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
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
Labels: debate, differences, human nature, human spirit, law, life forces, multiculturalism, personal space, poetry, political correctness, positive thinking, religion, responsibility, self-awareness, society