Politically Correct,
White Knight,
Social Justice Warrior.
We’ve probably all heard these terms, and many of us have probably used them,
People are always quick to say it’s (insert year) anytime a conversation about discrimination comes up,
As if the year itself changes the way people think,
There is the idea that time always means progress,
Yet the state of the world makes it clear that the flow of time can lead to more entropy,
Time can lead to a regression, instead of a progression,
It’s 2016, racial, religious and sexual minorities have more rights than ever and are more respected than ever,
In theory,
Many laws tell us that we fixed the problem of discrimination,
Yet why is rape culture increasingly embraced among men?
“Women shouldn’t dress like that if they don’t want to get cat-called or raped. Anyone who disagrees is just a white knight.”
Why is racism so accepted in our progressive population?
“I’m not racist but I’d never date a black guy.”
“A black guy got hired; no way he deserved the job. It’s affirmative action, reverse-racism. Why can’t these social justice warriors see that?”
Why is discrimination against other religions so widely accepted?
“We should ban all Muslims from entering the country. We can’t be politically correct about this.”
Maybe that last sentence is the issue, The use of terms like “politically correct”, “white knight” and “social justice warrior” to criticize anyone whose beliefs fall farther left of the political spectrum,
I can see why it is so seductive to rely on these words,
You don’t have to try to understand what your opponent is saying,
You don’t need research, facts or figures of any kind,
The words speak for themselves and you become a pied piper, attracting all the bitter and angry people who share your view of the world,
Your words entice them, seducing them and encouraging them to embrace their prejudices,
You can just throw out one of these words and wait for like-minded people to commend you for your argument,
The real beauty is that these words help to disguise prejudice,
No one who uses them sees themselves as possibly being prejudiced,
To them, it is only common sense,
It is the liberals and the minorities that need to smarten up and get their act together,
These same people who preach about their tolerance, how It’s 2016 and they don’t even see colour or care about religion, often hold the most discriminatory views,
Cognitive dissonance is a permanent part of their lives,
These right-wingers complain about how minorities focus on race too much,
Meanwhile, they also make decisions about who to date and what areas to live in based on the racial preferences whose existence they deny,
They will complain that Muslims get too much recognition in their secular country,
Meanwhile, they also protest against “Under God” being removed from the constitution,
They will deny that sexism and objectification is a problem for women anymore, arguing that men are the real victims,
Meanwhile, they will assume that a successful woman got her position due to her gender, not due to her skills or intelligence
It’s the start of a new year, and instead of making another failed resolution to eat better and get in shape, maybe we can make some real progress and try to change the way we see the world,
Instead of shutting down facts and common sense we can try to listen to reason,
Maybe we can have conversations about diversity, tolerance, equality, without going to our knee-jerk reaction to blurt out the right wing buzzwords
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