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Blogs by Philip F Harris
The Price of Political Correctness 12/30/2007 8:36:14 AM
politically correct The price of “political correctness” has been the loss of spirit in the American culture. In order not to offend anyone, we have become morally and spiritually sterile. The holidays have degraded into a time to shop and all inner meaning has been lost from what was once a time of joy.
While I do not advocate any particular religion, it seems a loss to our society when we prohibit celebrations that are rooted in the spirit of love and brotherhood. Working in a school system it was dis-heartening not to be able to celebrate Christmas in the way we did when I was a kid. Gone are the decorations, the songs and the parties. It could just as easily have been April vacation as it was Christmas. After all, saying “Merry Christmas” is not politically correct.
What is wrong with celebrating all major holidays? We could even have an atheist day. By negating these celebrations we have lost the ability to express our inner most spiritual thinking. By making celebrations taboo, we turn holidays into commercialized opportunities for big corporations to get richer. Holidays are now measured by retail shopping and consumer spending reports rather than by how many people were helped, housed or clothed. Times meant for inner reflection have turned into times of increased anxiety, stress and sadness.
In the book “Fahrenheit 450” society became sterile and docile because writing that offended anyone was basically rejected by publishers and society. The move towards political correctness drove society into intellectual stagnation which allowed the many to be dictated to by the very few. The end result was the burning of books that contained any type of offense to anyone. I am sure that my books, like Waking God and Jesus taught It, Too: The early Roots of the Law of Attraction and even Raping Louisiana: A Diary of Deceit would hit the fires because each book offends someone. Will the day come when such books will not see the light of day because they are politically incorrect? When we lose the ability to celebrate traditional holidays in a traditional way, is the day of censorship really that far off?
It is said that one of the chief causes of the decline of the Roman Empire was due to moral and spiritual decay. By moral, I do not mean religious morality, but rather that ideas and values that make a society what it is. Values are societal glue. Why associate with people if there is nothing in common? How can our society remain cohesive if we cannot share and experience the values and traditions of all of our members? Rather than embrace each others differences and celebrate our varied heritages, we ban such interactions all in the name of correctness.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in this entire “correctness” trend is its impact on the children. They seem to be growing up devoid of values and traditions. To them, the whole purpose of a holiday is to “get.” While “getting” is by no means a negative thing, they have lost the balance to the equation which is “giving.” I do not mean material gifts when I say giving. Here is what I see: fewer calls and visits to grandparents, little concern for the less fortunate, little desire to even explore spiritual issues or share spiritual ideas, a take and no give attitude, loss of respect for just about everything, no concern for taking responsibility and the loss of the ability to just be kids and play.
To be “correct” you cannot really question or ask question for fear of being offensive. You cannot celebrate for fear of being offensive. You cannot discuss meanings of things for fear of being offensive. You cannot express values or stand up for what you believe to be right because it may be offensive. Where will this all lead?
