Leading The Way

The fact is political correctness has gone awry—destroying the freedom and democracy that permitted it to occur in the first place.

The premise now seems to be that ANYONE found to be offended by anything can stand on the platform of political correctness. This means any selfish, self-serving person or special-interest group with a victim mentality can use political correctness to oppress those with differing opinions or points of view.

I found it bewildering that after traveling in several countries and meeting thousands of people, I have never met an individual who actually supports the Politically Correct (PC) agenda.

So who is driving this bus? No one is really sure, but it has taken on a life of its own.

Here are the origins of this scourge:

It was developed at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, which was founded in 1923, and came to be known as the "Frankfurt School." It was a group of thinkers who pulled together to find a solution to the biggest problem facing the implementers of Communism in Russia.

The problem? Why wasn't communism spreading?

Their answer? Because Western Civilization was in its way.

What was the problem with Western Civilization? Its belief in the individual, that an individual could develop valid ideas. At the root of communism was the theory that all valid ideas come from the effect of the social group of the masses. The individual is nothing.

And they believed that the only way for communism to advance was to help (or force, if necessary) Western Civilization to destroy itself. How to do that? Undermine its foundations by chipping away at the rights of those annoying individuals.

One way to do that? Change their speech and thought patterns by spreading the idea that vocalizing your beliefs is disrespectful to others and must be avoided to make up for past inequities and injustices.

And call it something that sounds positive: "Political Correctness."

Inspired by the brand new communist technique, Mao, in the 1930s, wrote an article on the "correct" handling of contradictions among the people. "Sensitivity training"—sound familiar?—and speech codes were born.

In 1935, the Frankfurt School moved to New York City, where they continued their work by translating Marxism from economic to cultural terms using Sigmund Freud's psychological conditioning mechanisms to get Americans and others to buy into Political Correctness. In 1941, they moved to California to spread their wings.

But Political Correctness remains just what it was intended to be: a sophisticated and dangerous form of censorship and oppression, imposed upon the citizenry with the ultimate goal of manipulating, brainwashing, and destroying our society.

Agustin Blazquez

My observation (mostly from TV news shows or articles) is that hardcore supporters of the PC movement are not connected to reality or truth. They just decided to give themselves the job of thwarting any type of offence possible and claiming power far beyond their maturity and sensibilities.

A community declines when the majority of its citizens become selfish and, under this influence, it slowly dismantles all the restraints upon self-indulgence established by manners, customs, beliefs, and law: tradition.

As each subsequent generation of selfish citizens inherits control of the community, it takes its opportunity to abandon more of the irksome restraints that genius and wisdom had installed. The proponents of this social demolition achieve their irrational purpose by publicly embracing absurdity through slogans, while vilifying any who do not support their stance. The purpose of the slogan is to enshrine irrational fears or fancies as truth, through the use of presumptuous words, to public pronouncement:

Dissembles the real nature of the claim

Identifies any dissenters as enemies of the truth

Acts as an excuse for any crimes committed in its name

People who contradict the PC format are wrongfully accused of prejudice.

All of which are an attack upon truth, clear thinking, and plain speaking.

Phillip Atkinson

2007 Blog

But the majority of people have had enough. If you go online and Google political correctness, you witness a significant counter-movement—and so should there be!

Will everybody please just get over it? Let’s stop taking ourselves so seriously! We waste millions of dollars on creating laws that restrict freedom of expression. Oddly enough, one of the greatest offenders is the university—a place where original thinking and expression were once embraced, now only to be controlled and muzzled.

Here are a few examples.

During a Toastmaster Speech, a member who did not use politically correct language had his Toastmaster membership revoked..
A few months ago, a Muslim woman who had escaped Afghanistan wrote a book on how oppressive her country and religion were toward women, citing her opinion and experiences. Her book created outrage and caused a death sentence to be decreed on her by her homeland. During an interview on CTV News, she suggested that democracy and the Islamic faith could not co-exist—a great basis for discussion and debate. If anyone else had made that statement (her publisher from Holland already had been executed for his role in the book), the PC police would have been quick to vilify the person.
A parent was jailed after he talked about spanking his children in a grocery lineup. The children were taken from the family by misguided social workers acting on guilt. The loving parent was later released, yet the same department would not intervene when told about drug-dealing criminal parents of 2- and 5-year-old children in the neighborhood. Even after the parents were taken down by police for dealing drugs, there was no action by social workers.

I encourage you to not get caught up in the PC wave. It has little to do with you living a passionate and purposeful life. Enjoyment comes from not having to look over your shoulder and constantly worry about what you say and how you say it.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t defend individuals against discrimination but, as we have witnessed, it has gotten out of control.

To engage in a life without censorship and oppression, use the following CRG resources to assist yourself and others to clarify personal identity and passions.

The following CRG resources have application in the measurement processes for individuals and teams and at the organizational level.