"The most significant threat to our national security is our debt," Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, August 27, 2010


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Eating Their Own

Doncha just love it when a gang of bullies beats up one of their own? Or when an opinion maker expresses an opinion and has her lunch handed to her. Well, if you live by the rules of political correctness you darn well should die by the rules of political correctness.

So an old bag of a newsperson had the audacity to say something audacious. And for that horrible crime, she is now retiring to the obscurity that her limited talent had predestined for her many, many years earlier.

What was her crime? What could she, a member of that great journalism tribe, the proud defenders of the first amendment to the US Constitution; those noble associates of the fourth estate; what could this almost 90 year old woman have done to bring such ignominy upon herself? Did she suggest the current and prior US presidents were not up for the job? Did she suggest that the last two Federal Reserve chairman were guilty of fiscal promiscuity? Did she encourage the Pope to quit his job and return to the homeland? Did she ask Hillary Clinton to wear a dress? What did this poor gal with the big pie hole do to deserve such punishment?

She expressed an opinion. An opinion that was not politically correct.

She, in effect, raised the question; dared to raise the issue that the state of Israel might have something to do with the mess the world is in and she went even further to suggest a remedy and, folks, you just cannot question the state of Israel much less possibly suggest that they are the cause of any problems much less suggest that they had better clean up their act. Oh no. That’s a big no-no in Helen’s world.

The problem with political correctness, besides it being desperately boring as others have correctly observed, is that it acts as a barrier to reasonable examination of real causes and real effects. Anytime you place any subject off limits, there is a motivation for doing so. Usually the motivation is protection and avoidance. In everyday life, we see it frequently. Don’t talk about Uncle Harry’s drinking. Just ignore it. We only have to put up with it three times a year. Or, so what if the mayor is hiring all his friends and relatives? Everyone does that. It’s just the price we pay to live in a democracy. Or, who cares if they offer so and so a job if he just won’t challenge our boy in that senate race. That’s how politics works. Or, this country is great because of its public education system. Don’t you dare challenge the outcome of urban public schools and their entrenched teachers and administrators? Just give them more money. The only way you can get a good education is if you are willing to pay for it. Or, what do you mean make the loser pay in a lawsuit? That just means that people without money would never file a lawsuit. Or, the labor movement in this country is responsible for all the advances and the freedoms and the wages and the benefits that workers everywhere enjoy. You’d better get down on your knees and thank a union organizer for your standard of living.

Ever wonder why problems involving government and government sponsored entities are like the Energizer Bunny – they just keep going and going? Ever wonder why most of the big problems; big recurring issues of the day have the fingerprints of a government employee or a politician or an entire bureaucratic agency all over them? Ever wonder why nothing changes in government? Ever wonder who is the biggest beneficiary of political correctness?

Just ask Helen.

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