Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Quote of the Day

Laurie Penny, talking about my fave topic:

"The term 'political correctness' is commonly used to reframe racist or reactionary ideas as somehow rebellious. It is used to silence the anger of people who complain about injustice and hate speech by recasting them as bloodless censors. When I’m accused of political correctness, it’s almost always by somebody who is frantically hanging on to their deep-seated prejudices about people who look, live or sound slightly different to them.

Reactionaries and conservatives practise precisely the kind of political correctness of which they accuse the left – but they call it 'decency' and 'morality'. Which is a rather PC way of referring to shutting down dissent.

We are informed that freedom of speech, if it means anything, is the right to be offensive. The question is whether or not, in these paranoid, sphincter-clenching times, it means anything else. From the weird, late-night back alleys of the internet to the pages of daily papers with millions of readers, freedom of speech has become synonymous with 'freedom to attack the vulnerable' – and that’s about it."
When I hear someone utter the phrase "political correctness" used in sincerity, I tune out.  I'm not ashamed to admit it. People who say that are simply not the brave truth-tellers they think are.  

And of course conservatives have their own version of political correctness, as evidenced by mixed-company tap-dancing conversations where, if the conversations are to happen, we aren't to say that anyone is being sexist or racist or anything.... we're just...erm...you know.... maybe we can all take a step back and re-think how some views might be.... you know... problematic.... or something?

It's like many critics of "PC" thinking believe that standing up against problematic behavior is all "PC gone too far" .... well, until someone gets called a bigot, and then shit gets real.

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