Daily Archives: August 23, 2022

In 1989,Michigan Universitybecame the first institution of higher learning to pass legislation prohibiting offensive language. Thepolicing of languageaims to influence the way a person speaks, especially if that person has considerable influence and their words have the capacity to insight discrimination or violence against marginalized groups. Most proponents of political correctness believe that the policing of language is a necessity thatsaves lives.

In a live online discussion via Zoom, Joel, a graduate student said, No one is being deprived of free speech. Freedom of speech is a statutory right. However, we should be held accountable for what we say. Peoples lives can be affected. Words harm.

In theory, his rationale is valid. In practice, it poses several concerns. Who decides what constitutes harmful speech? Is it hate speech if my views offend you? Is it truly a progressive and democratic society if expressing ones genuine feelings or thoughts is punishable? Who determines the punishment and the severity of such an offense?

To fully comprehend the potential danger of policing language, we must examine its role in history. In a public address made in December 1860, former slaveFrederick Douglasssaid, Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Douglass believed, according topolitical scientist John R. Vile, that his own path to freedom had begun with his own literacy, and he was convinced that the spread of literacy and the exercise of freedom of speech and assembly were essential to the success of abolitionism. In essence, Frederick Douglass believed that the policing of language imposes on the liberty of the speaker and hearer.

Political correctness and language policing have been weaponized to exploit minorities. It enables bigots to hide their ill-intent behind the use of politically correct language or action in performative ways in order to gainpositive publicityand a larger fan base among minorities, despite having bigoted personal views on members of those groups. Additionally, in the event of being exposed for their bigotry, they utilizepolitically correct apologiesto gain the publics forgiveness and remain in a position of power.

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Public apologies represent a particularly apt moment for the exercise of affinity and self-work, saidKaren A. Cerulo and Janet M. Ruanein a 2014 paper published by Montclair State University. For luminaries (celebrities), apologies may be highly instrumental, designed to restore ones image, re-establish ties to admirers, and thus ensure continued economic success.

Once granted public forgiveness, these individuals remain in positions of authority and thus continue to influence policies andpublic perceptionon issues affecting minority groups.

Furthermore, it is used as a tool to exploit the struggles of minorities for clout, profit and publicity. After the death of George Floyd in 2020, protests erupted in cities throughout the United States. Celebrities and influencers also joined the movement, to bring more awareness to the tragedy. Many were praised for their advocacy, while others were exposed for using the movement togain clout among African Americans. Celebrities,companiesand influencers have periodically engaged in social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, to increase their popularity which ultimately translates to more profit.

The excessive use of political correctness and language policing has amplified intolerance towards minority groups. In a2019 reportpublished by GLAAD the worlds largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization their research revealed a further decline in LGBTQ acceptance among younger Americans.

According to their data, in three personal situations, young people aged 18 to 34 confessed to being very or somewhat uncomfortable with members of the LGBTQ+ community. This included discovering that a family member is LGBTQ+ (36% uncomfortable in 2019 vs. 29% in 2018), discovering that their doctor is LGBTQ+ (34% vs. 27%) and discovering that their child had an LGBTQ+ history lesson in school (39% vs. 30%).

In an interview with RT News, Brandon Straka, a controversial LGBTQ+ activist, blames radicalized members of the LGBTQ+ community and the excessive policing of language which indiscriminately labels any opposing views as racist and hate group for the drastic decline.

Irrespective of our personal views, the use of political correctness must be reconsidered in light of the numerous concerns. There needs to be more open, constructive dialogue among members of various political ideologies, and consensus on how we define and implement political correctness without infringing on the rights of all parties involved.

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Is Political Correctness And Language Policing Weaponized To Exploit Minority Groups? - Yahoo News

Tony B., dude. Your Aug. 4 letter a magnificent repertoire of White liberalism.

Where can we the people buy the ganja youre toking when you write your junk?

The Chinese have a word for such White leftists positions that you espouse baizou (kind of looks and sounds like bozo doesnt it?) which, among other epithets, refers to a deficiency in knowledge with respect to real problems in the real world due to a sense of entitlement.

Additionally, baizou is used by some Chinese to describe those hypocritical humanitarians who advocate political correctness just to satisfy their own sense of moral superiority.

Superiority. American voters know well that leftist descriptor.

Other Chinese use the word to describe ignorant and arrogant westerners who pity the rest of the world and think they are saviors. I know of only one savior and it isnt the baizou class.

Thanks, Tony B., for helping we the people to better understand what baizous are really about, which certainly demonstrates a baizous lack of inclusiveness, equity and unity for all.

