www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Political Correctness

Dear Friends,

"Political correctness" refers, if I'm not incorrect, to views that are in keeping with the prevailing ideological and other agendas of the day.

It is a term that shifts with the times, so to speak, but people are always somehow supposed to know the range of views that are "acceptable" and those that are not.

I see this term as a product of various liberal perspectives that seek to impose their conclusions on people through just such a democratic disguise.

But isn't "political correctness" like a conformity?

That is, when the hippies of the seventies condemned conformity as a whole, they backed themselves into another conformity, this time, their own.

Isn't political correctness like that?

What do you say?

Alex

Alex,

I don't know if you're familiar with the 60s British television series "The Prisoner" or not, but the gist of the whole series is that complete non-conformity is as much a prison as complete conformity. In the series, the protagonist (played by Patrick Magoohan), a spy who resigned without revealing his reasons, wakes up to find himself in a place called The Village, where everyone is known only by a number. The Village is populated by prisoners and warders and it is unclear which "side" runs the place. The main character, Number Six, is constantly trying to escape whilst the warders, led by Number Two, are constantly trying to find out why Number Six resigned. It boils down to a war of wills and Number Six ends up sometimes making things worse for himself by rebelling against everything for the sake of rebellion and non-conformity.

The series is quite surreal at times and in the end, Number One, the brains behind it all, is revealed to be Number Six himself (I said it was surreal, didn't I?!). By rebelling for rebellion's sake, Number Six (we never learn his true name) creates a prison for himself.

I first watched this series when I was ten years old, I think. Seeing that and the Terry Gilliam film "Brazil" screwed me up pretty good :p .

In Christ,
mikey.

Political correctness is a mocking term for what was formerly known as politeness.

Axios

Alex, so observant as usual...I have a hunch that "political correctness" is the coming of age of precisly what you allude to in the days of the hippie movement...these same revolutionaries who were against the establishment and railed against the establishment became the establishment later (just look at the Clinton and Trudeau eras). And therefore political correctness is the fruition of some of those liberal ideas of the 1960s.

An example of how when "counterculture" is not directed through a Christian context, the outcome is not positive...abortion, promiscuity, pornography being protected by "rights"...

Dear Diak,

And I hate it when someone stops me to say, "That's not politically correct."

And then I wonder, "What wasn't?"

It's as if they're ready to call you "Ignorant" for not knowing what the latest PC conventions are.

I just can't keep up with them any more.

Today I found out that the Icon of Mariapoch isn't a Ukrainian icon.

That itself will take me some time to recover from . . .

Next someone will be telling me that St Andrew wasn't Ukrainian either

Alex

Dear Mikey,

Yes, I remember that series . . .

It's amazing the two of us turned out as well as we did after being subjected to such surrealism so early in life

Alex

Dear Axios,

Interesting point!

But isn't political correctness more than politeness?

Isn't it a way to force people assume certain ideologically rooted attitudes toward contemporary issues that are dictated by liberal, "With it" instigators who are terribly savvy with respect to social control mechanisms? (I really didn't mean to make that sentence sound as it does).

Politeness, as I understand it, has to do with respect for others' sensitivity about issues they may feel strongly about or about personal things pertaining to themselves.

But political correctness is rooted in fear of ostracism and of being considered outside the "Mainstream" or the "In-crowd" and has to do with the control of thought.

What do you say?

Alex

Alex,

You hit the proverbial nail on the head with the word "fear". It may seem like politeness to them, but their words and actions stem not out of love and respect for the "other", but out of fear of offense and, ultimately, ostracism. Like many things, PC is a great theory, but in practice, it can soon snowball into thoughtcrime and wild accusations.

If I may make an analogy with theology, political correctness is like "imperfect contrition" while politeness is like "perfect contrition".

And Alex, there are those who say I didn't turn out so well...that I am, in fact, surreal .

In Christ,
mikey.

Dear Mikey,

Surreal is O.K., Big Guy!

I can't stand it when people say, "Now, Alex, let's get real!"

That is another form of political correctness, this time clothing their own subjective attitudes with an aura of "objectivity" and "matter of fact-ness" to get you to give up your (obviously succeeding) arguments against their positions.

Surrealism at least pays tribute to our own points of view and allows us to enjoy them without having to justify them to others who may not share an appreciation for them.

Alex

My dad had a little saying about politically correct people that on the face of it makes little sense, but upon a bit of reflection explains the whole thing in a nutshell:

"Those people's minds are so open that they're closed to good sense."

Dear Mikey,

As the Venerable Archbishop of New York, Fulton Sheen, once wrote: "'Having an open mind' is just a way for people to try and get you to agree with them."

You're a great man!

Alex

[QUOTE}Next someone will be telling me that St Andrew wasn't Ukrainian either
Alex[/QUOTE]


Late as usual !

Strange that - I thought he was adopted by us - so that makes him Scottish

Dear Angela,

As I understand it from the Apostles' Life, he refused the offer of freedom from martyrdom even when it was made publicly.

That makes him Ukrainian, to be sure!

Our Greek guide at Patras assured us St Andrew was Greek owing to his fishing background and to the "fact" that the Jews didn't like to fish . . .

It was the Declaration of Arbroath that affirmed that the citizens of Scottia came from Scythia originally which is why they considered St Andrew of Scythia their patron, apart from St Rule's bringing a portion of His relics to Scotland.

Celtic culture is intimately linked with Slavic culture.

It was in the Carpathians that a member of the La Tene culture met with someone of the Hallstadt culture, and Celtic culture was born!

And American football has never been the same!

Alex

[ 06-05-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]

Let's get "surreal" here...I though the Celts were the Northern Slavs...or were the Slavs the southern Celts? Nearly every geographic area in Europe has a "Galicia" or something like it...from Spain to France to Western Ukraine.

Herodatus coined the phrase..."Drunk as a Scythian". Some things haven't changed... Although I definitely prefer Guiness to warm, fermented mare's milk (the Scythian drink of choice).

St. Andrew must have been quite a sailor...Black Sea, Dnipro, English Channel, must be where St. Brendan and St. Volodymyr got it.

Alex and Angela, I have one son named Brendan Josyp and my second is Nikolai Patrick. It works!