Perspectives: America, the politically correct

OPINION – I am becoming so politically correct that soon I won’t even be speaking words anymore; I will just utter sounds. And I am sure there will come a day when even those are offensive to someone.

I try to treat others with kindness and have been taught the difference between right and wrong.  From my parents’ example, the Bible and a great set of values, I learned everyone has value. I was taught to respect everyone and peaceably stand for what is right.

But I am tired of being nice and remaining silent when I am told to be “tolerant” of those that believe abortion is just a choice and gay marriage will make everyone feel included. I have to bite my tongue when people say God does not belong in our schools, or minority racial groups are the only ones who face discrimination because the white majority has it made.  What if beliefs like these go against the core of what I believe to be true? What is the politically correct thing to do?

The words “right” and “wrong” are no longer politically correct. Our sensitivity meters find use of those words too harsh.

If I express how I really feel, will Jesse Jackson follow me around with a camera crew or will Gloria Allred descend on my doorstep and call me a hatemonger? Will Spike Lee tweet my address?

Jill Wallace, a Mormon, sent in a commentary to the Salt Lake Tribune in regards to a gay pride parade held in Salt Lake City, in which a group of Mormons marched in the parade to show their love for gay and lesbians.  She wrote to the Tribune that the act of homosexuality was immoral based on her values and that she would not march for immorality, even though she too is a Mormon.

The firestorm of over 1,200 comments sparked major controversy and outrage at her “shocking statements” of what was perceived as bigotry and spite.  The insults towards Wallace were so egregious and condemning that even the Westboro Baptist Church protesters would have shrieked in horror – all because Wallace said it was immoral. She had every right to say it. She is entitled to her opinion.

As a Mormon, I have faced bigotry and hateful comments but I am not begging anyone for validation. I simply do not care if someone says I am wrong. I am not offended. I assure you I will not unravel. You can still respect me without condoning or tolerating what I believe in.

America is a melting pot. We were not bound by ancestry or culture when immigrants came from all over the world. We were united by our quest for liberty.  At the turn of the 20th century most immigrants did not even speak enough English to communicate with each other but they did pretty well. They did not have German pride parades or rallies for Russian equality and they lived rather peaceably. The government did not have to use force to mandate sensitivity toward each other.

Back then, we lived in an era of more discretion and privacy. People did not seek validation from the “I’m OK, you’re OK” club; they just lived their lives. They didn’t long for everyone’s acceptance.

When we fill out applications, we separate ourselves by race with the check of a box. Why can’t they just have American/Not American?  We are divided by race and then told not to be racist. We are told not to discriminate and then forced to implement Affirmative Action reverse discrimination coercing employers to hire a work force based on race and gender.

Recently, Southern Utah’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community celebrated an “Equality Utah” fundraising event in our area.  One of their messages was  “why do we have to label people?” Well, what is wrong with labels? Well, what is wrong with labels? I am labeled a mom, a wife, a heterosexual, a talk show host, a Mormon and a female. I have lived my life actually creating those labels to define who I am. If you cannot embrace one of my labels, that’s OK; there are five other labels to choose from so that we can find common ground.  If you are gay, well, that is one of your labels. Wear the label and live your life. But, it seems as though groups like this cry out for two opposing agendas; do not label us or treat us differently, but we want to be recognized as a distinct and legal class of people. It leaves me scratching my head.

If you have a purple mohawk perched on your head, earrings stapled to every orifice and eyeliner smeared six inches thick, aren’t you just begging for our attention? If you are too sensitive for feedback from confused children and glaring adults, then don’t go out in public like that.

A New York school district created a list of words that cannot be used on standardized tests because they may offend someone. If the mere mention of the words “dinosaur,” “dancing,” “poverty” and “Christmas” would hurt your child’s feelings, your parenting skills need some work. There are those among us who have created a class of the “professionally offended” and long for an excuse to be angry.

Whether we like it or not, this strong, amazing country was founded, for the most part, on those same Christian ideals that we are not allowed to speak of now or risk becoming a social pariah. Have we lost our voice of the majority to accommodate the few in the minority? Do the minorities demand tolerance for their views but show little tolerance for others? When are we going to stand up and be bold enough to say what is on our minds?

