Political Correctness

Political Correctness seems to be a hot button topic these days. And I can only really speak from my own experiences. And I'm absolutely sure that there are clusters of civilization which deviate wildly from whatever is actually "normal". But, statistically, there is a good chance that my experiences are on or around the average. At least, within 1-2 standard deviations. And social pressures are strong, and thus a pretty darn good normalizer for the data.

So, from where I stand I a few different groups of people involved here;

• Those actually offended by some benign song/statue/slogan/whatever...
• Those reporting on, and thus propagating the story.
• Those listening and being offended by the offense.
• And those who don't give a fuck.

In my experience, this list is in decreasing order of how loud they are screaming, while at the same time in increasing order of actual numbers.

Which is to say, there is a remarkably small number of people actually offended who tend to be screaming really loud, who are then echoed to the massive by a slightly larger group screaming slightly less loudly but to a much larger crowd. All of this then gets heard by a decent sized group of people who bitch in staggering numbers at just above a yell and a multitude of people who quietly ask both parties to just shut up and move on.

You have no idea how many times I heard people bitching about "Baby it's cold outside" being taken out of the holiday rotation. I never once met someone ACTUALLY offended by it. But, they clearly screamed loud enough to get media attention, which screamed loud enough that damn near everyone I know talked about it.

The kicker to me is this; had they simply pulled the song out of the holiday rotation without any note... would anyone have really noticed?

Do we take political correctness too far? Personally, and this is all it is (a personal opinion), sure. I don't think that the song really "promotes" sexist behavior or sexual harassment. They are representative of the time in history in which they were written. A time in history which didn't see those things as sexual harassment. 

In fact, it only runs any such risk now because it has been vilified as such. But, fact is, now that the light has been shone upon the lyrics and people have stopped to pay attention and had the conclusions drawn for them. It is really unfair to say that a good number of women might now be offended by it? I think that is a perfectly fair argument as well.

"Ring around the Rosie" has some even darker potential meanings. The truth about political correctness is simple in my mind; it is contextual. Are you addressing a broad group of people or talking loud enough to intentionally be heard by others? Or are you simply talking to your friends? And how potentially offensive is what you're saying? Of course, if you KNOW someone will be offended and you're saying it on purpose... then whatever their reaction, you probably deserve it.

So, another thing, we won't even bother with intentional offense. If your goal is to offend rather than, say, amuse or small talk or whatever you really get no rights to complain about political correctness.

Back to "averages" and "standard deviations". There are things which it can rather safely be assumed will offend at least one person in a "gathering" of people. I don't want to bother defining a gathering, so let's start by saying, if the odds are greater than 1/10 and you're not in a "private" setting, you should avoid that thing.

And we'll loosely define a gathering (non-private group) as any group where the additive odds are greater than or equal to 50%.

Why 1/10? Well, it is big enough to guesstimate whether something is or isn't in this ballpark, while also providing some wiggle room. If I'm pushing the limits of edginess and I have a solid 1/10 offensive joke to make and I'm in a group of 5 other people... the additive odds are 50%. Unless I REALLY know each and every one of these people, there is a good chance it will offend one of them. And, I probably know it too. Hell, I feel certain it would offend one in ten. So again, why say/do/whatever it? Again, clearly, in these states the only real reason is something less than praise worthy.

Now. That being said. The lyrics to a decades old Christmas song? The odds it would have offended at the time it was penned; probably 0. Or as near it as matters. The odds it would offend today had no one pointed it out? Probably higher than 0, but a lot less than 1/10. Odds it would offend now? I don't know, I would stagger a guess at 1/20. And that is the point. Between the people drawing the comparisons and the people screaming in outrage... they gave the song an offensive power well beyond anything it naturally possessed. 

And now I depart to the realm of comedy. Comedy is an art form which often preys on mistakes and insecurities. As a result, it tends to do a lot of things deemed offensive. But, it generally does them to virtuous ends; in satire, helping to illustrate flaws, physical humour can help you accept your own mistakes, it can also serve as a cathartic activity where you let yourself go and laugh along with things you don't feel free to laugh at in daily life. That last one may sound petty and opens up a lot of avenues. But, I generally feel comedy needn't be politically correct. But, there are limits.

You don't do physical comedy by beating a random passerby over the head with a 2x4. You do it with props, or imitation or your self. Jonathan Swift didn't eat babies to make his point in "A Modest Proposal".

In short, comedy is meant to be performed in front of a semi-private audience, so on some levels it can afford to be a lot more tolerant than the 1/10 rule. At the very least, you know it is a group of people looking for comedy. And, the people involved in the show should be limited to those who choose to be a part.

When you go to Japan and be a total ass hat in front of the locals for jokes... that is not politically correct. Those people did not sign up to be a part of your "jokes". Your jokes were intentionally harassing. The people on the receiving end likely wouldn't have even got the humour had they not been involved and simply watched it later. Sure, it was done for laughs... but it was also done by knowingly being a prick. You can call it bullying. You can call it abuse. You can call it harassment. You can even call it funny. But, don't sit there and say that any punishment doled out is being too politically correct. 

Being politically correct isn't always so clear cut. But, here is the thing. I've been alive for over a third of a century. I'm a socially awkward introvert who seems to find himself in frequent social situations. I can probably count the number of times I've caused unintended offense to someone on one hand. And the solution in pretty  much every case was to simply say "sorry".

So, guess what? Feel free to play "Baby its cold outside". I won't judge you. It doesn't offend me. It probably won't offend your friends at your Christmas gatherings either. But, if one of them comes up and says "do you mind changing the song, I don't really like the lyrics", all you have to do is skip to the next track. 

If you go on the radio and request the song and dedicate it to "all of delicate snowflakes out there"... take it in stride when one of them kicks you in the balls. You're an ass. And you know you only requested it to get a response. You can't decide to complain when you get one.

And, I think THAT is exactly the mentality of the anti-Political Correctness brigade. They want to rub something in your face. If you don't kick them in the nuts they'll tell you that you're not really offended by it. But, if you do kick 'em in the nuts? They'll tell you that went too far.