A conversation about global art practice
Sitting in homeroom of my seventh grade class, an announcement came over the PA system, “Good morning, please be advised that all students should enter and exit through the 83rd Street doors in order to avoid the protest.” As a completely aloof seventh grader, I turned to my classmate and simply asked, “Protest…for what?” It turned out that my second-grade teacher, Sr. Seton called one of her current students “a monkey.” Apparently not understanding what the fuss was all about, my classmate further explained that the particular student was black and the comment was viewed as extremely racist. What was originally a silly comment on the child’s playfulness had turned into a full blown, two-day civil rights demonstration. Led by the social justice activist, Rev. Al Sharpton, it criticized the comments of one of the sweetest and most caring people I had ever known.
This was something that has stuck with me over the years as a glaring reminder of how preoccupied our society is with “political correctness” and not being racist, that we automatically assume the worst in people and superimpose these negative thoughts over innocent actions. This oversensitivity comes at the expense of cultural understanding, as it pushes us farther away from communicating with one another. Because many of us are afraid to say the wrong thing, a lot of us will not say anything. What do you think? Are we overly concerned with insulting each other instead of understanding each other and where we come from?
I believe that our society is trying to become too politically correct. This is evident in the many terms we’ve come up with for different cultures and races (e.g. Hispanic, which essentially is an umbrella term used for people of Mexican and Latin American descent). Our American culture is very concerned with referring to people using “proper” names. However, this observation elicits some insightful observations into dynamics of our culture. One of the main reasons we’ve worked so hard at using so-called politically correct terms is surprisingly because of our lack of knowledge of other cultures and races.
Before we get into the discussions of American society’s infatuation with political correctness, let’s define what exactly is implied by the term political correctness. I have always understood this term as having two parts that make up its definition. In other words, “political correctness” implies a reference to labeling races “properly” (e.g. African American, Native American, etc.) which shies away from using terms like “black,” to describe a race, for example. At the same time, it delegates what other terms in our vernacular are improper to use when referring to other people’s cultural identities.
With a clear definition in mind, let us now turn to the current situation America is facing. There is an unnecessary amount of effort in trying to be politically correct, and I believe this comes out of a fear of other cultures; a fear of the “different other”. America seems like the most unlikely place to have this fear, since we constantly refer to our culture as a “melting pot” and we have the reputation of being the land of “freedom” where any culture is welcomed. Upon closer examination, this isn’t exactly the case though.
Although we recognize that America is made up of many cultures, racism is still a reality and one of the ways we’ve tried to combat this problem is through the use of politically correct terms. Using so-called correct language though, alienates people by singling them out. What is evident in our culture is a certain type of ignorance really- if people would only take the time to learn about other cultures and their histories, people would realize what’s proper and not. Then we wouldn’t become so preoccupied about names, because it wouldn’t be an issue anymore. It is the lack of education in understanding of other cultures that creates petty problems that shouldn’t even be problems in the first place.
This ignorance about other cultures creates unnecessary problems. A school teacher, like the teacher mentioned by Darragh, now has the potential to get blamed for being racist for using an “incorrect” term to address a child, for example. All of these unnecessary problems serve no good purpose, and only put people in situations of stress and confusion.
With this being said I believe it is of utmost importance that we make a conscious effort to expand our knowledge and learn about other cultures. We should do this especially because our society is bridging the gaps between people globally through technology such as instant messaging and video conferencing. As our world becomes more and more connected, it is only logical that we should take the effort to understand another person’s way of life- his particular belief, culture, religion, and race. Through the simple action of learning about other cultures, our society will overcome unnecessary problems and will thus improve international relations and ultimately, our well-being.
I agree that sometimes political correctness can be an unnecessary hindrance. Your story about your second-grade teacher reminds me about the controversy over the word "articulate" that happened a while back. To people like my father, "articulate" is a common word used to compliment a particularly powerful or comfortable speaker. The problem therefore isn't in the word itself, but instead in its context. The man who started the controversy (and whose name I cannot remember) was describing a black man with the word "articulate" and with the implication that such a characteristic was uncommon for a black man. Somehow, that led to it being unacceptable to call any black person articulate. To me, that's an overreaction.
Further, political correctness isn't only a hindrance in terms of picky vocabulary. It can also make discussing issues of race, gender, or other differences uncomfortable. For example, recall the blog post I wrote in which I questioned genetic differences between races. While I was writing that, I was very uneasy that I might offend someone, whether it be through improper phrasing or my actual meaning. I had to be very careful and think about what I was writing instead of simply letting ideas flow. In fact, just recently I read about how the famous biologist Dr. James Watson was forced to resign for bringing up similar ideas that I did. Of course, his comments were much more targeted and offensive (and I met him once; I can say he's pretty arrogant and probably deserves what he got), but still, it shows that we can't discuss these matters as openly as we might discuss other subjects.
