Let us consider a question that has come up of late -- the so-called "political correctness." In some ways, the discussion around PC, I think, this cuts to the core of what I've been driving at. Of late, the donald has been disparaging of "political correctness. As I understand it, PC is a self-imposed restraint on what we say, and how we say it, to avoid "offending" others. At one level, of course, we're simply talking about manners. We don't refer to African Americans as "niggers" because the latter is deemed offensive, particularly by those to whom it refers. There are reasons why it is deemed offensive, and I needn't detail them all, but avoiding the offensive term is not a particularly onerous restriction on my speech. It doesn't prevent me from saying what needs to be said, for example, about black and black crime, the state of the black family, black incarceration rates, and so forth. I can speak truth. I can even do speak "truth to power," but I can nevertheless do so politely, and with all the basic respect that I would want in return.
With the donald, however, PC is code for something beyond manners, and beyond dealing with difficult moral, ethical, and social issues. It is, of course, liberating to be freed from any self-imposed limitations on speech, and there are times, of course, when I would like to "speak my mind" without restraint. In retrospect, I'm almost always glad that I didn't, but nevertheless, in the heat of the moment, there are times when I'd like to give vent, mostly, to my pent up anger. There would be a sort of "truth" in doing so, even a sort of "being true to one's self," that the donald seems to value, and those that agree with him also seem to value. There is even a sort of moral imperative behind it -- "to thine own self be true" -- a command given to one's self with all the authority of archaic language.
Having said this, however, let us consider what it might mean for someone who has 88 tattooed on her hand, who has the celtic cross and other quasi-nazi regalia (short of the swastika) tattooed on her arm, to speak her mind without restraint and give vent to her pent up anger? There would be a sort of truth in her assertion "I hate niggers." It would, no doubt, be liberating. It would, no doubt, even have a sort of "truth" -- if not in any particular assertion she might make, then in the outpouring of emotion itself, how she "feels" about things -- and we all know, of course, that she is entitled to her own truth, her own attitudes about things, no matter how repugnant others might find it.
Conversely, let us consider what it might mean for someone who wears a "black lives matter" tee-shirt to speak her mind without restart and give vent to her pent up anger? It would, likewise, no doubt, be liberating. It would, no doubt, even have a sort of "truth" -- again, if not in any particular assertion she might make, then in the outpouring of emotion itself, how she "feels" about things -- and we all know, of course, that she is entitled to her own truth, her own attitudes about things, no matter how distressing others might find it.
When the two are placed in proximity, one ends up with, well, the Chicago Trump rally. On what basis would we seek a reconciliation of the "attitudes?" I lack the problem solving or the negotiation skills to come up with anything, and if push comes to shove, as it did at Chicago, one would simply need to "choose a side" within the coming battle -- assuming, of course, one is given a choice. My sympathies clearly lie with the latter, but I am white. My own race may trump any choice I might want to make and assign me to a camp regardless of my sympathies. Perhaps I was a "liberal" academic for too long, but I was surprised at just how many of my customers simply assumed that I shared attitudes that I found, well, repugnant. Such assumptions work in both directions.
Trump is the anti-Obama in almost every sense of the word. If we can remember, Obama ran initially on a platform of reconciliation, and I am hugely disappointed to say that he failed completely, and the irreconcilable attitudinal posturing has grown even more pronounced, and more dangerous to our "liberal" republic. Perhaps we all should have known better. I remember during the last election cycle, living in Salt Lake, and seeing a banner that someone had put up along the road, urging people "don't re-nig." Whoever put up that sign will not be "reconciled" to a multiethnic, multiracial America. Whoever put up that sign will not take a step back and seek reasoned, systemic solutions to problems, but will rather express and re-express an attitude with each iteration growing a bit louder, a bit more virulent. The problem in his mind was nothing more, nothing less, than the "nigger" in the white house, pun intended, and all that it implies.
Having said this, railing against political correctness, measuring one's language to avoid offense, and railing against politicians, amount to the same thing, if by "politician" we mean those who measure their language to develop as wide a plurality as possible for a pragmatic solutions to systemic problems. To rail against political correctness is to advocate a politics of uncompromising, attitudinal posturing. Within such a politics, there can only be a "choosing of sides," and eventually one side will prove to be "stronger," the other "weaker" -- one side will "win," and the other will "lose." The vote, such as it is, merely betokens which side one has chosen. In the new order, one will be "politically correct" if one has chosen the side that prevails, "politically in-correct" if one has chosen the losers, and of course -- of course! -- he will prevail. He is "correct," in every sense of the word. He is, without doubt, the "correct" man to lead us to greatness. Consequently, he will, without doubt, be "correct" in his governing impositions, in part because he is in himself the embodiment of correctness, not just because he has a "special brain" that sees more deeply into things, but that especially. Without doubt, such overweening certainty is infectious.
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