Political correctness; a concept that was implemented to protect the weak and vulnerable, but ,instead, has created a restrictive noose around what individuals around the world can say, how they can act, and what can be celebrated in case it offends certain genders, races, and cultures. Political correctness; devoid of common sense, it has created a breeding ground for hate; new laws, policies, and ideas shaping our countries to become undemocratic and extremely narrow minded;Political correctness; a dominant political ideology, it emphasises collectivism, not individualism. Everyone has to be included and be a winner, as singling out certain individuals can offend and harm everybody else.
Today, the argument I present to you is that political correctness has gone too far. As the media have termed it, PC has ‘gone mad’, and it is affecting our freedom of expressing our individuality and conforming us to all be like minded – narrow minded – not allowed to express our opinions without having to apologise because it’s different to the main idea that society wants us all to believe. One main idea society wants to force down our throats is that some views and values people have are deemed ‘offensive’ and ‘insensitive’, and are not appropriate in today’s day and age. Today our views and values have transformed into a ‘us vs them’ mentality, where if you believe something other than to what the left wing and mainstream media preach, you are labelled demeaning names and ostracised by society. For example, if you are to disagree with the left, you chance being called a fascist. If you criticise Islam and Muslims, you are deemed an Islamophobe. If you don’t readily agree with LGBT+ politics, you are labelled as a homophobe. If you don’t use gender neutral pronouns, you’re a transphobe.
It honestly goes on, and anyone who dares to step up and actually voice their opinion, risks being labelled these demoralising slurs and ultimately facing bigger consequences. PC is eliminating the language we can use, deeming pretty much anything offensive if it can cause insult to the groups I just mentioned.One of these consequences, for example, is the horrific events some people are facing today. I’m not sure if many of you are aware of this, but over in South Africa, white farmers are being assaulted (pause) raped (pause) and murdered (pause), their farmland stolen with no compensation, the Government supporting this movement.
Lauren Southern, a political activist who brings massive controversy, filmed a documentary on this issue. Now, I do not care what your opinion of her is, I do ,however, care how she was one of the few who took this issue seriously and allowed the world to understand what was going on. What the world deems to be newsworthy is wrong, and an injustice to those who do need the attention so they can get the help they need.
As Lauren pointed out in her video ‘South Africa – Why White People?’, in Canada, national headlines were made when a hijab was cut up by a man, even the prime minister stating his condemnation on the act; However, it ended up being fake news. Yet, children in south Africa were getting their mouths slashed joker style, and it was lucky if it makes the local paper. How. Is. This. FairHer documentary shows so many families destroyed by this violence. Fathers, mothers brothers, sisters, slaughtered.
And for what? Honestly, I cried whilst watching their stories, imagining it was my dad being shot 6 times, eventually dying from a bullet to the head. Imagining it was my mother being branded with a hot iron, or raped and murdered. It was brought up in Australia media for 5 seconds, with Peter Dutton wanting special attention to help get these south Africans here where they can be safe. He told the Daily Telegraph, “We have the potential to help some of these people that are being persecuted.” But no, he was shut down, called an “out- and-out racist” and wanting a “white Australia”. Australia media argued, not about how we could help, but instead how many south Africans are dying. Because arguably, in some of their minds, the number 100 better than 400 – the concept of death and people being murdered completely taken out of the scenario.Imagine, that they were black.
You can just see the outrage millions of people would feel across the globe, if this was happening to a minority group that weren’t “white”. They are forced to endure the western cultures view on white supremacy, resulting in their lives being at risk because they cannot seek freedom.We are living in a world, where innocent lives are being taken. People being offended and outraged by politics is stopping us from doing anything. This fake news, or reporting on shallow news like something Donald Trump said, is unproductive and we need to look at real issues, real problems. Political correctness is an idea that is ruining our society, and I for one am dreading the consequences of the awful ideology that’s been planted in society.One of these consequences has been predicted and discussed, much to the outrage of many, by Dr Jordan Peterson.
A psychology professor at the University of Toronto, he has brought great controversy with his speeches about political correctness and its impact on freedom of speech. In a recent interview with BBC, he said “I’ve studied authoritarianism for a very long time – for forty years – and they’re started by people’s attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory.” With some governments around the world, such as Canada, already introducing laws that prevent what can and can’t be said, a dictatorship is arguably already starting. Countries, including our home, pride themselves on being a democratic country, where the people can proudly have a say in what they want their government to look like.
But what if this is no longer the case? Political correctness has lead Australians to fill like they cannot voice their opinion without being ridiculed, myself included. We cannot voice how we feel about gay marriage, refugees and vaccinations, because as soon as it slightly differs from the main agenda groups around Australia are pushing, we are shunned, called names and people’s perception of us change considerably. Dr Peterson said in an interview conducted on the Alan Jones Breakfast show, Australia is “on the same road that Canada is on, and it’s worse than we think. Be prepared, because it’s coming.”So, I call on you, the constitutional conservatives in the millennials today, to stand up with me and be proud to voice what our opinion is. To try and slow down and ultimately change the political agenda that’s taking over our world.
We need to not enforce political correctness and the ban over what we can say and do, but instead let’s push the idea of respect. Why can’t we respect each other, the similarities and differences? In reality, our world wants equality, yet emphasises the differences between us all. So, let’s create a new world, where open discussion is accepted. Where the differences are not so glaringly obvious. If you believe in respect, if you understand the political views on both sides and have your own opinion, voice it loud and proud. To conclude, I want to leave you with this quote, which I believe is a fundamental element missing in today’s day and age.”I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
