Let’s Stop the Nonsense!

It seems we are, as a nation, being bombarded by a big dose of “political correctness” day after day, and it has made life miserable for practically everybody. This real or imagined censorship or sensitivity is not normal, people should not be offended by some off the cuff statement by somebody else who didn’t intend to do harm in the first place. Private conversations, not meant for public consumption, should not be used to discredit or threaten the speakers into silence. We all have said things in private that we wouldn’t want others to hear, so why is it O.K. to demonize those people who were taped illegally and their words spread across the universe to feed the frenzy of the politically correct crowd with an agenda? The comments may be stupid or worse, but we all should have the right to be stupid or offensive. It is the intent of the words spoken, in public or for publication, that should be considered, not the substance of those remarks, said in private, as to whether real offense should be taken. My mother always told me as a child “that sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never harm you”.

Today, an innocent remark taken out of context or interpreted a different way than they were intended, could cause someone to lose their job, be ostracized by others, demonized, or be condemned to the scrap heap of history. The people who seem to make the judgments about what is “politically correct” are generally un-elected busy bodies (a/k/a Progressives and Liberals). They make the “rules” of what is proper and acceptable talk or action. Who, you might ask, appointed them judge and jury of what is acceptable speech or action?

The last time I looked we still had a 1st Amendment to the Constitution. Speech, even if stupid or non-conforming speech, is allowed in our free society. Just recently, a NFL footballer tweeted a remark referring to the drafting of a gay player who upon hearing the news placed a kiss on the lips of his love partner, by tweeting the word “horrible”. The league and the media went ballistic and the league instructed the player to attend a sensitivity and diversity class to “cleanse” him of his sin. What crime did he commit? Doesn’t he, along with everyone else, have the right to be offended by what he saw? In addition, the P.C. police are urging the Washington Redskins to change it’s name because some radical Indians and guilt-ridden Liberals, think the word Redskins is offensive to their ears. A poll was taken recently among American Indians and a majority said they were not offended and that Washington should keep the name as is.

In addition, several invited speakers at college commencements were “dis-invited” or they decided not to attend because a group of left-wing radical professors and students protested their appearances and threatened a disruption because they “didn’t approve” of their thoughts and opinions. Why should a vocal minority of faculty and students, command such power to have these speakers banned or made so uncomfortable, that they could not be part of the commencement exercises? Why is it mostly all these protests are against Conservatives (a survey of speakers at commencement exercises, across the country, showed that 80% of the speakers were liberal) and not liberal speakers? It seems that these protestors are the same people who preach tolerance, but then become intolerant when confronted with others who have different opinions. It seems like their tolerance breeds intolerance.

Whenever people are denied speaking their minds, because some don’t approve of what they say, we no longer have a democratic republic, but a form of the old USSR, Communist China, and most repressive Muslim dominated countries.

Let’s stop the nonsense and let speech flow freely, whether it is accepted or not accepted by others. The hell with that evil “political correctness”.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann