“The notion of political correctness declares certain topics, certain expressions, even certain gestures, off-limits. What began as a crusade for civility has soured into a cause of conflict and even censorship.” George Bush quotes (American 41st US President (1989-93), b.1924)
Wait a minute! Political correctness is a good thing, right? It is a set of rules that tells me how to speak to what I perceive as minorities and members of social groups that are victimized by some unique preference/color/gender or sexual orientation. It lets me make generalizations about someone’s race without offending them! It helps me feel safe when I discuss things in class like the impact of race or gender on job hiring. Well hold on, when was the last time I talked about anything racial in public? OH RIGHT, I am not allowed to, that would be politically incorrect.
Forget the fact that the perceived need for diversity can compromise the entry standards of some of our most prestigious institutions, such as our very own Naval Academy. Academy English professor Bruce Fleming has written numerous articles outlining the lower standards applied to applicants who are not white. The need to appear politically correct overshadows the safety of our enlisted troops, who are expected to follow the orders of officers who gained entry to the academy because of what Fleming refers to as a two-tiered admissions system, “because minority candidates have lower test scores and grades than their counterparts.”(Fleming) Certainly such a generalization does not sound politically correct, that is because it is not; it is an honest assessment based on Fleming’s several years of reviewing test scores as a member of the admissions board at the Naval Academy.
This phenomenon is not limited to the Navy. Do you remember the massacre at Fort Hood in 2009? Major Nadal Malik Hasan, a medical officer in the United States Army, opened fire on unarmed solders in the base itself, killing 13 and injuring two dozen more before he was stopped. Gettysburg HACC’s own Professor Hallberg addresses this incident in the upcoming revision of his book “Return to First Principles”, to be released next year. Professor Hallberg reports that in spite of numerous warning signs, which began weeks before the incident, Major Hasan’s colleagues were afraid to report him “for fear of being seen as discriminatory against Muslim soldiers.” The focus on this incident was understandably directed at the lives lost, but the issue which created this situation, political correctness, was not only overlooked by the majority of major media sources, but additionally compounded by a statement made by Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, “a greater tragedy than the carnage inflicted on unarmed soldiers by an officer of their own army would be anything that called into question ‘diversity’ as a priority of the American military.” Professor Hallberg responds in “Return to First Principles”, “It seems to suggest, Army policy holds that diversity trumps human life.” As a former enlisted airman, these sentiments fill me with great trepidation as to the path that our future military leaders are being guided towards.
What exactly is the widespread result of assigning people and groups with these hyphenated labels? How many of us truly believe that the fact that Mike’s ancestors are from Africa has a profound impact on his performance as a college student; that a professor’s height hinders or helps their ability to effectively impart their knowledge to a classroom of students? I like to believe that in this day and age, not many of us. These are thinly veiled attempts to classify and separate us as a culture. What brings us together as Americans is not our differences, but our common goals, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In order to facilitate our progression as a culture, as a race of humans, we need stop using these labels to distinguish ourselves from others and embrace what attributes we share. I am not so naive as to believe that we are ready for a national handholding ceremony to sing Kumbaya, but if any progress is to be made towards racial and cultural acceptance, the issues need to be able to be freely discussed, with respect not fear.
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