensive”, but the point is, it was a JOKE. Many believe we’ve lost our senses of humour as a result. The P.C. brigade will tell us it hasn’t been lost, it has just “matured”. If there is the possibility that someone “may” get offended, you just can’t say it.
OK, maybe it’s not a disaster if we can’t tell “Irish” jokes anymore. But when they extend the exact same concept and restrictions to Childcare workers, they are directly targeting the future of society. According to new rules, you can’t say “no” to pre-school children. Yes, that’s right. Childcare workers have been instructed not to use the words “no” and “don’t” because it is feared they will stunt a child’s development and the terms “good boy” and “good girl” are also frowned on as they are considered sexist. The word used to teach children the basic difference between right and wrong is being banned – at the earliest stage of learning.
They move onto primary school and they cannot be labelled as “failures” no matter how softly the description is made. Many students progress to high school somehow without the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. Remember when they used to be called the 3 R’s? Well, they just aren’t important anymore. The result? I recently watched a report of how every one of a cross-sectional group of today’s year 10 students failed a set of year 10 exams from just 20 years ago. Similar re-testing has occurred with year 6 with similar results. It is clear that our students are being dumbed down and it’s particularly evident over the last two decades.
The P.C. crowd will of course deny this [denial is another symptom of political correctness]. They’ll tell us our students are being taught a more relevant and more “rich” curriculum that will prepare them better for their future (academic) career. Problem is, they can’t all go to university – although P.C. ‘ers believe they should. Meanwhile, in the workforce we have shortages of tradespeople and an abundance of red-tape.
So, should we be worried? Will it all sort itself out in the end? Or will society become a quagmire of apathy, fear and confusion?
What we all need is a giant kick up the backside and there is only one person who can do it for us. Before it’s too late, we must ALL go to see Borat as soon as it opens at a cinema near you. Borat will provide us with a much-needed dose of political incorrectness and after we wake up, we’ll wonder, “What the hell were we thinking?!” Have you seen Borat yet or are you one of the P.C. crowd?
Parallel Divergence 
You’re quite right. I can’t stand political correctness. I say tell it how it is.
I’m particularly disgusted by the childcare rules of can’t say no (did they say no to saying no?). I remember hearing about that a few years back. None of us could beleive it. We couldn’t figure out what on earth you were meant to do instead…. Best we could figure was you just let the problem child run around being a jerk and hurting the other kids.
The worst part is you can always tell when something has been made politically correct.
Love the cartoon at the bottom!!
Can’t believe that childcare workers can’t say No!! I have a four yr old at kindy at the moment, this is a bit scary. I tell him no all the time – can I have more to eat – No you can’t, Can I watch more Nick Jnr – No it is time to play. I also tell him he is a good boy when he is – I was told I was a good boy when I was younger – and I turned out alright!!
gotta love the borat site huh.
btw…i only keep coming back here for the brad and phil cartoons 🙂
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We’re teaching our kids that there’s no such thing as discipline, that they can’t go outside to play because it’s too “dangerous” and that they’ll never fail. How do you suppose they’ll turn out? Borat! Save us! 🙂
Thanks for your great post.. I totally agree with what’s happening.
In my mind the ultimate P.C. deals with how we are supposed to classify women in this modern sanitized world of ours. I live in Russia so if you want to get a different perspective on what women are really supposed to be like check out this link.. or my site..
http://russianwomen.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/what-is-a-genuine-russian-woman/
http://russianwomen.wordpress.com
The movie “Kenny” contains some simple truths too.
http://www.kennythemovie.com/
Sadly, political correctness, so-called, is as often mis-identified as on target by the loony left who believe it was their invention. It is far easier to speak of fairness and justice. These apply to both sides in any situation or relationship. Examples are not needed here. Daily life provides them. The violation of them is associated with abuse of power, more often than not. cyquick.wordpress.com
Make sure you take a look at the Borat Archive too! Over a hundred Borat videos on-line and hilarious!
http://boratarchive.magnify.net/
That’s really true! I’m only a middle schooler, but I can give you some examples of how we have to follow ‘political correctness’. For example, me and my friend were joking around yesterday, when she asked ,’Do we have any homework?’ I told her ‘No! Are you retarded?!’ Then my math teacher gives me this dirty look and said, ‘Do not make inappropritate jokes, or I’ll have to write you up.’
