thanks to Vonessa for posting this. Cho succinctly puts into eloquent words why Political Correctness, and the subsequent focus on race, with all it's great intentions is faulty. I found myself guiltily in the same racial train of thought. As Cho writes, we should focus not on the race of the shooter, but on the tragedy itself. This focus takes away from the inherent sorrow we should feel for such an event.
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I don't understand how this post does what you say it does with regards to political correctness. And I'm not sure what you're getting at with the "racial focus" -- because it's been white-owned media focusing on the fact that the guy was South Korean. The Asian American communities, the Korean American communities, are just responding to that; but they didn't come up with it. I'm sure if they were running the news they wouldn't have even mentioned that he was "one of us."
I do agree that it's ridiculous to focus on what colour the shooter was when there is so much tragedy involved. I'm just confused as to what you think that post is accomplishing, other than making that same assertion.
I was in a hurry to post, so i couldn't get into much detail. It is true, she does not address PCness (in fact, upon reading it again, i realize it was all my thinking that i was referring to.) But my argument (that I failed to materialize) is that it's the air of political correctness and its subsequent manifestations that cause such a media reaction.
Being actively PC requires not that we don't think about race, but that we dwell on race and act accordingly. Asking people to be PC makes them consider stereotypes more, though they do not voice them.
What I argue is that our PC society is more "tolerant" on the outside, but on the inside, stereotypes brew more than if we had just not been PC in the first place. Like a pressure cooker does a good job holding in steam in the beginning, eventually it has potential to explode.
What I argue is that our PC society is more "tolerant" on the outside, but on the inside, stereotypes brew more than if we had just not been PC in the first place. Like a pressure cooker does a good job holding in steam in the beginning, eventually it has potential to explode.
I think you may have something to that. After all, just because a guy doesn't say "slut" doesn't mean he isn't thinking it, and ultimately it's the thought and not the word that begets the action.
I'll still promote the language of political correctness as a one of respect, of course :) I don't think that simply reverting to open bigotry is the way to go; sure, it makes bigots easier to spot and avoid, but it also carries an implicit permissibility. For people to stand up and say, "Hey, that kind of speech isn't acceptable" is a huge deal -- so even though such speech goes underground (where yes, it's harder to root out and get rid of), at least it becomes implicitly impermissible. Changing the discourse is one small step to achieving true equality.
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