In the past year or so we have encountered several incidences where the term “ political correctness run amuck” was inserted into the discussion. There was the poorly chosen words of Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty -to the tweets by a couple of NFL players showing their disgust of “the kiss” by Michael Sam and his boyfriend.
I think “political correctness” has taken on a new meaning since it was first introduced. At first, it meant to be polite, but now it means “ letme be who I am without any repercussion.” Except for Cliven Bundy ,all of the other instances such as the racist rant by Donald Sterling had to do with contract clauses and advertisers.
The offenders and their supporters think that their “free speech” is being suppressed by political correctness. Obviously that is not the case since no one stopped the people from doing what they thought was appropriate. There’s a time,place,venue, occupation and acceptance for what some call political acceptance. For example,Bill Maher,Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove are given more leniency because of the occupation they are in.No one would have given the words of Cliven Bundy a second thought but at that time he represented a movement. I have problem of a recorded call in privacy of one’s own home being used against them but it happened.But Mr. Sterling had a chance to redeem himself but he dug a deeper hole. The tweets by the two NFL players expressing their views about Michael Sam was immediately stopped by Miami because the club already had a bulling issue to contend with.
The American Spring movement much like the Tea Party of 2009 is about taking back the country to a time before a black president was elected. They don’t like the federal courts overturning state laws that discriminate against gays. These groups get really agree when a president they didn’t vote for, has the audacity to use an executive order to bypass the wishes of the people they voted for. Members of these groups talk fondly of the 1950s when things were their logical order.
Senator Marco Rubio fell victim to GOP political correctness when he said climate change was not man -made. A couple of days later he said regulations to curb greenhouse gases would hurt the economy but in order to make it right for the base he said “ liberals sought to accept that birth begins at conception.” That’s always a fall back position for conservatives.
We will overcome this phase of transformation as we have all others.