PC is always hate speech—the premature end to conversations that must be had; the ultimate invalidation of the real issues within complex problems. It actually is the salient factor that keeps these problems from ever being solved.
Enabling weakness in the intellect of the user and inflicting silencing wounds—creating frustration and resentment—on the receiver.
For three decades I have been teaching college students that there’s no love in PC—only fear; a shifting swirling fear, shrouded in shadows and darkness. Fear of many things—eventually of all things. Every word, gesture, every article of clothing, examined with a fine-toothed comb; scrutinized from every angle, uncovering the tiniest imperfection, the slightest slight, for potential offense.
PC by nature is full of misperceptions, misinterpretations, wrong causations: grasping things that do not exist, as if they do. PC is a loser’s game whose very method—if left alone—will destroy any community. Community is trust; PC distrust. Trust by nature is broad and open, resilient. With time ready to adapt, expand, and even sacrifice. PC’s distrust is narrow, closed, brittle: ready to accuse, grasp, or explode. It demands sacrifice in others.
PC needs a disguise, a mask, in order to survive. It breathes the same putrid air of fear again and again. When the mask is off, PC is seen for what it really is, a hate speech that often leads to violence. Without PC trust flourishes; we can breathe fresh air again. In the freedom of trust there is a relaxed ease that allows a natural kindness. In the fear underlying PC there is always a sense of tension and a feeling of anxiety that creates its own errors.
PC may have had its day, but that day is now over. Caring, and even love, for others is the ultimate answer: this grows only in the soil of freedom.
Comments