What made this a little ironic is how she told me it was a joke. I’ll respect the mentally sick, but when I say the word retard or retarded, I’m not trying to offend anyone. Now, if I’d started spitting at someone who was actually retarded, then you can give me dirty looks all day.
BTW: I read your article on how we’re dumbing down the future. I can’t agree with you more. I try to tell my classmates the same idea you said; hair, sneakers, and all of that crap doesn’t matter. But, I’m jibed at and now labeled a loser. I often find myself bored in school because the teachers have dumbed things down. The only thing that comforts me is the fact that one day most of my classmates will be McDonald employees. Oh and another thing! I’m not dumb and I care about my education! So do my friends (then again, we are in the loser/nerd groups…). I’ll recommend your blog to people I care about. Also love the brad and phil cartoons. Sorry if I talk too much. I like to elaborate….
Hi Gabi,
Congratulations on your stand at school. In 20 years, you’ll look back and realise how short a period of your life school actually is, but you’ll also realise how important it is to set you up for the future. The students who take it seriously have a much better chance at progressing early, getting a well-paid job and making the rest of their lives a little easier. School is important. Not going well doesn’t mean the end of the world – it’s all about attitude and I think you have the right one.
Talk as much as you like…
In the last decade most particularly PC has spread like a cancer through the social structure of the small community where I live and through the school. The expatriated urbanites who move to the country come with a remarkable amount of baggage as well as condescending attitudes about “progressive and inclusive” [actually regressive] educational ideals.
This has led to students carrying around their little books of scribble and scrawl which they express themselves, spelling, punctuation and grammar be damned. It has led to children with emotional problems and unacceptable public behaviours {oops! I means special needs} children being integrated into classrooms to dominate them and challenge the teacher’s ability to deliver a lesson in an environment where effective discipline is non-existent and class sizes are too large.
Ultimately, it has led to principals and teachers negotiating “settlements” to allow problem children who misbehave to continue to disrupt classrooms. This is to appease their parents and to be in lock step with the PC policies of the day to the effect of “every child deserves a public school education”.
On another matter – Concerning Borat are you aware that two of the drunken frat boys are suing? In the movie, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat character gets drunk in a motor home with the frat boys and watches an American classic on video: The Pam Anderson-Tommy Lee sex tape. Well, they are charging the studio with fraud, rescission of contract, statutory and common law false light. And the frat boys have gone on to whine that they’ve become “the objects of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress” and have suffered “loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community,” reports E! Online. Yup, the kiddies think they should get $25,000 for emotional damage and also want an order to keep 20th Century Fox from splashing their faces on screens around the world. http://www.dose.ca/celeb/story.html?id=04201e44-c8ef-48fa-b8f8-f8c98778af07
Awesome Post!
Third Rake webcomic
props to Gabi!
I’m a high school math teacher – and from the ‘other side’ I’ve had enough of political correctness as well. Thanks to political correctness, we can’t separate quicker students into an accelerated class because that wouldn’t be fair to the slower ones (they wouldn’t have the advantage of the good role model and assistance of their quicker peers)… of course nobody noticed that it doesn’t matter having them mixed together… the quicker ones must plod through the material more slowly because others can’t keep up (too bad you can’t live up to your potential, just ignore the problem) and the slower ones still feel like we move too fast.
And yet, one quick comment in defense of the math teacher – it’s not his/her fault… if she ignores the comment and it comes back to haunt her it could mean her job. Been there… done that.
Excellent post – excellent site!
lol u made teh 2nd image with gmod?