unabashedly politically correct
Pretty audacious title, actually, and I just want to say that I don't mean "pc" in terms of being polite and saying the "nice" thing. In fact, I'm insulted that the rightwing so grossly misrepresents leftist concepts and belittles political correctness when defining it as being "tactful" (i.e., "Tact is just not saying true stuff", Cordelia Chase in Buffy The Vampire Slayer). First off, there's a place when avoiding terminology where you might actually being buying into the terminology. Something's an insult only when you believe it is (which is why it's so important to reclaim words).
There's a different place when you avoid terminology because other people haven't yet healed, and it's important to respect that. There's yet another place to avoid terminology when other people haven't evolved 8-).
I want to reclaim political correctness and I'll define it right now to be about holding ourselves to the higher ethical standard of healing people and healing the planet. It's in direct contast to the moral depravity of the current neo-con attitude of gross neglect, greed, and general stupidity.
Let's just be clear.
There are some assumptions I'm making, including this: there are things which are good, and these include democracy, liberty, equality. I also assume that all people pretty much want the same thing:good lives for themselves and for their "inner circle". I think the main difference is in the definition here of "inner circle". Each person is in the center, perhaps with their partner or family, if they have one. The next ring includes friends and extended family. Neighbourhood might be the next ring. Society or culture. For some people, Race. And finally humankind.
Some people stop caring at the first ring. Some people expand their caring circle somewhere out past humans to include all life. (I kinda stop at sentient life.)
This is my first post. I've been thinking about starting a (progressive) political blog since Al Franken went off the air (Air America) last week and left a bit of a gap. We miss you Al. But honestly? You weren't all that funny. 8-)
Anyhow, as the Talking Heads once aptly put it
So here I am!
There's a different place when you avoid terminology because other people haven't yet healed, and it's important to respect that. There's yet another place to avoid terminology when other people haven't evolved 8-).
I want to reclaim political correctness and I'll define it right now to be about holding ourselves to the higher ethical standard of healing people and healing the planet. It's in direct contast to the moral depravity of the current neo-con attitude of gross neglect, greed, and general stupidity.
Let's just be clear.
There are some assumptions I'm making, including this: there are things which are good, and these include democracy, liberty, equality. I also assume that all people pretty much want the same thing:good lives for themselves and for their "inner circle". I think the main difference is in the definition here of "inner circle". Each person is in the center, perhaps with their partner or family, if they have one. The next ring includes friends and extended family. Neighbourhood might be the next ring. Society or culture. For some people, Race. And finally humankind.
Some people stop caring at the first ring. Some people expand their caring circle somewhere out past humans to include all life. (I kinda stop at sentient life.)
This is my first post. I've been thinking about starting a (progressive) political blog since Al Franken went off the air (Air America) last week and left a bit of a gap. We miss you Al. But honestly? You weren't all that funny. 8-)
Anyhow, as the Talking Heads once aptly put it
<paraphrase>
if you don't like what's on TV, make up your own show.
</paraphrase>
So here I am!
posted by elissaf at 7:00 pm
2 Comments:
Here's a topic I'd like to hear your thoughts on.. "The 'F' word".
Do you call yourself feminist? Why [not]? What do you think of the modern dislike for the term? What do you think of comments like the last half of this article
Albrechtson is clearly pushing her own barrow there but, is "the silence" real and is it a problem?
oh, gee.... I hadn't seen this article. A bit infuriating on so many levels. Good idea for a topic (or a bunch of them).
I doubt "the silence" is real. And accusing the left of being moral relativists is nothing new from the right. And it's blatantly false. For instance, western feminists response to female genital mutilation. And support of women's issues worldwide isn't just limited to injustice. For instance, wide support for efforts to wipe out fistula in third world countries.
I'm not sure how much of an activist Greer is lately, but it certainly isn't inappropriate for her (as Albrechtsen would imply) for her to choose her own issues of interest. Damn, the woman wrote a seminal book in modern feminism. Do you have to bash her because she doesn't write a new one every year? Or because she isn't out in the front line in the case of Hudood laws?
As far as disparaging Western women becase we thought we "had it tough, beng shut out of the workplace ....". Yeah, it really pisses me off at work, feeling like I'm less respected for my abilities than my male counterparts. But what really gets to me is that in my culture, 33% of women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. 25% of college women have been raped or suffered attempted rape. (These are violent rapes rather than date rapes, not that date rape is a piece of cake, but I do want to distinguish the level of attack.)
Post a Comment
<< Home