So, some people are blaming political correctness on Trump's victory. I think the issues run deeper than that, but this was certainly one piece of the puzzle in my opinion.
I do want to point out before going into this that as a leftist, I am GENERALLY a supporter of political correctness. I'm not an alt rightist. I actually reject and despise the lack of tact a lot of alt rightists engage in. No, you shouldn't be able to just treat people like crap, and let me just say this, political correctness is supposed to be about encouraging an open inclusive environment in which people treat each others respectfully.
But that's not what the Clinton campaign used it for. Quite the opposite in fact. Clinton used political correctness to bully and censor people. Any opinion they didn't like, any criticism of Clinton, and you would be labelled a combination of racist, sexist, xenophobe, or privileged by the PC thought police. And yes, the way they were acting they literally gave off the impression of being thought police.
These tactics were not only used against Trump supporters, who arguably were racist, sexist or some combination in some situations, but also against division in their own party. The amount of abuse I've put up with being a so called "Bernie Bro" and later Stein supporter is staggering. ANY criticism of Clinton comes down to sexism in peoples' minds, and quite frankly, I get the impression people put more emphasis on Clinton being the first woman president than any actual policies or character issues, or anything else. Any dissent was silenced and dismissed as being sexist. As such, they've done a good job turning people against political correctness as a whole.
I don't think this is ultimately what cost the election. I'll insist it was economic frustrations due to the fact that the rust belt states are what ultimately cost Clinton the election. However, it didn't help, and it did poison a lot of the discourse in this election. The amount of bullying and thought control and guilting and shaming I've seen on the left this time around was staggering. it was excessive. And it goes against what political correctness should be about.
Political correctness, properly practiced, is about not being a jerk. It's about treating people with respect, not being a bully, not attacking people for who they are, but ensuring an open and inclusive environment for everyone to participate in. In some ways, yes, Trump supporters often do violate this. Some of them are obnoxious and toxic to people they don't like, like Muslims and other minorities. But the Clinton campaign went way overboard in the opposite direction to the point it was a huge turn off too. I want to emphasize. I'm a leftist. I largely believe in these values, just as other liberals do. But when you push them to such a degree you piss off and alienate even people like me, where I have to point out a problem on my blog and elsewhere, yeah, you're overdoing it. Cut it out.
SJW culture or whatever you want to call it needs to be rebooted and rebranded. The core values aren't bad, but the implementation this election has been extremely toxic, and it MAY have been a factor leading in the rejection of Clinton. It has arguably been a factor in my support for Stein. The more people attempted to bully me and make me feel bad for supporting Stein, the more resolved I was to do so. And as I said just a few minutes ago in my last post, I REGRET NOTHING. No amount of bullying or shaming will make me regret my decision, and if anything it just solidifies it. But I digress. The fact is, while the core values aren't bad, there definitely needs to be a rebranding. At the very least, liberals should never again attack other liberals and left leaning folk for not being sufficiently dedicated to the PC cause. If you wanna go after jerks on the right who actually do want to take away civil rights and do hold deeply sexist and racist opinions, fine. But this hive mind has gotten too far, and the culture it's encouraging is toxic. It got to the point this election that you don't dare say ANYTHING bad about the annointed one or you're sexist and privileged. That's a way of punishing and suppressing dissent. That's not a way of winning over hearts and minds which is what need to be done.
Look, political correctness should be such an easy thing for people to grasp that you would need to be socially deficient or a total jerk NOT to get it. It should be as natural to most people as good manners. It shouldn't be this thing where we must constantly apologize for being human and every action that does not show sufficient zeal to the PC cause is a cause for shame, bullying, and harassment. That's what needs to change. It's not political correctness that's bad, it's how it's practiced and the culture it's currently encouraging.
No comments:
Post a Comment