[MD] PC Madness

[Ham Priday]

[Ham]:
> When USA finalist Carrie Prejean was asked about her position on
> same sex-marriage... Gentlemen, that's "political correctness" gone mad.

[Arlo]:
> I presume you share the same outrage for the atrocious PC attacks
> on the Dixie Chicks and Bill Maher?

Because music for me is an art form for music lovers, not a "message forum" 
for political activists, I wasn't familiar with the Dixie Chicks at the time 
of the incident you refer to.  Apparently, during a concert in London just 
before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, their lead vocalist said, "we don't want 
this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United 
States is from Texas".  This untimely statement offended patriotic Americans 
and cost the group half of their U.S. concert audience attendance. 
However, unike Miss California, who was disqualified for making a 
politically incorrect statement, the Dixie Chicks went on to win thirteen 
Grammy Awards, including the Grammy for Album of the Year.

I don't put much stock in celebrity views on politics.  Song stylists and 
film stars live in a fantasy world of their own which has little connection 
with the world of ordinary working people, much less knowledge of America's 
international policies.  I condemned Jane Fonda for her North Vietnam 
broadcasts to American troops that earned her the title Hanoi Jane,  Her 
pronouncments were every bit as treasonous as those of 'Tokyo Rose' whom I 
recall hearing on my shortwave radio during WWII.

I suppose one might consider attacks on perpetuators of treason an example 
of "political correctness", although for most loyal Americans they are 
simply an expression of our patriotism.

I also find little redeeming value in Bill Maher, who has built his radio/TV 
celebrity as a cynic of all traditions and beliefs.  Not only did this 
nihilistic "comedian" agree with a guest on his show that the 9/11 
terrorists were "not cowardly", he applied the word "cowardly" to the US 
military.  Forced to cancel "Politically Incorrect" (ostensibly due to 
"declining ratings"), he's now producing a documentary ridiculing the 
world's religions.  Personally, I don't see how he can sleep at night.

> Or, like Platt, is it only "PC" when its the "left" doing it
> a "right-wing" view?

No.  It's PC when it attempts to disguise or change the meaning (and thus 
the perceived value) of a commonly understood term.

> Actually I believe the Orwellian phrase you're after is "Newspeak".
> "Doublethink" refers to the act of holding two contradictory beliefs.
> Sort of like what you evidence yourself. You rage against  "Newspeak"\
> while championing the "Newspeak" of your party. That's "Doublethink".

Doublethink is a form (or at least the objective) of Newspeak in the sense 
that, as Orwell himself says, "a thought diverging from the principles of 
[the Party] - should be literally unthinkable ...Its vocabulary was so 
constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every 
meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding 
all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect 
methods."

> It would be wise if you had the ability to see how this applies
> as much to "conservatives" as it does to "liberals".
>
> "War on Terror" is itself an example of "Newspeak", as is "Patriot Act".
> I presume here too you share the same outrage to see "torture" labeled
> "interrogation techniques"?

Since we are at war with independent bands of terrorists rather than a 
sovereign nation, War on Terror precisely defines our global involvement. 
Do you think use of  the State Department's new "preferred" term "Overseas 
Contingency Operation" mitigates the threat or the violence in this 
engagement?

> Or again, is it only "PC" when the labeling goes against your
> selected political party's chosen term? "We call it X, they call it Y,
> so Y must be the Newspeak". If that's all you offer, then you aren't
> offering any solution at all.

I haven't claimed to offer a "solution".  I'm simply raising the point that 
changing the name of a policy or strategy midstream suggests that the 
traditional name (Oldspeak) carried an undesirable meaning or value.  When 
issued by the State as a social edict, it amounts to a form of thought 
control.

> James' short piece seems interesting and insightful, but so long as
> you wield it to condemn "those evil leftists", while remaining blind
> and unable to see its evil manifestations within the actions and
> assertions of the "right", you remain ineffectual and actually work
> to prop up the very system you feel you are raging against.

You are the one playing the partisan game here, Arlo.  Unless you feel that 
patriotism for one's country is a "right wing" obsession, I've said nothing 
about "leftists" or "conservatives" so far in this discussion.  So what is 
your complaint?

Regards,
Ham