Why is it Incorrect to be Politically Correct?

By William Manful

Time changes so do people. Maybe people change that’s why time changes or is it the other way round time rather changes people. Either way the world clearly isn’t the way it was. Consciousness of cultural sensibilities and fear of distressing groups emotionally means that one couches comments or views with care and utmost discretion. Satirists are now having a nightmare, struggling to balance the politically correct with that which is considered or regarded as humorous and funny.

When and how did we become so sensitive? The even bigger question is, is it healthy for society to be so self aware? What will this all mean to freedom of expression which is a cardinal feature of democratic governance? The paradox I see is that the quest to frame society along the lines of tolerance and understanding is becoming a premise for intolerance and discrimination. Views and opinions are now suppressed and stocked underneath diplomatic vocabulary that belie how people are truly feeling. Sentiments are repressed just so that conservatives can fit in, or score political points or appear more modern, trendy, educated, erudite and civilized. Marginalizing a group makes us seem archaic accepting same group accentuates a modern mindset. Meanwhile the anonymity of the internet affords users the chance to be truthful, exhibiting mean comments that emphasize hate, racism, prejudice and ignorance. The vitriol that has been veiled by the veneer of political correctness is unleashed with limitless ferocity demonstrating a backwardness that makes the post modern man look like a caveman. If political correctness is an attempt to enhance the notion of civility amongst men then clearly it is not working.

The world now exists in two as it always has anyway. It is just that the duality has taken a new form; the extreme conservative or the ultra liberal. There is no room for a middle ground. You are one or the other as we continue to develop the penchant to demonize dissent and or disagreement. Is democracy serving us well or is democracy finally proving to be a contradiction in terms? An illusory concept that can never be what it purports to be unless it is wrapped in propaganda.

There is now the risk of building tension by fostering the tenets for freedom which increasingly show that inherent to the democratic political credo are facets of tyranny. The majority may carry the vote but what will that mean to the minority? Conversely the minority may be protected but how is it a democracy when the will of the masses is no longer sacrosanct.

The insanity of modernity is trying to please everyone at once which can only guarantee the outcome of leaving us all dissatisfied for the simple reason that political correctness is a call on humanity to go against its nature. We are better off acknowledging what we truly are by trying to find a balance between the two extremes of correctness. After all the concept of cultural acceptance and propriety are predicated on relativism. The absolute is beyond our range and will forever remain within the province of God.

October 23, 2011

Republican Rick Perry Doesn’t Have a ‘Definitive Answer’ Whether Barack Obama is a US Citizen

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry walked a fine line when presented with questions about President Barack Obama’s birth certificate — which was released by the White House earlier this year — in a new interview with Parade magazine published online.

When asked if he believes the president was born in the United States, the Texas governor said, “I have no reason to think otherwise.” Pressed on the nature of his answer, Perry added, “Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.”

Here’s an excerpt of the subsequent exchange that went down on the birth certificate issue:

But you’ve seen his. I don’t know. Have I?

You don’t believe what’s been released?
I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

And?
That came up.

Perry said that Trump doesn’t believe the document released by the White House is “real.” Asked if he agrees with the sentiment, the Lone Star State Republican said, “I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the president of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.”

Leading up to the release of Obama’s “long form” birth certificate in April, Trump captured headlines and sparked controversy with his persistence in raising doubt over the president’s birthplace.

Trump went as far to release his own official birth certificate. Upon the release of the president’s birth certificate, Trump said that he was very “proud” of himself.

October 10, 2011October 10, 2011

Firebrand Rick Perry Pastor Robert Jeffress Says He’s Not Jeremiah Wright

The Texas megachurch pastor who made waves at this year’s Voter Values Summit is not backing down.

One day after describing Mormonism as a cult and saying presidential candidate Mitt Romney is not a Christian, pastor Robert Jeffress defended his remarks on CNN.

“I am not a Jeremiah Wright on the fringe, making fanatical statements,” he said.

The pastor characterized his controversial statements as an honest response to a reporter’s question about his personal views.

“When somebody asks me a theological question about Mormonism, I have a responsibility to tell the truth,” he said. “Mormonism has never been considered a part of evangelical historic Christianity.”

He said he would vote for Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in the general election, but that he would rather support a Christian for the GOP nomination. That doesn’t make him a bigot, he explained.

