Is There a Politically Correct Problem in My Country?

First read this post and watch the Ali G video. After you have done that return to this post and read it. The psychology of this situation reminds me of the Stanford Prison Study where some of the subjects were "prisoners" and others were "guards". They ended up having to stop the study early because the "guards" ended becoming sadistic toward the "prisoners". The conditions surrounding an act make a lot of difference. The "guards" were put in positions of authority and the "prisoners" were put in demeaning situations.

In this case the conditions were created by the greater tolerance for bigotry afforded to a guest to our country. The country music fans allow this man from Kazakhstan to sing "throw the Jews down the well" because perhaps he shouldn't be expected to know better. People join in because they have a few beers and its a catchy tune. No doubt there is some underlying bigotry coming out as well. Imagine if there had been a Jewish person in the audience.

As much as the "politically correct" terminology is annoying it serves an important purpose. If we allow demeaning terms to be used to characterize a group of people we are already on the way to creating the conditions where more odious behavior will be seen as acceptable. People have the idea that "politically correct" terms are meant to avoid offending someone or are polite terms we use if we have proper etiquette. This isn't the main purpose of "politically correct" language. (By the way, the term "politically correct" is horrible. It sounds like the sort of fascism it is trying to quosh. Better would be something like "politically aware".) The purpose is to avoid creating the conditions where bigoted behavior is seen as acceptable. It also plays the positive role of pointing out what we have in common rather than our differences. Terms like African-American or Latino-American acknowledge an ethnic heritage while keeping us aware of the fact that we are all Americans.

Finally, a little barb for some of my friends. Having "under god" in the pledge or "In God We Trust" on our currency goes a little way towards creating the conditions that make bigotry toward non-religious people acceptable. These things contribute to the fact that Atheist has a better chance of winning the lottery than being elected to public office.