Political Correctness

I had a nice day today. A friend from the office came over and we hung out, went for dinner, rented a movie etc. After the movie, we were chatting about Canada, the Conservatives, and then the overall direction that this country may or may not take. Somewhere along the way, we ended up on the topic of political correctness.

I hate political correctness. I think Canadians focus too much on being politically correct, and too little on really accepting one another. Political correctness translates into "say the things that make you look good, or won't get you in trouble, even though you may not really buy into them". It's about walking on eggshells so you can end up looking like a nice person, or so people don't think you're a racist, sexist or homophobe.

I personally find this whole charade rather tiring. I mean honestly- aren't we almost better off knowing what people really think? If you hate Indo-Paks or Muslims and think the world should do away with all of them, I'd rather know about it than waste my time socializing with you. At the end of the day, political correctness does more harm than good.

I grew up with every culture in the book. Toronto is a very diverse city, but still, I've learned from a young age what it feels like to be wrongly judged or mistreated. I'd like to think that I wouldn't do that to others, and if I do, it's certainly not intentional. But you know, I am guilty of occasionally stereotyping, to some degree, and that includes doing it to Indo-Paks, and yes, Muslims, and yes, other cultures too. I think we're all guilty of some generalities here and there, but pretending that we never do it is just plain stupid.

At the end of the day the generalities can be harmful, and I'll be the first to admit it, and not all of them are negative. I cannot tell you the number of times I heard my brother during his Computer Science program jokingly laugh and say- "Man- No matter how hard I try, I'm never going to be as geeko smart as the Chinese guys in my class. Those guys are geniuses". OK- So a positive comment, but still a sweeping generality. But in the grande scheme of things- who cares? Let's not waste our time on the little things and let's move on to more important matters.

The number of times I've been stopped dead in a sentence for no apparent reason but someone's personal mission to be the political correctness police is overwhelming. I remember one time where I was recounting a story about a friend of mine- I started off with "my friend from Jamaica" and was stopped dead in my tracks. I was asked if there was a reason that I mentioned where she was from. Not really. Not sure. Just mentioned it. Maybe it wasn't relevant to the story at all. Kind of like saying "my friend from Oakville"...I don't know why I said it. Her point was that I was noticing my friend's culture/race above anything else, like it was important or something. OK- This is completely stupid. Even if I am doing that, who cares? Did you not hear the part where I mentioned that the girl was my FRIEND???? So what, now I have issues with her because she's black, oops, African American, oops maybe I should call her Jamaican American or whatever. I mean- how stupid can we be?

I think we waste too much of our time trying to "look" right and spend too little of our time really focusing on the great diversity all of us bring to the table. I personally can't stand being corrected all the time, and don't see the point. I think we need to start looking at the intentions behind what's being said, rather than the words being used. I think if we had the opportunity to relax a bit more, we'd enjoy eachother's company, enjoy the diversity, and not feel so stressed out as a culture. Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying that we should all become rednecks or something, but I am saying that we need to cut the crap and just be more sincere. If you don't like someone or something- just don't act like you too. It's too confusing, and it doesn't help anyone.

Here's what else happens with political correctness. And this is the scary part. When I was in my undergrad years, I worked for a Bank as a teller. This Bank did a lot to support Aboriginal people, and made a point to give Native Canadians opportunity for employment. It got to a point where there were unofficial quotas placed on branches to have at least one either disabled person or Aboriginal person in each branch. We had an Aboriginal person working in our branch. She was a brilliant girl, but you know what happened? She was "shared" as a floating resource between 3 branches, and was never given a full time job in one particular Branch. Now did this help the spirit of the quota? Talk about exploitation. That's what I mean. These things never work, they just create stupidity and more resentment.

I love Canadians. I love Torontonians. I think if we took a cross section of people here in this city, we would find that most of us might 'slip' and say things that sound politically incorrect at times, but really, we don't mean them in that way. I think for the most part, Torontonians are pretty accepting of one another. There is a fair share of people who are not accepting, but I think that can be expected in any city. I think that forced political correctness just makes the whole deal that much more complicated for all of us. At the end of the day, you can silence people, but you can't change who they are, or how they really feel. And that's the bigger problem. All we've done is make it invisible to everyone which boss is a racist or sexist. So at the end of the day, you may work for what you think is an awesome person, but you'll never get ahead because well you're Chinese, or Japanese, or Hindu, or Muslim. I don't think this helps any of us. The neighbour who smiles and asks all sorts of questions about your culture, pretending that he's really interested in learning more may be going into their house and thinking- 'stupid Pakis- send them back home on their boats'.

I don't know about you, but personally- I'd rather know what these people are really thinking than not. And it's not about the words they use- it's about what they mean. Under the guise of political correctness...These days, it's just too hard to know. We are so quick to say- "Oh look- she referred to someone by their colour- that racist", that we have created a world where the real racists and sexists or whatever else get to hide undercover. Not the best environment- wouldn't you agree?