Imagine a classic schoolyard scene of yore: the big bully “calling out” the scrawny kid for some infraction, real, imagined or fabricated. The bully knows he’s perfectly capable of beating up the scrawny kid, knows that he’ll validate his standing in his social circle by beating up the scrawny kid, and knows that the scrawny kid will be cowed forever after into submissiveness around the big bully. The scrawny kid’s friends tell him that he should not fight, because he’s going to lose. They tell him that most who watch him lose will laugh at him, and cheer for his loss, because he’s weak and the bully is strong. They tell him that none of his friends will stand up for him, and that none of those watching will either. They’re all afraid of the bully and his posse, and none of them want to catch their attention and incur their wrath.
Now, change just a couple elements in this scenario. Replace physical violence with public humiliation, replace the schoolyard with society at large, and replace the bully with the social justice warrior. This is political correctness in America today.
Writer Theodore Dalrymple observed:
In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is…in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
Is the real goal of political correctness merely to ensure that society is safe, comfortable and accessible for its oppressed and disadvantaged members, or is it to simply beat everyone else into submission so that those purportedly oppressed and disadvantaged are placed in positions of power, authority and dominion over others? It’s certainly arguable that the origins of political correctness were noble in intent, but it’s also figuratively true that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Even otherwise pure-minded people have been known to succumb to ends-justify-the-means tactics when their first efforts are met with resistance or thwarted outright, and in the case of political correctness, it’s easy to see that suggestion has evolved into coercion. The preferred tool for that coercion is shame, and the desired outcome is not a change in belief, but merely a change in behavior. The social justice warriors don’t care about changing how you think, they are content instead with you acting as they wish even if you think otherwise. They’re looking to get you to lie to the world, and they’ll shame you into doing so.
Shame is a hard-wired human trait, likely emerging from the social and tribal tendencies that that kept our successful progenitors alive long enough to reproduce. Fear of public speaking, something most of us have had to deal with at some point in our lives and that typically requires work to overcome, is one manifestation. Fear of embarrassment in our interactions with potential mating partners is another. Even the most rational people can have physiological reactions to embarrassment and potentially embarrassing situations – think blushing, cold sweats, stammering, the desire to crawl under a rock and die, and so forth. Comedian John Cleese once observed:
The aim of any good English gentleman is to get safely to his grave without ever having been embarrassed.
This is what makes shame such a powerful weapon for social justice warriors. Just as the bully does, they protect themselves from having shame used against them by congregating with like-minded individuals and by working to establish their way as the social norm. Thus, the infliction of shame carries far beyond the congregated group of social justice warriors to society at large. The silent majority is lulled or cowed into submitting to political correctness and made complicit in its enforcement, and that enforcement goes way beyond merely being on the outs with the “cool kids.”
PC shaming is used to coerce corporations into altering behavior. It is used to cost people their jobs and ruin their careers. It is used to extract apologies and remedial actions from public figures. It is used to break up marriages, turn people out from social groups, and extract compliance and acquiescence from those who fear guilt-by-association. Even those who have the self-confidence, mental fortitude or other qualities necessary to withstand or be immune to attempts at shaming are vulnerable to the collateral effects from the third-party shame that enables the infliction of all this harm.
On TV and in the movies, the scrawny kid often finds a way to achieve victory over the bully in the end. That way usually involves two things: turning the tables, and the help of friends. So, just as the social justice folks gather into groups to insulate themselves, we need to stand with those they attempt to shame. We must eschew the “there but for the grace of God go I” sighs of relief when shamers focus their attention elsewhere. Yes, it involves risk, and of course we have to consider our self-interests, but PC didn’t turn into a world-eating hydra overnight. Just as Hercules didn’t lop off all the hydra’s head’s at one time, we won’t beat back political correctness with one mighty blow. So, when we see injustice applied in the name of social justice, we should do something to stand with the unfairly shamed. And, whenever we see the opportunity to shame a shamer, we absolutely should play the same shame game.
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