Politically Correct Ideology - The Weapon of Choice - Specific Term of the Day - Affirmative Action.

The Politically Correct movement in this nation began under the guise of eliminating derogatory terms that were designed only to insult and spread hatred. I agree that certain racially targeted words are wrong. They serve no purpose other than to hurt. Growing up I would have been punished severely had my parents heard me utter such and rightly so.

The elimination of such terms was merely the face shown to the public so that the movement would gain the support of the majority. It was a stroke of brilliance. It automatically drew in most people who value humanity, freedom, and equality for all. Such principles were the foundations of America. Further, it automatically drew in every group that had ever been subject to such derogatory terms such as groups now labeled as African Americans, Native Americans, Female Americans, Jewish Americans and so on. Slowly it encompassed more and more groups. Slowly, so as not to be noticed by the majority, it began to twist what is good in an effort to dupe the citizenry. It worked on many levels. It divided us and it did so much more.

Now, politically correct language and ideology is the driving force used to control. Anyone who questions it is automatically suspect. How can you question something that was made to do good without being bad yourself? Can you see the glaring contradiction? Questioning, and more importantly the right to do so, at one time guaranteed under the Constitution as the right to freedom of speech, is now actively discouraged. The politically correct discouragement of such is further made to look like a hero as it hides behind the principles of what is right and just.

"The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category." Adolf Hitler.

Can you not see where this is exactly what is happening in America now? Anyone who questions is automatically thrown into the same category, racist, bigot, unfeeling monster.

1.) Examine why what sounds good about politically correct ideology is only a mask covering what is really bad.
2.) Critically examine key points proving said legislation is not good for the people.
3.) Examine how politically correct ideals hide behind a mask of kindness to do damage.

Let us examine some more recent things done in the name of good, that sound good, but at their heart are as dark as midnight when one examines what they have wrought across America.

Affirmative Action

• In hiring
• In education

Dictionary.com defines Affirmative Action as, “the encouragement of increased representation of women and minority-group members, especially in employment.”

The people of Germany thought what Hitler had to say at one point in history, just prior to a massive world war and the attempted genocide of several groups of people, sounded good too. Sounding good and being good are not the same . They are vastly different.

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." Adolf Hitler.

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com

The quote above is indicative of exactly what is going on in America right now. Politically correct ideology teaches that it is to be used at all times in order to be sure no one is ever hurt or offended. That sure sounds heavenly. What is happening is that everyone gets hurt. It is leading us all into hell.

Affirmative Action did and still does, on the surface, sound good. It is not. What has happened is that it has not only allowed for the dumbing down of America, it keeps that massive engine racing ever on. It has spread from the hiring arena to all areas including education which is the most dangerous of all. Employment and education should be available to all persons. That does not mean that all persons are equally qualified to give the same job performance or that all persons are equally capable of excelling in academic arenas.

Common sense dictates that we should want to hire the person most qualified for the job. Many petrochemical plants in TX would hire me in a heart beat because I excelled in the area of academics and more to the point, because I am female. As such I would allow them one more bonus point under Affirmative Action hiring practices. Does that mean I am the best person for the job? NO! I don’t know squat about petrochemical refining, production, distribution or anything else about it.

Chances are high I would beat out a much better male candidate for the position. Does that make any sense? Does it further the cause of Women’s Rights? How, just by me gaining employment in a traditionally male dominated industry? Well, I’m here to tell you that if I were to take such a job it could endanger the lives of everyone living near whatever plant was dumb enough to hire me. Petrochemical plants are dangerous and require workers who know what they are doing or they go boom! If you don’t believe me, look at the explosions in Texas City, Texas.

The testing score minimum admission standard is not the same for everyone. It varies based on a multitude of demographics with race being only one of them. If the minimum testing score criteria for group A is 80% but it is 95% for group B, obviously more of group B is now excluded from acceptance. Education should be about preparing the young to tackle the hard problems facing our nation in an effort to solve them. Can we really say we are trying to solve them when we don’t put the best and brightest in the pool of those preparing to do so?

You might think that putting people who score lower on standardized test in those seats, when they are members of groups that have been victims of racially derogatory hiring and acceptance policies in the past, will now level the playing field. It won’t. It can’t. It will never be able to accomplish such an end. All it will do is ensure that the best and most qualified have to fight harder and now face the exact same kind of ignorant prejudice that the policy was supposedly designed to extinguish.

To be fair another major criteria looked at by admissions boards is extra curricular activity and service to the community. Well, this sounds great. To an extent it is. The problem lies in that what motivated said service is not taken into account. A student might volunteer for such a worthy cause as Meals on Wheels. If said student did so out of the goodness of their heart, out of a desire to help those in need, I would be the first to commend them and say, “You Go!“ The admissions board is not privy to the information pointing to who was court ordered to do such acts of service as part of a sentence for committing a crime. Believe it or not, many a gang banger gets in just this way. I would hope the opportunity for an education would reform said individual over time. It does for some. Many others take the lessons learned in such areas as marketing and business back to the gang upon graduation. We are teaching criminals how to be better criminals in classrooms just as they have learned to do so in the prison system for decades. Does this make sense?