I do understand that there have to be limits to prevent downright racism, but sometimes political correctness is overdone. I hope that we can somehow lessen the response to simple misinterpretations without inadvertently promoting actual hate speech. If we could be more open to such topics as race and gender, then it would be much easier to communicate with one another, and it would lead the way for important discussions we may need to have in the future.
I agree with the fact that today’s society has forced many people to think twice about what they say or do in fear of being politically incorrect. This fear comes from lawsuits formed out of discriminatory acts, some of which are from innocent remarks that get blown out of proportion like the example you described. Even though some of these actions or remarks may not be intended to be racist at all, there are still people whose actions and remarks are intentionally racist and it because of these there are so many discriminatory lawsuits and they shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Although society has forced people to be politically correct all the time, there are a lot of television shows and people that are very popular because they are not politically correct. Shows like Mind of Mencia, Chappelle show, and South Park are only a few of these examples. These comedians and TV shows are popular even though they are filled with racist jokes and they make fun of stereotypes.
What I am trying to say is society has forced people to second-guess their thoughts and actions to avoid being politically incorrect. Many people would love to speak their minds without fear of a lawsuit; that’s why comedians and television shows that make racist jokes and poke fun at stereotypes are so popular. It isn’t fair that these people can freely speak their mind and blatantly cross the line of racism but the average person can’t make an innocent remark that may have an alternate racist meaning without getting pounded by people that say that wasn’t politically correct.
Most of us seem to feel that political correctness is a hindrance to freedom of speech and honesty of expression and I think that the problem lies at the heart of what it represents. Political correctness is just that, a way of appearing to be correct for political ends. This may not bear any relation to truth itself which is what I think we need to be expounding. Political correctness is a way of ensuring that people scrutinize and check their opinions before they express them so that they cannot create social offence. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing but when it serves to mask the truth and certain hypocrises in our society, then it needs to be looked at again.
I believe speech democracy should only be granted to people who truly enjoy freedom, and have certain degree of understanding of what good citizens should behave. Else, just like Winston Churchill said, Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.
In this case, the teacher calling a black student “monkey”, I believe it is a good way to educate student right after a racist comment. For student as young as second grade, education is effective when student memory is fresh.
However, when the society requires citizens to be political correct too much, extra protest and civil right demonstration will only “spark” unwanted racial tension. Sometimes, the overemphasis of media on issues can brought false alarm to the society when racism in reality is mild. I believe what is troublesome in American society is the emphasis of multicultural society while there are still differences between each entity of culture. In this case, people should be more tolerant on each other when the differences are unavoidable.
Jonathan Wang
I never knew monkey was an insulting term when directed at a black person.
Thats incredible - there are all these insults and means of disrespecting each other that I am not even aware of! I think that in the end it comes down to not understanding each other and a possessing a lack of quality communication.
Its astonishing considering all of the new technology and means of communication that we have discussed that we still encounter holes in communication and misunderstanding.
It seems fitting that we choose to discuss this now because - although I shouldn't necessarily disclose it - my father and I got into yet another disagrement.
They all based on a breakdown in communication.
We never mean to insult each other. But we never fully seek to understand where the other is coming from. We could try harder - we do try harder - but in the end our line of communication reaches and kink.
And then it explodes - full out escilation of protest (me) raging against the system (my dad)
But my problem is the kink. What is that one key event that causes the chemical reactants to boil over? Is it the action itself? Is it the thoughts that arrive before the action? Is the perception of the event? Or is it even the further communication of the incident?
The poor teacher didn't intend for it to be a racist comment - she was commenting on the students behavior. Saying the words themselves caused no harm. It was the perception of the event itself that caused such a problem. But in other cases - individuals really do intend to cause harm when they make the conscious decision to say certain things.
I think I am at a loss. I have no positive opinion.
-Erin Allen
Noah Van Horne
There are many entities in the world who have nothing better to do with themselves than incite conflict for the mere purpose of doing so, or for personal gain. These entities must simply be worked around because they will not go away, and, however seldom, they sometimes chance upon relevant subject matters which do need attention.
