Political Correctness - the panacea for a guilty conscience?

                                                                                 

The wave of Political Correctness (PC) that has swept our world, not only refuses to subside, it seems to have gained velocity in recent years and to have claimed more victims.

“Political Correctness,” in itself, is a rather harmless term. Plainly defined, it means “agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people.” (Merriam-Webster).

In the pre-colonial period, the above definition could be understood to mean possessing humanness and the innate ability to care and show compassion to our fellow man

It seems, however, that in the post colonial world, this term became devoid of any human element. It has turned into an automated reaction against anything that is even remotely hinting at that which took place during the colonial rule by European powers. The term was adopted mainly by the ones who were accused and guilty of mistreating those they controlled. The descendents of the culpable parties, those who would want to be careful not to repeat the sins and misdeeds of their ancestors even in the slightest, likewise, employed it as a gesture of atonement for their ancestors’ guilt. That guilt stems from crimes ranging from plundering the societies that were under their control, treating their inhabitants as second class citizens, dividing nations and peoples and contributing to pain, strife and ongoing wars.

And who wants to be guilty of such a hideous list of atrocities? Who would want to carry such baggage as part of their nation’s historical heritage or legacy? It is quite a heavy burden to hold, one that exposes one’s national essence in a Wildean reflection of Dorian Grey.

Fortunately for the guilt ridden ones, all they have to do, nowadays, to cure it is just pull out the PC card and, in no time, their sins will be washed away, their conscience will shine brightly and their bleeding heart will remove any pain, or dark stains from their ethical essence.

Or will it?

Any health professional would tell you that overuse of any remedy can be harmful. The same is true about PC. Its users have turned the term into a means of a quick fix to a modern day problem.  

Nowadays, PC has been stretched to its limits and is now being abused and misused as a tool to silence those one disagrees with or to hide real bigotry and double standards. Its exploiters have become addicted to it and it controls them. It shapes their way of thinking and their behavior. It bars them from being truthful to themselves for fear that they might hurt the other. It prevents them from becoming who they were destined to be for concern that it might be at the expense of the freedom of others. They parrot foreign words and terms which sometimes mean nothing to them yet were told that their use would make them “nice,” kind” and “loved.”  They have become devoid of their own self which they were taught, or rather indoctrinated into believing, needed to be sacrificed on the altars of justice for “the other” first.

Unfortunately, members of Am Yisrael and the Jewish people, in whose Torah Political Correctness in its unadulterated form, originated, have also been infected by this epidemic of PC overdose. Our own seem to be champions for the causes of others forgetting too often that we still have our unsolved problems. When I hear my own people claiming that the “Jews have used all the brownie  points of the Shoa,”  or that the “ovens of Auschwitz are already cold and it is time to deal with the pain of others” I feel a strong urge to rebel, to shout from the top of my lungs and wake them up.

Nothing, though, infuriates me more than those among us who join hands with our slayers and take Political Correctness to the extreme where they entirely erase their own Dorian Grey reflection in their PC embossed mirror and project it upon others. Yes, I am referring to those who point a blaming finger at us, Jews, describing us in the ugliest, most diabolical terms accusing us of the worst crimes merely to deflect attention from the misdeed and transgressions of others against Jews.

To all those among my people, I say, PC is not the solution for your disorder, it is the problem. I urge you to look into yourselves, search for your soul, your own uncorrupt one. If you can still find it under the rubble of false gods, foreign words, ambiguous and relative terms, remove the loose frail patches that you wrapped around it, hold it up, let it breath, rehabilitate it and cleanse it from the destructive effect of the intoxicating drug called PC. If you don’t, it is only a matter of time before your mask will drop for all to see that which the overuse of PC has shrunk and nearly reduced to a point of no return.