What is the difference between being politically correct and being polite? Growing up in the South, I was taught to say "Yes ma'am, No ma'am, Yes sir and No sir" to everyone. It never occurred to us to be disrespectful to teachers or police officers. I'm trying to pinpoint when these understandings changed. For my generation, I see The Watergate Scandal as the time America lost respect for authority. The Hippie movement preceded Watergate and set the stage for marches and sit-ins to protest everything from the Vietnam War to bra wearing. The term "The Establishment" was coined during this time and referred to society's governing institutions established by previous generations.
While it's normal for adolescents to question authority, I think the generation of the 60's and 70's took this to a new level. Was this a natural development or was it contrived? While many of us thought ourselves smarter than our parents, is it possible we were indoctrinated by unseen powers with their own agenda? The film, Agenda: Grinding America Down, offers much insight into how our minds have been manipulated over the past 90 years. As Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of The Harbinger likes to say, "We now call evil good and good evil." This has happened in education, government, and religion. There are no easy solutions but understanding the situation and how it came about offers a lot of hope for the future. Just because a self-proclaimed expert says something doesn't make it right. We have to use our own powers of reasoning and question the motive of those who want us to change our basic beliefs.
The term "political correctness" is about 20 years old. It's basic agenda is to avoid making any judgments or negative comments about religions and lifestyles that have been outside the mainstream of western society. The proponents of political correctness seek to instill feelings of guilt and shame in those who adhere to what have been called Judeo-Christian values. This guilt and shame causes us to question what we were taught as true and good and begin to consider what we thought was abnormal or wrong as being acceptable. Some examples in religion are atheism and extreme Islam with its Sharia law. As a result, we have been told to silence our traditional Judeo-Christian, Bible-based beliefs because they are offensive. However, political correctness does not allow for the silencing of the hate speech declared by atheists and Islamic Jihadists. Anyone who suggests Islamic militants are dangerous is labeled an Islamaphobe. Similarly, homosexuality has been elevated to the point of being revered. Anyone questioning or objecting to the normalization of homosexuality in our education system or military is labeled a homophobe. To suggest that homosexuality is problematic and not to be encouraged causes one to be vilified.
Many of us were taught to hate the sin but love the sinner. With the emergence of political correctness, we became more aware of those with different opinions about what is acceptable and good and what is not. Over time, this has morphed into a judicial system that seeks to silence Jews and Christians and give a stronger voice to those who are against them. Rather than being politely tolerant of beliefs and lifestyles different from our own, we are legally forced to declare the goodness and rightness of ideas and actions that directly conflict with our Judeo-Christian faith. We are told not to be judgmental or unloving. Agreeing with things we know are wrong is not being loving. How loving is a parent who allows their child to jump off a skyscraper because they have been told that gravity is wrong and weightlessness is better?
I definitely support politeness. For a civilized society to remain civilized, people must treat each other with polite respect. However, to take that respect to a fanatical extreme and involve the courts to enforce it is tyranny. Let's continue to smile and be polite but stand up against political correctness. .
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