Insult and offense become irrelevant and meaningless terms when there is no malicious intent behind them. This is why it tends to become okay for people to speak their mind in close familial or friendship contexts, because the social bonds are so strong in these contexts there is an understanding that all members of the group appreciate each other, so whatever anyone says, it does not mean that they respect their fellow peers any less. The problem is the lack of trust between humans as a whole. If people wishing ill on each other were not an issue, then the ideas and even the subjects of political correctness would be meaningless, because it would be understood that no harm was ever meant. With this assurance, it would be much easier for individuals to keep an open mind and listen and genuinely consider alternate opinions. I suppose that this statement sounds elementary and absurd, but I think that, yes, we are absolutely overly concerned with insulting each other instead of understanding each other and where we come from, and that the real sources of trouble are greed, selfishness, pride, conceit, closed-mindedness, and all other qualities that lead to people having the absurd desire to harm each other. We simply need to keep weeding these qualities out of our societies through education and teaching of good will, to the point where a completely harmonious and understanding—though still diverse—world culture can be achieved.
For the record, I agree with professor A.S. That there is value to the fact that political correctness causes people to reflect on what they say before they say it, but this value is far outweighed by what is lost in the effort to “protect peoples feelings.” This reminds me of Orwell's comment that valid ideas can get lost in the brick-a-brash of terminology.
I agree with Robert's response in that while there are certain places where being politically correct is necessary, this type of punishment and humiliation for an honest mistake is simply absurd. Though I cannot say I have been in the position of the child in this situation, it seems as if a mere apology would have been an apt response to the mistake on the part of the teacher.
However, the main reason political correctness came to such prominence is most likely because someone somewhere was offended just as the child was here. Thus, it is not our place as observers of such a situation to say whether this deserved or not. Only the person and those around that were directly affected can say whether they were hurt or offended by such remarks. It is in this way that political correctness is not so much a rule as a common courtesy to the diversity of the people around. So while I myself cannot see myself being offended by a similar remark on my race or religion, I have no authority to say criticize or impose on the feelings and thoughts of others.
For the most part I believe political correctness has a negative impact on our society. While our society's mind set that we should be "politically correct" is based on certain morals, it does restrict our freedom of speech. Some of those who choose to use their right to freedom of speech are punished for it. Although I think that racism is terrible and homophobia is terrible, others who disagree should be able to speak their mind without being punished for it. We are all individuals with our own thoughts and beliefs, political correctness to some extent limits our individuality. I also agree with Brandon that although there is some distinction between a comedian telling a racist joke and an individual directing a racist remark at someone in particular, why is it OK for comedians to tell "politically incorrect" jokes, while individuals speak their opinions are punished? Many believe that there is a certain percent of truth behind most jokes, so if comedians are essentially just using their freedom of speech to tell these jokes why aren't they condemned? I guess I have trouble finding a big enough difference between an individual using racial slurs and a comedian telling racist jokes.
We are taught from a very young age "if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all". As a result as kids we learn to be politically correct and at the same time become more sensitive to political incorrectness. I feel that this sensitivity is mostly negative, because it prevents us from listening to all opinions and only listening to some that have been deemed OK. In conclusion, I think that we should speak our minds and not be constrained by the limitations of being politically correct.
Barrie Brandt
I completely agree with your first sentence of the second paragraph, Darragh. I ultimately see 'political correctness' as an excuse - people are beginning to use it as something to hide behind and criticize others for. What may have started off as an innocent movement towards elimination of prejudice has become yet another tool that has been gnarled, reversed, and fought over in the world of politics.
Counter-racism's 'favorite' man, Al Sharpton, is a totally different animal. My personal beliefs about the man are that he is a man with a goal - yet has taken that goal to the extremist point of near-crazed lunatic. He hides behind political correctness as his primary standing point against his opponents; something that a three-year-old can do - after he/she knows the entire dictionary. Any word can be interpreted as racist. People like Al Sharpton do nothing but retrogress societal movements and cultural fusion dealing with race.
Perhaps one day we will all live in the ideal politically correct society that the US seems to hold so dear. However, in the end, I can do nothing but hope that human good will be enough to eliminate the need for political correctness altogether.
-Harry B
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Yes. It is ridiculous how things that are not politically correct are blown out of proportion. This is also the perfect example to address this topic. In the case of the teacher I am assuming he called the student a monkey not as a racial slur but simply as a “silly comment on the child’s playfulness.” Political correctness is absurd in the fact that as humans we don’t always mean what we say. To clarify, something I say might be wrongly interpreted by someone else as hurtful.
The whole issue of political correctness is not bad if used properly to address inappropriate slurs, statements, or stereotypes. Although when someone makes a mistake in saying something that is interpreted as racist they should not be dragged out of their house and socially lynched. It is this fear that is leading people to over analyze everything that they say. How can people understand each other if everyone is afraid to express their opinion due to the fear that they will be misinterpreted.