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Letter is an exercise in Western superiority | Letters to the Editor | thebrunswicknews.com - Brunswick News

Analysis

13:30

by Eric Kaufmann

Her boyfriend is out of shot, pretending to be woke. (photo by Gav Goulder/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Recently, the centrist pundit Matthew Yglesias tweeted the historic time series of Gallup surveys on political ideology among Americans aged 18 to 29 (shown below).

The graphs demonstrate a growing ideological gap between the sexes, with a rapid increase in the share of liberals among women but not men. As polarisation deepens, fewer young people are calling themselves centrist or dont know and picking an ideology, but only among women are they disproportionately moving Left.

Some who replied to Yglesias thought the change could be attributed to the growing share of women attending university (the share of women in the student body has risen from 42% to 60% since 1970).

But the growing female tilt among college students does not explain the change. Consider the data shown below from the massive Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) survey of incoming undergraduates, which samples some 100,000 students across 184 American colleges, weighted to be representative of all levels of higher education. If you compare the grey and blue bars, you see that women were less liberal than men in the Seventies, but since George W. Bush came to power in 2004, have been growing steadily more liberal than men.

By 2016, a record 42% of women identified as liberal, versus 28% for men.I lack access to the raw HERI data for subsequent years but the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) surveys of 55,000 undergraduates in the top 150 colleges in 2020 and 2021 show that 61% of women lean liberal compared to 44% of men, a whopping 17-point gender gap.

If not differences in rates of attending college, what underlies the astounding gender divergence in youth attitudes? Essentially, it appears to stem from a wokeness divide. In the FIRE survey, when you control for opposition to allowing controversial speakers (on BLM, abortion and trans rights) on campus, the statistical effect of gender on ideology collapses thirteenfold in statistical power.

The graph below shows 2020 YouGov Profiles data for a sample of around 25,000 British 18 to 30 year-olds, broken down by gender, for the following question: Thinking about political correctness, are you generally in favour of it (it protects against discrimination), or against it (it stifles freedom of speech). Each age has thousands of responses, and the data show differences of 30 to 40 points among those aged 18 to 23 while the gap is narrower for those aged 23 to 30.

For another UK survey of 945 individuals from Prolific I conducted this year, I found that 64% of women under 30 favoured political correctness on the above question compared to 48% of men under 30. This 16-point gap dwarfed the 4-point gender gap found in the over-50s. When I asked this on an American Qualtrics survey, the gender gap was 14 points for under-30s compared to a mere 1 point for the over-50s. The gender gap among the young stands out in both cases.

Its important not to blow the gender story out of proportion. Well over 90% of the variation in culture war attitudes, as with ideology, is within-gender rather than between genders. The gap may also close as people age and settle down. Nevertheless, gender is becoming a more important political cleavage among young people, and could emerge as more politically significant as Millennials and Gen-Z remake electorates in Britain and the United States.

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Why is the political gender gap growing? - UnHerd

Filmmaker John Waters, the proud Pope of Trash, is no stranger to weird questions. But at a recent audience Q&A when someone asked him, How did you avoid getting cancer? he was flummoxed. I thought, I did smoke, Im 76 I guess it is a fair question,' he says on a call from his home in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I was explaining all this, and the audience starts laughing harder and harder. And then I realized I heard them wrong. They said, How did you avoid getting canceled?'

For nearly 60 years, Waters has violated the boundaries of good taste with satirical films like Hairspray and Pink Flamingos (recently rereleased by the Criterion Collection in honor of its 50th anniversary), and incisive books that take a closer look at Americas grimy underbelly. Now, the mustachioed misfit is taking on the concept of truth itself with his first novel, Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance, about a compulsive liar named Marsha Sprinkle. I had a wonderful time thinking her up, he tells Rolling Stone. I think readers enjoy spending time with someone so monstrous every once in a while.

Liarmouths protagonist, Marsha Sprinkle, gets off on lying. What does your book say about the truth?She finds that lying makes her prettier and smarter and gives her power. She believes in random acts of meanness every day. If you lie to somebody creatively, it causes anarchy, and maybe that means shes the only person in control. I dont know what Freud would say about lying.

At one point, she tells a kid the Jonas Brothers died.I know, and I love the Jonas Brothers. Thats probably the meanest thing she does in the book, is to tell children that their idol, something terrible happened to them.