“To religious people, religion matters,” he said. “Those of us who are evangelicals have every right to prefer and support a competent Christian over a competent non-Christian.”

Jeffress endorsed Texas governor Rick Perry at the event, introducing him as “a proven leader, a true conservative, and a committed follower of Christ.”

While Perry has said he doesn’t share Jeffress’ views of Mormonism, a recent poll suggests that many pastors do. Three out of four pastors agree that Mormons are not Christians, according to this survey of 1,000 pastor, representing dozens of denominations.

But some pastors are coming to Romney’s defense. Rev. Myke Crowder, a senior pastor in Utah, released a statement condemning Jeffress.

“As an evangelical, born-again, Bible-believing Christian, and a pastor with more than 25 years’ experience living with and ministering among a majority Mormon population, I find the comments by Pastor Jeffress unhelpful, impolite and out of place,” he said. “Insulting Mitt Romney adds nothing to the conversation about who should be president. We’re picking the country’s chief executive, not its senior pastor.”

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October 7, 2011

Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress Tells Conservatives not to Vote for Romney Because He’s Mormon

A pastor of a mega church in Dallas said Friday that Republicans shouldn’t vote for White House hopeful Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon and described the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a “cult.”

“I think Mitt Romney’s a good, moral man, but those of us who are born again followers of Christ should prefer a competent Christian,” said Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, which has a congregation of about 10,000 and has long been considered a highly-influential church in evangelical circles.

Jeffress, who’s endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry and introduced him at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, told CNN Political Correspondent Jim Acosta that the Southern Baptist Convention “has officially labeled Mormonism as a cult.”

In fact, a website maintained by the Southern Baptist Convention lists the Mormon faith under its “New Religions and Cults” section, which also includes Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Scientology.

“That’s why I’m enthusiastic about Perry,” Jeffress said, later adding: “I again believe that as Christian, we have the duty to select Christians as our leaders…Between a Rick Perry and a Mitt Romney, I believe evangelicals need to go with Rick Perry.”

This isn’t the first time the Dallas pastor has hit Romney over his religion. During the 2008 campaign, he made similar comments.

But if it came down to a contest between Romney and President Barack Obama, Jeffress said he’d still vote for Romney, although holding his nose at the same time.

“I would rather have a non-Christian who at least supports biblical principles than a professing Christian like Barack Obama who embraces unbiblical positions,” he said.

When asked for a comment, Perry’s team said it was the event organizers–not the campaign–who asked Jeffress to introduce the candidate.

“The governor does not believe Mormonism is a cult,” added Mark Miner, Perry’s national press secretary.

Michael Purdy, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declined to comment on a statement “made at a political event.”

“But those who want to understand the centrality of Christ to our faith can learn more about us and what we believe by going to mormon.org,” Purdy said in a statement.

The Romney campaign said it will not have any comment to the remarks made by Jeffress.

Meanwhile, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which helped organize the event, said on CNN’s “John King, USA” that his group gave Perry a heads up approximately two weeks ago that Jeffress would be introducing the governor.

“We sent it to the campaign. They signed off on it,” Perkins said. “I don’t think there was any other communication beyond that. The campaign did not know what he would say. We did not know what he would say.”

Jeffress made his comments about Romney in a conversation with reporters, not in his introductory speech for Perry.

Later on Friday, he stood by his comments, saying it was his job as a pastor to support a candidate of the Christian faith.

“I don’t hate Gov. Romney. He’s a good, moral person,” Jeffress told CNN’s Chief National Correspondent John King. “But as a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have the responsibility to proclaim what the Bible proclaims.”

CNN

If you like this article, I’d recommend my book “If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot to Say”

October 4, 2011October 7, 2011

Mitt Romney Slams Rick Perry on Niggerhead Gate

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is criticizing rival Rick Perry for what he calls “offensive” language in the name of a Texas hunting camp his family once leased.

Romney told Sean Hannity’s radio show Monday that he found the camp’s name, “Niggerhead,” inappropriate and said called on Perry to address it. The same day, the White House communicated a similar message on the matter, characterizing the name as “clearly offensive.”

Perry’s campaign has said Perry’s father painted over a rock with the camp’s name soon after he began leasing the site in the early 1980s. The campaign says the Texas governor and his family never controlled, owned or managed the property.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the origins of the name were unclear and there was no definitive account for when and how the name first appeared on rock at property’s gate. But it hasn’t spared Perry criticism.

