2021-05-18

Politically Correct

An old Chinese curse says: “May you live in interesting times!”

We live in interesting times, indeed.

One of the biggest accomplishments of Western Enlightenment is the ability for civilization and societies to progress driven by the fundamental concept of the dialectic. Also known as the dialectical method, the dialectic forms the base for the discourse between people holding different points of view but wishing to establish the truth through reasoned methods of argumentation.

Enter the Shit Storm!

The Shit Storm, or the digital tarring & feathering, the social media lynch-justice of self-appointed moral juries is eroding the foundation of the dialectic in the Internet Age. The fear of Shit Storms is pulling the rug out from underneath the scientific method and it paves the way for the return of a Spanish Inquisition, Release 2.0, where an accusation alone is enough for summary judgement and execution.

The approach to avoid shit storms through Political Correctness is corrupt. By avoiding an open discussion, or of criticism of any kind, hard problems get swept under the rug at a massive scale. Thugs get to trump thought. Brawn beats Brain. Free Speech gets dissolved into Meek Speech. Cancel Culture threatens to cancel the culture of dialog and debate fundamental to democracy. Dissenters, or people that are unwilling to swim with the stream are forced into having discussions in private or in sheltered “Speak Easy” events, to avoid online mobbing by the Moral Inquisition of the Woke Fashionistas. This is increasingly leading to an oppressive atmosphere that is more an more reminiscent of living under a totalitarian regime.

This is a very worrisome trend I cannot subscribe to. Being politically correct requires you - by definition -  to play a game of politics. And politics, as always, is about influence and manipulation, and about winning. Politics is not about the truth. Politics is about Power.

The truth, should never be political. Neither should Scientific Inquiry. The Dialectic must be defended.

And I, for one, am unwilling to sacrifice the Quest for Truth at the Altar of the Political Correctness Cult.