This article has been freely translated from the article written in French : "Politiquement Crétin."
In his science fiction novel "1984", George Orwell layed the foundations of a new language. The Novlangue, as he called it aimed at restraining people's freedom to think by suppressing words such as freedom, liberty or democracy. Therefore, officials in Big Brother services could only express "proper ideas" as automatically as a machine gun. The present situation in the US and to a certain extent in France could remind us of the terrifying vision depicted by Orwell fifty years ago at the aftermath of the World War.
A new witch hunting has been engaged on American campuses but also in many French intitutions. During the 50', MarCarthy hunted down communists through every American institution. Actor Ronald Reagan himself had been suspected to share common values with marxists. Today, the roles have been inverted and those who were suspected in the past now hold the reins of this new conservative shooting. Political Correctness, as this new vague has been called, has conducted campaigns against three major targets : vocabular, history and education. We will examine these successiveley so we can measure the effects of Political Correctness on them.
A new dictionary is necessary
Let us start with what we are constantly in contact with : vocabulary. Indeed, according to Political Correctness maniacs, vocabular has been created by male, racist and sexist whites. Supporters of Political Correctness believe the constant use of some words infers a cruel inferiority complex. That reveals the ideology underneath Political Correctness as we will soon analyze it. If one follows those arguments, one understands that it is necessary to remove this so-called "crushing" vocabular from our language. A new dictionary should help us avoid coarse mistakes. Let me remind you that a simple mistake would certainly lead to an action brought before a judge.
Let us speak no more of "chairman", a word offending the ears of Political Correctness adepts. Let us rather talk about about a "chairperson". The word "woman" is also surely sexist. Nevermind, just use the term"womyn", so much more neutral and safe !
France is saddly not spared by this wave coming from the US. Illegal aliens have been renamed recently. We should now speak of "without IDs" ("sans papiers"). Anything that could remind us that illegal alien are not allowed to stay in France would be considered as racist. "Without ID's is more objective : aliens maybe lost their passports at the airport. The media are broadcasting this deceiptive egalitarian fever. The vocabular we constantly use has become completely sterile, either in the political field than in the cultural one (just look at the endless speeches we have to listen to about "womanizing" political terms).
Rewriting history
History has not remained safe from this Political Correctness plague. School curriculums are one of the first targets for a vast attempt of imposing a re-written history to our children. American minorities think that the actual vision is much to European centered and leaves aside major historical events. Thus, Blacks would be the creators of our civilization. Cleopatra was black says black author Cheikh Anta Diop. Besides. Blacks have discovered America floating on rafts, following the currents of the ocean. That speech has been widespread by some political science professors in French universities.
Nonetheless, Blacks do not have the monopoly in re-writing history. Now, feminists are trying to free themselves from the "male tyranny". The "female Rights Declaration", written in 1792 by Olympe de Gouge (who died decapitated) has been pulled out of a dusty box to be spread on Political Correctness campuses.
Reforming our youth through education
Finally, education is the center point of the greatest attention. It should be our first duty to completely reform not only teaching methods but also programs. Doesn't this attraction towards education remind you of totalitarian regimes? Their more powerfull and long term oriented influence on the people they oppressed was embodied by the control exerted on children's education. France has not been left behind this time and can be proud of the Saint Denis University, which was created right after the 1968 events. Professors teach how to "tag" on the walls of the university. Shakespeare, a symbol of white education and the most famous author in the world is read, interpreted, modernized and rapped.
The key to succes for this new education is students should "feel good". One should not "humiliate " them by giving them grades or ranking them. So called "new schools" are created and forbid grades. Thomas Sowell, a Black academic at the Hoover Institute has observed that the grades given to the students are far higher than they were 20 years ago, even though global knowledge hasn't improved! "A's" are countless, far too much in his eyes.
Schools should also take into account the specificity of every individual. But that represents a highway for a shattered education. Homosexual schools are bourgeoning all over the US such as the Harvey Milk in New York. Aren't traditional schools efficient enough to integrate them in our society ? Blacks students ask for segregated institution. Women will soon want separated schools. The policies led in the United States aiming at disegregating education is now rejected by the same people who pushed the governenment to change its policy in the 50's. Would Coming back in time be considered as a great improvement ?
The reactions of the minorities towards the efforts of the defensors of Political Correctness is yet contrasted. According to a Whashington Post and ABC poll published in 1991, 66% of the Blacks prefered to be refered to as "Blacks" rather than "Afro Americans". The efficiency of the politics led for 30 years are also put into question. For a few years now, voters have voted for the abolishment of certain rules with perverted side effects.
Nevertheless, the Political Correctness revolution is still mediatized. American traditional values are attacked one after another. Leftist professors try to impose their ideas to the youth. One should keep in mind that in the United States, young people study hundreds of miles away from their homes and are therefore more influencable. The freedom of thinking is slowly deconstructed by these terrorist ideologues.
The United States remains the most powerful nation as far as economics is concerned. Nevertheless, this domination might be questioned not by the Asian civilization as we could think but by its domestic enemies. WASP values are shaterring. Waps created the United States on some basic values that derive from Protestant religion as work, family an saving. Today these values are replaced by some negative values : scattered families put down the idea of family; the feel good virtue anihilates the virtue of a reward for a work done. A jigsawed society is coming together before our eyes with the help of the Political Correctness representants. More dangerous, the cohesion of our societies is weakened. The hostilities are now opened on campuses. But let us wait for its consequences on economics. Asia seems to be dangerous. What a mistake ! The enemy has infiltrated without making any noises. Consequences will be all the more desastrous.
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Libre Echange, October 1998 (English Translation : June 1999)