“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.” – Ismail Haniyeh
I want to talk about a really important shift in today’s society: the PC Movement. According to this movement, every person has the right to believe whatever they like and nobody should be able to challenge them for their decisions. The hope of this ideological crusade is that it will end discrimination and allow for individualism. Whether it be religion, race, socioeconomic status, to name a few, we are being pressured to restrict our speech in order to make other people feel better about themselves. What happens when the focus on being politically correct shifts to a position where it can cause serious damage?
Regardless of your religious affiliation, think back on how you’ve come to believe what you do – all the debates, confrontations, and discussions that have sharpened your theology into what it is today. Now, imagine if none of them had ever taken place because people had been taught that it was “politically incorrect” to talk about these things. What would your theology look like then? It would be a big, unrefined mass of, most likely, whatever your parents tried to force you to believe as a child!
“Safe” spaces on university campuses follow along with this trend as well. In these areas, apparently, everyone is supposed to be safe from outside discrimination. Isn’t the purpose of higher education to go somewhere where your current understanding can be challenged? At face value, the P.C. Movement makes sense. It takes a divided, culturally diverse group of people and allows them to live in close proximity to one another without having to sacrifice their beliefs or face any discrimination for them.
If you think about it, though, this is exactly opposite of what it actually achieves. Rather than allow people to set aside their differences, the P.C. movement further divides people by fostering such an exclusive mindset. Not only that but without being able to challenge each other’s believes, we miss out on extremely important opportunities to cultivate our own. Think of your set of beliefs as a piece of metal ore. Ore has to be put into a fire in order to melt away the impurities, right? Without being able to openly challenge someone, you are unable to put your or his beliefs into the fire, and, as such, enable them to be strengthened! All this can lead to is a mass of people with entire mindsets that have never been challenged enough to grow beyond a child-like state.
So, Gentlemen, this is my challenge to you. Ignore the P.C. Movement. Challenge your ideas, face opposition head-on, and don’t let anybody tell you what to believe. Society is going to fight back if you choose not to follow it, but, I promise you, the enemies you are going to make are more than worth it.
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill
The Modern Gentleman 