AP/Huff

If you like this article, I’d recommend my book “If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot to Say”

October 3, 2011October 7, 2011

Republican Rick Perry Niggerhead Controvery, Meltdown and Backpedaling

Rick Perry’s Ranch keeps Texas Governor Backpedaling

Stephanie Condon

Republican presidential candidate and Texas governor Rick Perry spent Sunday on damage control after a stinging report in the Washington Post tying Perry to a racial slur used at a Texas hunting camp his family once leased.

The Perry campaign and some Republican commentators downplayed the story, saying Perry was not associated with the use of the name “Niggerhead” at the Throckmorton County property. The word was painted on a large rock at the entrance of the camp, but Perry said he and his father quickly painted over the word when they started using the property and noticed it in the 1980’s. Some of the people interviewed by the Washington Post gave different accounts, with one former ranch worker saying he saw the word as late as 2008.

Even if the Perry campaign is right about the story, however, it keeps Perry backpedaling as his campaign continues to falter. Almost immediately after bursting into the race and seizing frontrunner status in August, Perry was left defending controversial statements, weak debate performances and overall questions of electability.

Perry’s ties to the ranch were criticized over the weekend by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, the businessman who in recent days has stolen some of Perry’s thunder and the only African American vying for the Republican nomination. Cain said Perry was insensitive for not acting sooner to remove the offensive name from the camp.

As conservative voters once intrigued by Perry turn to Cain (as evidenced by his victory in a Florida straw poll) and moderates pine for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get into the race, liberals suggest Perry’s campaign is unraveling.

CBSNews.com special report: Election 2012

“Even though he’s running in a party whose primary [does] not have a substantial African-American vote, the average American does not want to be identified to such racial insensitivity,” liberal Rev. Al Sharpton told Politico.

David Axelrod, senior strategist for the Obama re-election campaign, declined to comment specifically about the ranch to the New York Times, but he said it illustrates the challenges Perry and other candidates face.

“Campaigns are like an MRI for the soul — whoever you are, eventually people find out,” he told the Times. “Time will tell whether this comes to reflect him or not.”

White House Calls Republican Rick Perry’s Niggerhead Offensive

The White House says the name of a hunting camp once leased by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s family is “clearly offensive.” But press secretary Jay Carney says Perry evidently thinks so, too, and he passed up a chance to criticize the GOP presidential hopeful over the racial slur.

Carney was asked at the White House press briefing Monday about the controversy over the name, Niggerhead, that was painted on a rock outside the Texas camp. Perry has said it’s an offensive name and that once he saw it, sometime in 1983 or 1984, he raised it with his parents and the word was painted over.

Carney said the name was clearly offensive but that from what he’s seen, Perry shares that opinion, and that’s all he could say about it.

If you like this article, I’d recommend my book “If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot to Say”

October 3, 2011October 7, 2011

Republican Frontrunner Rick Pery and the Niggerhead

Republican Rick Perry and the Niggerhead Saga

Republican presidential contender Rick Perry is on the defensive after it emerged a hunting camp used by his family had a racially offensive name.

His campaign said his family had years ago painted over an entrance stone that once displayed the name, Niggerhead, at the rented West Texas camp.

But the Texas governor was heavily criticised by rival Republican nominee Herman Cain, who is African American.

Mr Perry is a leading contender for the Republican nomination for president.

The Perry campaign did not deny that the term was used as a name for the property, but said it was changed soon after Mr Perry’s father joined a lease that gave him hunting rights there in 1983.

‘Vile, negative word’

“The word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive. That is why the Perrys took quick action to cover and obscure it,” campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan said in a statement.

“How can someone who would seek the highest office in the land be so insensitive ” Al Sharpton Veteran civil rights campaigner

But the Washington Post, which reported the story on Sunday, was told by several people that the name was still visible at points during the 1980s and 90s.

It also reported that as recently as this summer the word was still faintly visible under a coat of white paint.

The land – leased by Mr Perry’s father, and later by Mr Perry – was the site of hunting and fishing getaways where the Texas governor entertained lawmakers and supporters. It is not far from Mr Perry’s boyhood home in the community of Paint Creek.

Herman Cain, the only black Republican in the presidential race, told Fox News Sunday: “[There is] no more vile, negative word than the N-word.

