Eff You, Political Correctness
I've had two panic attacks so far today. I never get panic attacks... I'm just really, really struggling with a few assignments and can't get it into my head that they really aren't worth that much in the long run. One of these attacks got to the point where I was lying there chanting "I've got it good, I've got it good I've got it good. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe" and asking God to help me breathe. Which he did by the way. I mention this because I think they were brought on indirectly and in a roundabout way by my constant desire to remain politically correct. To avoid stepping on toes for fear of offending, or simply because I love the person, or don't feel like dealing with a situation that would arise if I chose to speak freely. I've been put into positions where my boundaries have been crossed and I haven't stood up for myself or what I believed to be the (morally?) correct course of action. In large part for the sake of political correctness. Pardon me if I sound like a martyr there; believe me that's not the intent, although I could be even worse :p
All of this to say that I've been bothered by something the last couple of days and I haven't really said anything because I don't want people to think I'm heartless or... politically incorrect. But for today, or at least the next few minutes, I say f*** political correctness.
I'm sure you've all heard about the tragedy at Virgina Tech. 33 people dead. 33 innocent (or at least 32 inncocent and 1 very distressed) people killed in their prime. 33 twentysomethiings who had friends and family and aspirations, and souls and who were so excited to know that the semester would soon be over. They were like you and me, and at the same time they weren't, because they were THEMSELVES. Beautiful human beings with individual personalities and characters and hearts that pumped blood through their bodies and dreams to their heads. I mourn with everyone else at this loss of precious, precious life.
But.
I hate the word "but". I think that as soon as you say the word "but" or one of its synonyms, you tend to cancel out what you've just said, and your audience is much more likely to remember what comes after the but. Ironically, this is usually the negative, or critical half. See my above comment on political correctness... ok, moving on.
But. For the sake of argument, let's multiply that number by 10 (just to be on the safe side). Let's assume that half of them are children. Let's assume that before they were mercilessly killed, the women were raped, and that they had their ears, noses, and lips cut off. This has been happening for decades in Northern Uganda. And the numbers are way, way higher than 330, by the way.
For the sake of argument, let's assume that rather than being killed by gunshot, they were slowly starved, so that their bodies thinned, their vital organs shut down, and they eventually succumbed to hunger. Sudan. Chad. Somalia. Oh hell, it's most of Sub-Saharan Africa. South East Asia. Inda. The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
Of course there is more to the story. The reason why the governor of Virginia is flying home from Japan early is because he feels a commitment to HIS people. Because he was probably a student at a university so he can identify. He thinks to himself, "imagine how I would feel right now if I were in that situation". He is probably from an upper-middle-class background, and so it is easier for him to relate. That's not his fault, and it's not wrong. But what we're being told is that this is a tragedy because these students did not deserve to die, and because people should not have to live in fear when going about their daily routine. At its most basic, primitive level, we're told that this is a tragedy and that this is wrong because human life is valuable. After all, 33 precious human lives were ended prematurely and for no reason.
But don't we have a commitment to following this argument through? If human life is valuable and precious, then human life is valuable and precious. There shouldn't--no, there CAN'T--be an escape clause in there. It's not "human life is valuable and precious if they live close enough to me that I've met them, or if I can identify with their religion, or if they are a cashier, or if they are a white man, or if they are a Black medical student at NYU."
I happen to think that Jessica has it right when she chooses to go to Indonesia and provide counseling for Tsunami victims because she believes that the psychological well being of her fellow human beings is valuable. I think David has it right when he chooses to particpate in Third World development because he belives that his fellow human beings have a right to make their own livelihood--and sometimes that requires drinking water, or a business plan. I think Trevor has it right that his fellow human beings should be able to tell their story of tragedy and survival and hope so that people can learn from it. I think Shannon has it right that she grew up asking not for birthday presents but for donations to the Crisis Pregnancy Centre, not because she thought she would one day get a mention in Sara's blog, but because it never ocurred to her that these young women didn't deserve to be treated with the same respect as everyone else, or didn't deserve to have their needs met. And I know it's politically incorrect for me to praise myself, but in keeping with the already-established theme, I think I have it right when I say that the people of Darfur should NOT be living in a world where each day there is a good and real chance that they will be murdered. And not just 33 of them. Hundreds of thousands of them. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of beautiful, laughing, vital, precious, unique, dreaming, crying, laughing, praying, dancing, human beings. I think that some of us have it right. And, quite simply, others need a wakeup call.
If human life is valuable, then it is valuable. And if it's worth protecting, then we need to protect it, and act in support of its protection.