This is not a perfect country. The civil rights movement was necessary and good. If we all taught mutual respect for others in our homes, discrimination would not exist for the most part. But, the pendulum has swung too far the other way and we need to strike a balance. We are so busy tiptoeing around each other … we forget that we have heels.

Equal rights should prevail and voices can be heard when it is done peaceably. There is no room for hate-bashing and violence to force a point a view on someone. Do we have a dual set of convictions; our public beliefs to “fit in” socially and our private beliefs? I want the ability to stand up for my convictions in public and private, in peace, and still have mutual respect for each other. I want discussion and debate. “Political correctness” will not be tolerated.

 

Kate Dalley is a news commentator and co-host of the Perspectives morning show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM. The opinions stated in this article are hers and not representative of St. George News.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright 2012 St. George News.

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6 Comments

  • Jill Wallace June 20, 2012 at 8:02 pm

    Great Article! Well said and totally true!

  • Alejandro June 21, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    Wow the Elisabeth Hasselbeck of Southern Utah. Wouldn’t being a proud Christian mean that you stand on the side of inclusion, and treating others as you would like to be treated, and maybe helping to creating an environment where EVERYONE feels welcome and valued? I get that it feels like work sometimes, but its work worth doing.

  • Murat June 21, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Kate Dalley, in response to Ed Kociela’s article said:
    “Loved your article, Ed! Well said!”
    And in response to Kate Dalley’s article, “Jill Wallace” had this to say:
    “Great Article! Well said and totally true!”
    To me it appears that Kate Dalley gave herself a positive comment under a pseudonym. The two comments are very similar with liberal application of the exclamation point, similar structures and the recurring phrase, “well said!” It’s weird, but whatever.
    In my experience nobody can maintain a purely intellectual discussion devoid of condescending remarks and character attacks, and if there is someone like that out there they’re probably irrelevant to the discussion.

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic June 21, 2012 at 4:27 pm

      Oh Murat – I am impressed with your keen eye. I must disappoint you in this case, though. No pseudonym used in either of those comments. It is against STGnews Code of Ethics for our contributors to comment by pseudonym. They’d have to slip it by our Editorial Staff to do that – not saying we can’t be fooled – but we do watch for such antics. You keep on keeping us sharp though! I like it.
      Smiling, Joyce Kuzmanic, Editor-in-Chief

  • Dallas Hyland June 21, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    With any and all due respect:

    “But when we turn to subjects infinitely more complicated, to morals, religion, politics, social relations, and the business of life, three-fourths of the arguments for every disputed opinion consist in dispelling the appearances which favor some opinion different from it. The greatest orator, save one, of antiquity, has left it on record that he always studied his adversary’s case with as great, if not with still greater, intensity than even his own. What Cicero practised as the means of forensic success, requires to be imitated by all who study any subject in order to arrive at the truth. He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion. The rational position for him would be suspension of judgment, and unless he contents himself with that, he is either led by authority, or adopts, like the generality of the world, the side to which he feels most inclination. Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. This is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bring them into real contact with his own mind. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form; he must feel the whole force of the difficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of, else he will never really possess himself of the portion of truth which meets and removes that difficulty. Ninety-nine in a hundred of what are called educated men are in this condition, even of those who can argue fluently for their opinions. Their conclusion may be true, but it might be false for anything they know: they have never thrown themselves into the mental position of those who think differently from them, and considered what such persons may have to say; and consequently they do not, in any proper sense of the word, know the doctrine which they themselves profess. They do not know those parts of it which explain and justify the remainder; the considerations which show that a fact which seemingly conflicts with another is reconcilable with it, or that, of two apparently strong reasons, one and not the other ought to be preferred. All that part of the truth which turns the scale, and decides the judgment of a completely informed mind, they are strangers to; nor is it ever really known, but to those who have attended equally and impartially to both sides, and endeavored to see the reasons of both in the strongest light. So essential is this discipline to a real understanding of moral and human subjects, that if opponents of all important truths do not exist, it is indispensable to imagine them and supply them with the strongest arguments which the most skilful devil’s advocate can conjure up.”~John Stuart Mill

  • Chris June 22, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    “they lived rather peaceably”? Your knowledge of history is rather thin. In turn of the 20th century Chicago, a Pole would not dare walk through a German neighborhood for fear of being killed. Southern blacks were routinely lynched for trivial offenses. You need to wake up from your fairy tale version of American history.

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