Now, I’m all for a free and appropriate public education for all people. You readers who work in education know that term from IDEA which federally mandates it. Let us examine what this one phrase has brought about in American education. It has brought about an almost mandatory acceptance, out of fear of a lawsuit otherwise, to students who will not contribute to the higher education classroom as a whole, who disrupt the learning environment routinely, and further, are often dangerous to themselves and others. Is this to say all special needs students are such? No, of course it is not. Many special needs students go on to learn and become valuable contributing members to society. Just as many do not and will not because they can not. Yet, we spend more money on their education than on that of their regular education gifted peers. Does that make sense?

In a college classroom an autistic student was admitted. Said student hid under the teacher’s desk every day of class talking to themselves, echoing the same sentence over and over, while banging their head. On a few days the student actually masturbated under the teacher’s desk. Did said student pass all required examinations? Yes, said student did because they were “modified”, in other words, made so easy there was no way said student could not. Now, in all fairness to the educational institutions, modifications are to help students learn. In reality they often become accommodations that water down curriculum and are just never deemed as such out of fear of offending parents. Believe it or not, said students can be found on most campuses. Do you really think being admitted and allowed to behave as such because it was related to the disability helped this student and/or his/her classmates to learn the material?

^{The above mentioned hypothetical is actually a compilation of many, many incidents related to me at various conferences over the last ten years and my own observations. It represents no one specific student, but rather is representative of what goes on daily, that no professional in the field wants to talk about publicly, mostly because they want to keep their jobs.}

There is a very fine line when deciding what is “appropriate” under IDEA policy. The problem facing all public education institutions across our nation is one of money and the fear of lawsuits. I have yet to know of any district that will not cave in to the wishes of a sue happy parent if they push hard enough because the district can go bankrupt in attorney fees even if they know they will win. Part of IDEA states that no special needs student can receive discipline for any act that can be related to the qualifying disability. That one component is destroying education. A good attorney can tie any act to a disability and I do mean any. Further, there are too many doctors willing to assign a disability label to a child just so they can keep the parents coming back. It’s become a business on both the medical and the educational ends. Districts make more money on special needs students. Further, they can use said labels to help manipulate testing data and how the district ranks. Again, education is every bit as much about business as it is about teaching, arguably much more so in our modern society.

First, we see a desire to be kind. Who would not agree it is kind to allow some poor special needs individual access to a classroom? Kind people want to help those less fortunate than themselves. Affirmative Action laws and policies play on that desire. It can easily be argued that IDEA falls under the heading of Affirmative Action though it sprang from the American’s with Disabilities Act of the 1970’s. Secondly, we see that the desire of most to be kind allows for practices that ultimately are not kind when allowed to be twisted by politically correct ideology. These practices and laws are dangerous. They take a seat away from someone who might be able to help solve the mountain of problems facing the nation and give it to someone who sadly will not do so. Sadder still, it allows for a not small number of truly dangerous students to walk the halls daily. Think of it this way. Do you like the idea of a sexually aggressive 22 year old male sitting next to your 14 year old daughter daily? Think about it!

No. It’s a very harsh statement but it is also a true statement. Thirdly, at least in the area of education, we see it bankrupting districts which further hinders the goal of educating all children. No one wants to talk about it, especially educators afraid of being seen as not sensitive and losing their jobs as a result, but many a special needs student has a one on one staff to help “manage” their behavior. This cost thousands per student who requires it. For every such position created it cost money which translates into fewer teachers, fewer or no new books, fewer computers, fewer repairs and so forth. Just three of these type students in one school requiring such one on one behavior management cost one teacher salary per school year. The students that would have been in that teacher’s class are now split up into the remaining classrooms which translates into ever increasing class sizes. How many of you really think a geometry class with 35 students at one time is manageable when they are in the 14 to 15 year old range? Does this make any sense to you if the goal is really about educating?

Let us briefly examine a newly proposed program that falls under the heading of Affirmative Action both in hiring and in education, the summer jobs for teens program proposed by President Obama.

What about the teen summer jobs program? In what twisted brain does anyone think it is more important to give teens jobs over the massive numbers of unemployed parents? Let us examine this some.
The teens will have jobs over the summer. That is a great thing. Isn't it? Will the jobs be long term employment? No. Will they give the teens valuable work experience? Possibly. So would any other summer job. They could, dare I say it, volunteer to gain work experience. Does their parent's need of long term employment seem just a bit more productive for the state of our nation? If their parents were working, could not more teens go to bed with full bellies? If the adults were employed, could not more teens go to bed without the ever rising stress seen exhibited in so many of them? Do you really think those teen jobs will be providing groceries for the long term?

This program is just yet another politically correct spin. It takes the real growing problem of unemployment and makes a farce of addressing it. That’s what Politically Correct ideology does. It makes a farce of a real, just and true need. It hides behind what is right while twisting it in such a way as to pollute it and turn it into a damaging thing. Truth is truth. When one squeezes it into a predefined box of politically correctness, it becomes a lie!

^{Disclaimer: This article is my opinion only.}

How long will they corrupt we, the people's will?

The next chapter soon flows from the poet's quill.