According the Make Poverty History campaign, every three seconds a child dies due to poverty-related illness. I've spent about 10 minutes writing this. 10 minutes is 600 seconds. That means that in the time it took me to write this, 200 children have died due to poverty-related illness. Let's mourn for them. Let's put them on the front page of all of our newspapers and have Nancy Grace do a special and hold vigils and start Facebook groups and make ribbons. Why not? Don't the same standards of humanity apply to them?
I fucking hate double standards, and I hate hypocricy, and at the end of the day I know that I'm guilty of both.
All of this to say that I've been bothered by something the last couple of days and I haven't really said anything because I don't want people to think I'm heartless or... politically incorrect. But for today, or at least the next few minutes, I say f*** political correctness.
I'm sure you've all heard about the tragedy at Virgina Tech. 33 people dead. 33 innocent (or at least 32 inncocent and 1 very distressed) people killed in their prime. 33 twentysomethiings who had friends and family and aspirations, and souls and who were so excited to know that the semester would soon be over. They were like you and me, and at the same time they weren't, because they were THEMSELVES. Beautiful human beings with individual personalities and characters and hearts that pumped blood through their bodies and dreams to their heads. I mourn with everyone else at this loss of precious, precious life.
But.
I hate the word "but". I think that as soon as you say the word "but" or one of its synonyms, you tend to cancel out what you've just said, and your audience is much more likely to remember what comes after the but. Ironically, this is usually the negative, or critical half. See my above comment on political correctness... ok, moving on.
But. For the sake of argument, let's multiply that number by 10 (just to be on the safe side). Let's assume that half of them are children. Let's assume that before they were mercilessly killed, the women were raped, and that they had their ears, noses, and lips cut off. This has been happening for decades in Northern Uganda. And the numbers are way, way higher than 330, by the way.
For the sake of argument, let's assume that rather than being killed by gunshot, they were slowly starved, so that their bodies thinned, their vital organs shut down, and they eventually succumbed to hunger. Sudan. Chad. Somalia. Oh hell, it's most of Sub-Saharan Africa. South East Asia. Inda. The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
Of course there is more to the story. The reason why the governor of Virginia is flying home from Japan early is because he feels a commitment to HIS people. Because he was probably a student at a university so he can identify. He thinks to himself, "imagine how I would feel right now if I were in that situation". He is probably from an upper-middle-class background, and so it is easier for him to relate. That's not his fault, and it's not wrong. But what we're being told is that this is a tragedy because these students did not deserve to die, and because people should not have to live in fear when going about their daily routine. At its most basic, primitive level, we're told that this is a tragedy and that this is wrong because human life is valuable. After all, 33 precious human lives were ended prematurely and for no reason.
But don't we have a commitment to following this argument through? If human life is valuable and precious, then human life is valuable and precious. There shouldn't--no, there CAN'T--be an escape clause in there. It's not "human life is valuable and precious if they live close enough to me that I've met them, or if I can identify with their religion, or if they are a cashier, or if they are a white man, or if they are a Black medical student at NYU."
I happen to think that Jessica has it right when she chooses to go to Indonesia and provide counseling for Tsunami victims because she believes that the psychological well being of her fellow human beings is valuable. I think David has it right when he chooses to particpate in Third World development because he belives that his fellow human beings have a right to make their own livelihood--and sometimes that requires drinking water, or a business plan. I think Trevor has it right that his fellow human beings should be able to tell their story of tragedy and survival and hope so that people can learn from it. I think Shannon has it right that she grew up asking not for birthday presents but for donations to the Crisis Pregnancy Centre, not because she thought she would one day get a mention in Sara's blog, but because it never ocurred to her that these young women didn't deserve to be treated with the same respect as everyone else, or didn't deserve to have their needs met. And I know it's politically incorrect for me to praise myself, but in keeping with the already-established theme, I think I have it right when I say that the people of Darfur should NOT be living in a world where each day there is a good and real chance that they will be murdered. And not just 33 of them. Hundreds of thousands of them. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of beautiful, laughing, vital, precious, unique, dreaming, crying, laughing, praying, dancing, human beings. I think that some of us have it right. And, quite simply, others need a wakeup call.
If human life is valuable, then it is valuable. And if it's worth protecting, then we need to protect it, and act in support of its protection.
According the Make Poverty History campaign, every three seconds a child dies due to poverty-related illness. I've spent about 10 minutes writing this. 10 minutes is 600 seconds. That means that in the time it took me to write this, 200 children have died due to poverty-related illness. Let's mourn for them. Let's put them on the front page of all of our newspapers and have Nancy Grace do a special and hold vigils and start Facebook groups and make ribbons. Why not? Don't the same standards of humanity apply to them?
I fucking hate double standards, and I hate hypocricy, and at the end of the day I know that I'm guilty of both.
posted by Sara at
3:31 p.m.
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