Fatwa #9 on the Politically Incorrect

in a way, this post is a necro, past its' date, in that people don't use the terms "P.C." or "un-P.C." that much anymore. they are, however, embedded in the language now, and have had ripple effects that need addressing. and, in places like missouri and alabama, you'll still hear them tossed around quite a bit. but more on that later.

a long time ago, shortly after your intrepid Mufti had graduated high school, either time or newsweek had a cover story with the headline "Political Correctness." i'd never seen any of what they described firsthand, but i came to know it later: professors who mangled grammar suggesting we use "they" instead of "him" or her," excessive militant insistence on "C.E." instead of "A.D. ," and many things much sillier still.

so the fuck what?

Mufti WMR has some reservations about my position here, for good reason: he spent a lot longer in the ivory tower - still works there occasionally - and saw far greater depths of stupid than i was ever privy to. if he is feeling kind, perhaps Mufti WMR might post an attachment with his groundbreaking study in institutional circle-jerking entitled "What is Cultural Studies?"

but again, so the fuck what. as irritating as they are, the tyrants of the sociology and english and cultural anthropology departments never wielded that much power, and it was always a little suspicious to me how the people complaining loudest about political correctness seemed the least likely to have much contact with those departments....rednecks, for example. they love to complain about this stuff.  especially if they've had daughters, and the daughters have reached primary launch stage for rebellion. you remember a lot of future teabaggers in your freshman religious studies class, do ya? not so many, but their sons and daughters abound.

when i was taking cognitive psych i don't remember a lot of part-time septic techs having a problem with the pronouns. and you know what? i don't doubt rednecks can and do succeed in academia...i just don't believe that by the time they do, they care anymore about that idiot dedicating his life to proving Lincoln was gay. it's just trivial, and they have shit to get done.

nearly two decades after i first heard the term "Poltically Incorrect", it is now worn as a badge of honor by everyone who uses it. whatever excesses i saw, no one ever asked me to be MORE politically correct. always less. and what do they mean by that?

ruder.

more dickish. an asshole. every ignorant loss mechanism with the power of speech has boldly told at least one person exactly what a giant prick he is with a sentence that started "Maybe it's politically incorrect, but..."

that's a great phrase, isn't it? when you hear it - and i bet you have, reader - does it precede a thoughtful debunking of long-cherished bromides and empty rhetoric, followed by useful observations and analysis? or is it more like the experience i've had (more than once, now!), where

"maybe it's politically incorrect, but..."

preceded something like "...but that nigger president is trying to sell us to china ?"

i now believe that no one but an asshole ever complained about this toothless problem, and that the term "politically incorrect" was coined by people who were trying to make us use more syllables than "dick" when describing them, on the theory we'd give up and  go watch leno.

well, maybe it's politically incorrect of me, but these chaw-chomping inbred bible-thumping functionally illiterate angry okies can tongue-swab my balls. i'm sorry they were raised wrong,  but not so damn sorry i'm gonna keep nodding or smiling when they fantasize about some old jewish medieval lit professor threatening their way of life. with what, the turkey sandwich in his briefcase?

it's not about their way of life, anyway. for the people who are really worked up about all that which is p.c., what it's really about is how clueless and stunned they were when those daughters i mentioned asked them "what's wrong with being gay?" or "why do you act that way around mexicans ?"

i suppose if he wants to, i'd give my colleague a pass. if Mufti WMR wants to complain about political correctness, he gets to, because as a student in multiple graduate programs, it AFFECTED HIM PERSONALLY. everyone else can shut up. it doesn't concern you.

and i don't wanna hear any of that "you didn't stop them when they came for the gays or the gypsies" shit, either. people who whine about the p.c. code ARE THE ONES GOING AFTER THE GAYS AND GYPSIES. that right there should tell you everything you need to know about the phrase...basically, it's the dressed-up, five-dolla version of phrases like "reverse racism."

anyway, i'm willing to put myself on the line here: if the Bolivian Interdisciplinary Cultural Composition Department and Hacky Sack League shows up at your house with the long knives, i'll defend you.

i'm pretty sure i can take them. i mean, half of them are obviously stoned.

in the meantime, do not use this term, or tolerate its' use. the people who call themselves politically incorrect are really just assholes. it's a shorter word, and it explains the smell.