Do you ever read about the French Revolution? Details about rapid judgements and public execution to the sound of a jeering mob? It’s chilling. Sobering. And it’s happening today in a social form.
Did you ever read about the French Revolution?
Rapid judgements and public executions to the sound of a jeering mob? It’s chilling. Sobering. And it’s happening today.
Politically correct and freedom of speech are struggling to coexist. I’ll never condone freedom of speech to be a device of hate or abuse. But with that said, our current “politically correct” climate is way too hot.
Every time I turn around someone is being hauled off to the guillotines on social media.
Their crime? Being human.
Naive Realism suggests one’s perceptions are realistic, unbiased interpretations of the social world versus a subjective construction and interpretation of reality. This belief system spawns a couple interesting ideas:
1) Everyone is going to think like me.
2) Anyone who doesn’t must be uninformed, irrational, or biased.
Drop naive realism into a modern world where people are from different countries, backgrounds and religions — What do you get? A freaking mess.
Fuel native realism with the flames of social media, and you’ have something growing that will soon be out of control. Just like Crane’s infamous court room in The Dark Knight Rises. Remember the scenes? People hauled in, judgement cast in 5 minutes and then off to their deaths?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of tolerance is as follows:
Tolerance: The willingness to accept behavior and beliefs that are different from your own, even if you disagree with or disapprove of them.
So that sounds like a good thing, right? But today’s politically correct climate does anything but accept others. We’re not about love, forgiveness and understanding. We’re about dogmatic views based on subjective constructions of reality.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a very recent example:
Terry Rossio is an Oscar nominated writer. Terry was recently hauled off to the social guillotine. His crime? Using the “N” word. But here’s the thing, he wasn’t actually using it. He was simply trying to show how horrible another term was.
Terry’s tweet:
What happened? People went off-the-walls-crazy.
But Terry wasn’t trying to be hurtful or racist. He was actually standing up to bullying that’s happening across the US right now. Terry tried to say using the term Anti-Vax is as hurtful to some as using the “N” word is to others.
Was Terry’s analogy 100% accurate? Of course not. Few things compare to the atrocities done to African Americans — And very few white people really get that.
But there’s something else few people get: Taking your cute kid to get their vaccine shots, and having them turn into a vegetable, stop talking or become extremely autistic immediately after the shots. It’s happening to a lot of people, and parents without damaged kids are saying some pretty hurtful, disgusting things.
Robert McKee says story tellers talk in extremes. Writers love analogies. Terry was attempting to show sympathy to parents who have children damaged by vaccines. So he picked a vivid way to make the comparison because he’s a writer.
And when Terry chose the wrong analogy, people cried “aristocrat” and hauled him to the blade.
It’s scary and out of control.
Most people loved Mel Gibson. From his heart wrenching cry of “Freedom!” in Braveheart, to his comedic personality in Lethal Weapon. This Oscar Award Winning Director also demolished all records with his The Passion of the Christ. But then one crisp night in Malibu, after leaving the popular Moonshadows restaurant, the social guillotine fell.
Mel Gibson had too much to drink. He’d been taking a lot of heat for the supposed anti-Semitic nature of The Passion, even though no one can deny the Biblical accuracy of the film, and he said something to the tune of:
“The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!”
People from no-name bloggers to Barbara Walters drug Mel Gibson to the guillotine fast. I remember sitting in Universal Studios, waiting on a delivery, and reading Barbara Walter’s comment: “I’ll never watch a Mel Gibson film again.”
I couldn’t believe it. Another guy from a local church in LA said he couldn’t associate himself with Mel Gibson any more.
Are you kidding me?!?!
Many years later, after the completion of Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson was interviewed by Variety. In the interview he talks about the unforgiving nature of people’s responses:
“Ten years have gone by,” Gibson stated. “I’m feeling good. I’m sober, all of that kind of stuff, and for me it’s a dim thing in the past. But others bring it up, which kind of I find annoying, because I don’t understand why after 10 years it’s any kind of issue. Surely if I was really what they say I was, some kind of hater, there’d be evidence of actions somewhere. There never has been.”
https://variety.com/2016/film/news/mel-gibson-interview-anti-semitic-2006-arrest-podcast-1201902552/
Here’s what I think about our hot politically correct climate… And hey, I’ll be the first to admit that this is my subjective viewpoint:
I think deep down people believe it’s cool to “righteously” rip people to shreds. It makes us feel better about ourselves to point out the mistakes of “inconsiderate bigots.” Politically correct makes us feel like we’re a part of the good in society. We’re better. The elite. The educated. The good.
PC also allows people to hide behind their own viewpoints. If I’m a Democrat and can prove that a Republican in office is a failure in any way by joining in on the mob scene, this also promotes my subjective viewpoints.
But I’m here to say PC isn’t good. It’s not tolerance. It’s not love. There’s another monster lurking under the deceptively placid surface of PC, and as more people fall prey, maybe we’ll all get a clue.
James is an author of one of the books in the Bible. James was a brother of Jesus, and said this about the human tongue:
Sound a little harsh? Maybe, but then again, when I spend 5 minutes on Twitter I start to see what he’s talking about. And let’s be honest, I also know what I’m capable of saying or thinking — it isn’t always good. Sometimes quite the opposite.
Let’s learn to love. Truly forgive. Have true tolerance. And that will be a good start to changing society. If we don’t kill the PC monster now, nobody will be outside its ravenous reach.
French Revolution Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Exécution_de_Marie_Antoinette
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