I think it may be possible that political
correctness and the attempted thought control that goes with it has contributed
significantly to a kind of bland homogeneity in thinking and communicating. There is a bored sameness I am often
encountering these days with books, movies, TV, radio, blog posts, magazines,
talk shows and other forms of communication.
In fact, I think, in some ways, political correctness is contributing to
our culture losing some of its creative edge.
I listened to a podcast a while ago in which it was
suggested that stand-up comedians and radio shock jocks are more cautious about
what they say nowadays. I know this
might be an odd point for a minister to be making but hang with me for a minute
while I try to explain this a little further.
I’m not trying to defend all the things stand-up
comedians and shock jocks say. I’m quite
certain people in both of those fields say lots of things I would find to be
rude, offensive, inappropriate and just plain wrong. However, it was interesting for me to hear
people who have been involved for a long time in both of those fields talking
about being in a cultural climate in which they understand they must censor
some of the things they would say. We’re
talking about people who have historically been precisely the ones who would
say all the things people know we’re not supposed to say. They were the rebels who didn’t give a
rip. They were daring. They were intentionally outlandish and
outrageous.
These are the very people who push the
boundaries. These are the people who say
what other people may secretly be thinking but would never in a million years
speak out loud. They find the odd things
to poke fun at in all the various areas of life.
Please understand, I am not suggesting that if we
simply allow stand-up comics and radio shock jocks to be even more vile, ugly,
insulting, demeaning and outlandish the bland homogeneity in thinking and
communicating will end and creativity will flourish. In fact, I wrote this essay several months
ago and have been hesitant to post it because I’m concerned I will be
misunderstood. I simply refer to that
podcast discussion as an illustration. It is an illustration of the stifling power
of political correctness in our culture.
The point is that even for the people who were among the most likely to
push boundaries the thought and speech police are having some effectiveness at
shutting down free expression.
Think of it this way, if stand-up comics and shock
jocks have some hesitation when it comes to speaking their minds what about the
average guy who may have an opinion that doesn’t fall within the carefully defined
parameters of the cultural watchdogs?
We talk a lot about being tolerant of different
opinions and viewpoints but in some ways it really seems like we are becoming
less tolerant. Certain ideas and
positions are correct and other ideas and positions are not correct. If your
ideas are not the correct ones, we all know you better keep your mouth shut and
be careful.
And my theory (it is just a theory, I’ve been wrong
before) is that this has an effect. I
realize this is not the only factor, however, this politically correct
censorship is a contributing factor to a bland homogeneity of thinking and
expression. I think it is possible that
years and years of political correctness is even having an effect on
creativity.
Fortunately, there are still some voices that are
fresh, creative, interesting, unique, courageous, authentic and surprising. Freedom of thinking and freedom of expression
still exist. I find myself searching for
those voices, even when I disagree with them.
They challenge my thinking. And at
least, they’re not dull. They are still
out there. I am more and more thankful
for those brave voices.
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