Debating 'Political Correctness'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

I am often criticised for my personal stand on some religions, notably Christianity and Islam; the former would find me guilty of blasphemy while the latter might well see me beheaded... and that’s just for being gay. I am growing old now, and health issues mean I am no longer sexually active, but mind-body-spirit remains essentially gay so I’m no less open to such charges from either religion.

Now, I am no racist, nor do I have a problem with people as such, from any walk of life. I do, however, have a problem with being judged according to the principles of a religion to which I do not subscribe.

I am not a Christian, so how can I be accused of blasphemy? Similarly, I am not a Muslim so how can I be accused of Islamophobia? Am I not allowed to express a legitimate point of view while meaning no personal offence?

A friend of some years - who hadn’t known when we first met as students that I am gay (I was suffocating in a closet in those days) - told me that he felt uncomfortable with gay people. When I asked if that that included me (he had known I was gay for some years by now) he answered in the affirmative. I was hurt, more than a little disappointed and puzzled, too, since he had never indicated any problem with my sexuality hitherto. Such is human nature, though, so I had to get used to the idea; it certainly never occurred to me to jump on any homophobic bandwagon.

Everyone is, of course, entitled to their own religious Beliefs. Should anyone, though, feel entitled to pass judgement on another person by dint of any agenda set by those same Beliefs, especially when that other person neither shares nor recognises the validity of certain aspects associated with those same Beliefs...?

In my opinion, any society giving the impression - intentionally or not - that certain feelings and Beliefs are above the law, are permissible simply because they wear the colours of this or that religion, risks dividing itself into such pieces as may well prove hard if not impossible to put together again.

DEBATING 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS'

When asked a question
I will always offer an answer
as best I see fit,
just as mind-body-spirit
would have me do
unsure whether or not my questioner
genuinely cares
or hopes to press all the right buttons
likely to produce revelations

Such is the emotive power
of being put on the spot, needing
to be true to the self
while thought processes
put under pressure,
not least for being only too well aware
of being pounced on
by society’s rush-to-judgemental voices
at the first hint of any prejudices

Discussion, private or public
may well see us treading eggshells,
political correctness
all but turned on its head by some
with much to gain or lose
as the case may be, free expression
across debate in the frame
for agreeing to differ, but a distant memory
in a ‘politically correct’ society

What worth debate or argument,
points of view as need to be made
so often go unheard...
not because participants are afraid
of being challenged,
but of being shouted down, even arrested
for speaking out,
(no disrespect intended) on a growing anxiety
with a ‘politically correct’ society 

No one deserves to be denied a voice,
whatever their ethnicity, sexuality, creed
or culture, and a just society
will neither rush to judgement for fear
of offending any of the parts
that comprise its whole, yet, if harmony
is the key to its success,
any discordant voices, yes, require challenging,
but also, surely, deserve a fair hearing?

Powers that be committed to tackling
prejudice and abuses of privilege in all walks
of life, pick and choose
at their peril, leave themselves open
to all manner of criticism
and allegations of being browbeaten
by the very forces
they would challenge, wherever, even a religion,
fearing to alienate swathes of public opinion

Certain voices need to ask questions of any society;
no questions, no answers, only hypocrisy

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022