“And for him to leave it there as long as he did, before I hear that they finally painted it over is just plain insensitive to a lot of black people in this country.”

Perry aides sought to defuse the racially charged issue by saying that the Texas governor had a long record of inclusiveness and had appointed the first African-American head of the Texas Supreme Court.

Mr Perry said he had hunted at the property about a dozen times between 1983 and 2006, the Washington Post reported.

But veteran civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton told the Politico news website: “How can someone who would seek the highest office in the land be so insensitive to the implications of that name?”

Mr Perry became the frontrunner in the Republican field after declaring his candidacy in August, but correspondents say his lead is fragile.

He was widely criticised over his suggestion that it would be “treasonous” if Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke printed more money in an effort to boost the struggling US economy.

He then angered many Republicans when he said in a recent TV debate that anyone who opposed his policy as Texas governor of giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants’ children was heartless.

At the weekend, Mr Perry again raised eyebrows when he said that if elected president, he would consider sending US troops to Mexico to combat drug-related violence.

If you like this article, I’d recommend my book “If I Was Famous, I’d Have a Lot to Say”

March 21, 2011March 29, 2011

International Day for The Elimination of Racial Discrimination Should Challenge Us Against all Forms of Discrimination

In 1966, the United Nations General Assembly declared 21^st of March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Celebrated annually, and meant to remind countries of their collective responsibility in the fight against all forms of discrimination, this day’s observation owes its existence to the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people who were part of a peaceful demonstration against “pass laws’’ were brutally murdered by the South African apartheid regime. At that time, indigenous black Africans were legally required to carry dompas identity documents and to produce them whenever required to do so by the South African police. There were dire consequences for those who failed to produce such documents and many ended up in jail. In 1960, people of the township of Sharpeville participated in a peaceful march against ‘pass laws’ but were fired upon by the police. In South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as Human Rights day and is a public holiday.

More than 50 years after the Sharpeville Massacre, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators still go through unimaginable suffering at the hands of those in authority. The ongoing killing of innocent civilians and peaceful demonstrators in Yemen, Bahran, and Libya are but a few examples that remind us that in some parts of the world people who dare question their governments still risks a similar fate to that of Sharpeville residents. As the world celebrates International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination thousands of people pursuing the struggle against elimination of all forms of discrimination, intolerance and other injustices are either behind bars, in exile or await dire consequences including death. Human Rights Watch reports on the state of human rights practises around the world paints a disturbing picture. What is further worrying though is the lacklustre approach that leaders and international bodies seem to adopt when occasions arise for them to show leadership and harshly condemn human rights violations. The 2011 Human Rights Watch’s report note that “in place of a commitment to exerting public pressure for human rights, they (governments that can be counted on to be on the side of human rights activists) profess a preference for softer approaches such as private “dialogue” and “cooperation”. The report goes further to list recent examples of soft approaches and these include “ASEAN’s tepid response to Burmese repression, the United Nations’ deferential attitude toward Sri Lankan atrocities, the European Union’s obsequious approach to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the soft Western reaction to certain favored repressive African leaders such as Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, the weak United States policy toward Saudi Arabia, India’s pliant posture toward Burma and Sri Lanka, and the near-universal cowardice in confronting China’s deepening crackdown on basic liberties. In all of these cases, governments, by abandoning public pressure, effectively close their eyes to repression”.

Months back, the world welcomed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader from almost 20 years of house arrest by Burma’s military government yet Chinese writer, human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo is still behind bars. Liu Xiaobo, the only winner of the Nobel Peace Prize still in detention was sentenced to eleven years in prison by the Chinese government after co-authoring ‘Charter 08’, a manifesto that is robustly calling for democratic rights for the people of the People’s Republic of China. There is currently an ongoing campaign against his ongoing imprisonment. The campaign consists of more than 70 organisations including PEN South Africa’s Writers in Prison Committee and Poetry International South Africa. The question is, what are we doing as individuals when faced with situations of injustices? This year’s celebration should therefore challenge us to be more tolerant of those that differ from us and less tolerant of repressive governments and people in our lives who show disregard of the rights of others. Martin Luther King Jnr once said “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. He further maintained that “the ultimate treasure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of controversy”. In deed these wise words remain relevant even today and challenge all good men and women not to close their ears and deliberately block the loud cries of help from those around them.