Political correctness is like a tsunami in that no one understands the extent of its danger until after the massive wave sweeps across the land and then recedes.
Early on, in the first term of the Obama administration, we felt the rumblings of the earthquake that always precedes the storm, when President Obama set the tone for how he expected sensitive issues to be handled. It wasn’t long before the Global War on Terror was renamed “Overseas Contingency Operation.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quickly followed suit when it redefined terrorist attacks as “man caused disasters.” A case of trickle-down idiocy, I suppose, considering that changing a name only makes for a temporary fix.
I learned that lesson as a kid, having been blessed with two sets of teeth, requiring a number of dentist visits to remove the stubborn baby ones. After the first disastrous visit (for all parties involved) because I kicked the dentist when he gave me a shot, my mom decided to change the name “dentist office” to “ice cream stand” to get me in the car. It worked once, just up until our car pulled into the dentist office parking lot rather than the ice cream stand. Fool me once...
That night, my parents had a grownup conversation with me, (at me, really) explaining it was going to be unpleasant, but had to be done. To their credit, I have a decent smile today, but still get a weird feeling inside when I see an ice cream stand. Although I didn’t realize it then, that experience taught me a valuable lesson about political correctness, in that switching labels doesn’t change traits.
Currently, there is a strong push by the left to change America into the opposite of everything that makes this country exceptional. They are using political correctness to get there by relabeling things once considered honorable and wholesome as inappropriate, and things once considered immoral as good. What they do not realize is they are trapping themselves in the process. Exchanging God-endowed freedoms for man-made rules is never a fair trade.
This was recently on display in a smaller, but still toxic, military reservist sensitivity training workshop in Pennsylvania that would make Bill Maher proud (here) when the person in charge listed Jews, Catholics, and Christians as religious extremists alongside al Qaeda and the KKK. As you can see, inclusivity is not always a good thing.
The military was quick to respond promising it was an isolated event, but it seemed a bit misplaced considering the magnitude of faith-filled military veterans out there who have managed to love God and serve their country without pulling a “Nidal Hasan” on fellow soldiers. In the name of political correctness, Hasan’s alleged heinous act was kindheartedly labeled “work place violence” by the Obama administration, which also denied Purple Hearts to well-deserving soldiers at Fort Hood. Rather than calling it for what it is, the administration treated the massacre as if it were a mass pencil stabbing.
It works both ways. Obama had the opportunity to taste his own bitter medicine when he recently complimented California’s Kamala Harris by telling her she is “by far the best looking attorney general in the country.” The PC police swarmed, demanding Obama take gender sensitivity classes. He apologized, and the tsunami grew...and increased when free speech was culled after news journalists were told they can no longer use certain terms like “illegal alien” And the tide will expand further, if the two gay students at George Washington University, who demanded the ousting of a Catholic priest because he spoke about his church’s not-so-politically correct teachings about homosexuality, get their way.
The monstrous PC wave will continue to rise until it can no longer contain itself, and then will explode across America, drowning our freedom and leaving fascism in its wake.
Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.