A few days ago, the Huffington Post published an article based on an Angus Reid poll that said most Canadians, especially those ages 55 and up, are sick and tired of people being too politically correct. The poll was an answer to a survey on why Donald Trump, with his anti-political correctness and all, seems to be a popular choice for the US presidency. In the survey, 82% of people 55+ said that political correctness has gone too far, and 78% of people ages 35-54 said the same thing. 67% of those polled were in agreement, and they belonged to the age bracket of 18-34.
What does this all mean?
It means a number of things. In Alberta, the Minister of Education took to it upon himself to speak for all Alberta educators to say the LGBT agenda should be accepted by everyone, with the operative word being “should”. This means that if a boy were to use the girls’ bathroom and vice versa, it would be okay for the school and should be okay for the rest of the school population.
What’s wrong with this picture?
First of all, it’s not really okay to impose something on an entire population just because one wanted to be the Politically Correct Hero. The way I understand it, the Alberta Education Minister is saying that as long as the LGBT community is appeased, and is not hurt by what the heterosexual population is saying even if it upholds science and nature, or it has been the yardstick or moral compass of society, it’s okay. It’s saying that gender is based on an assumption and a feeling, not by biology or nature, so, forget about how the other kids are being taught by their teachers and parents. Never mind that they have their own faiths, cultures, principles and religious beliefs that have to be taken into consideration and respected as well, just as long as one community is happy. I am bothered by the politics behind their support, and it is the fact that while there is a greater majority of people that are being adversely affected by such accommodations, the political machinery doesn’t seem to be bothered by this, as long as they put the concerns of other groups forward, and they can do a quick Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of the consequences that follow, like confusing an entire generation of what science and nature has already established as male or female, black or white, apples or oranges.
Political correctness has also barred people from stating the obvious in order not to supposedly offend other people. Take Christmas for instance. Nina Grewal, a Sikh and MP for Fleetwood-Port Kells emphasized in a speech she made before the Parliament, that it is unjust to Christians that the greetings, “Merry Christmas” be changed to “Season’s Greetings” so as not to offend non-Christians. She said it is disrespectful and unnecessary to be politically correct by diminishing the value of Christmas as a Christian holiday or tradition. She said that being in Canada means respecting the rights and freedoms of all cultures, races and peoples, and that we need to protect this and be fair to all. It had to take a non-Christian to do so, because if a Christian said it, he would be called awful names and be told that he is not being politically correct or respectful of other people’s feelings, never mind his own.
Respect. This is where things have become clear as mud. And it is the political agenda that seeks to continue to make things murky.
If we simply go back to respecting each other, and our individual culture and beliefs, we wouldn’t have a need for political correctness. The whole idea of seeking first to understand than to be understood is the key to untying the knots we have created that have affected a lot of people and communities. While we, as a society, continue to pull each other’s hairs out and bicker about whose opinion matters most, the politicians sit comfortably in their chairs, patting themselves on the back, thinking they did an amazing job for turning into law what only a handful of people wanted, while isolating the majority, and the truth, in the end.