When I was a child, I remember hearing two rumors that everyone believed: that Annette Funicello [from] the Mousketeers had been beheaded in a car accident, and it was totally not true, and one about a girl that was on The Buddy Deane Show, which is the dance show I based Hairspray on. There was a girl named Pixie who I really liked. She was about four foot eight, and her hairdo was, like, three feet high. She quit the show, and a rumor started that she died from having roaches in her hair that came and bit her, and she had to come back on the air to prove it wasnt true. So I had Ricki Lake have roaches in her hair in Hairspray. So that whole lie turned into a kind of a conveyor belt of scenes that inspired me.

What did you hope to do with a novel that you couldnt do with film?It was nothing different; I just want to make people laugh at things they are surprised to laugh at. And in a novel I got to go deeper in describing characters feelings. Im always just trying to make myself laugh first, and then my friends, and then my readers. I think, Am I going to get away with this one?

Many of your characters are living their truths and dont care what anyone thinks, even if their behavior is repugnant. What do you make of people who arent afraid to be themselves?Im always fascinated by people that dont see how insane they act, and they really are serious about what theyre doing. Cant you see what you look like? So Im fascinated by peoples behavior; all writers are. Youre a spy if youre a writer.

How do you feel comedy and fiction get to the truth of human experience?If you want to convince someone else of the truth, you make them laugh and theyll listen. Preaching, being serious, ranting, telling them theyre stupid none of that works. You make them laugh, theyll listen.

What do you think of people who hate sex, like Marsha Sprinkle?I think its refreshing to hate sex. I mean, sometimes I think, Well, why do I have to do this? I didnt think this up. Im a little like Marsha, I resent instinct. I mean, I like having sex, but I wish I had thought it up. I wish it wasnt something programmed in me.

What should people who hate sex know?People that hate sex usually hate it for a reason. Theyve had some kind of trauma in their background, or they just dont get it. In a way, if you really hate sex, that might be freedom. Youre probably never going to fall in love, youre not going to get hurt. But you are definitely missing something. But I dont think theres anything other people should know that I know. Because like Glinda told Dorothy, You have to find it out for yourself. And I thought Glinda was kind of shitty. Why did she make Dorothy go through all that shit? If shed just, Click your heels together, you can go home, but she made her almost die and go through all shit. Why? In other words, maybe you are telling people what they should learn when you write any fiction or write a movie. Youre telling them something that maybe they dont know, that they take back in their own life and apply it for humor, to get through something.

Does Liarmouth have a moral?As you read the book, you learn she did have a reason to be so bitter. And then she learned to tell the truth when one insane man did worse to her than she did to other people; she found her match. And maybe thats what everybody needs, is to find their match.

You mentioned that Marsha practices random acts of meanness. What does your book say about the world?That Im a kind person and I think the humor in my book is not mean. Marsha learns and, sort of, it has a happy ending.

So what am I saying about the world? That human behavior is fascinating. Thats all Im ever saying. And that we really cant judge anybody because we dont know the whole story. And I think everybodys born innocent the exact opposite of what the Catholic church that taught me, that children were born with original sin, the most evil thing you could ever tell a child. Jews are right; they tell them, Youre the chosen people. Thats what you should tell people.

Is there any good to Catholicism?I always said that Catholics will have the best sex because itll always be dirty.

In your book Shock Value, you wrote that in your opinion, bad taste was the peak of entertainment. How has bad taste changed in the five decades between Pink Flamingos and Liarmouth?I wrote that in 1980. If my films have done anything, theyve made bad taste a little more respectable. The kind of humor I used in my early movies is on every television show. Dark humor is, today, American humor. It used to be called sick humor, satire, black comedy; its all now just American humor. Every TV show has it, every rap song has it, everything has it thats American. Its using things that are against you for humor.

When is the last time a story has shocked you?Im reading this book called Helltown now, about Tony Costa, the necrophile mass murderer in Provincetown. I remember when it happened, when I was here very, very young. And so now being in Provincetown and [learning about it] again, this is pretty shocking. His murders were really shocking and hideous. He cut up the bodies and had sex with them in different ways. I always thought necrophilia was just fear of performance. Maybe it is.

Youd never get a negative review.Nobodys going to say you were a lousy fuck.

Have you seen any good exploitation movies lately?I cant think of one. Whats an exploitation film anymore? Its amazing there isnt a Covid movie out. There would have been a Covid exploitation movie in two minutes in the Sixties.

You titled a chapter of Shock ValueWhy I Love Violence.Fake violence in a movie, I have a great time with, but I dont like to see real violence ever. If its a snuff movie, Im not interested, because theres no creativity in it.

Why do you think people get off on violence?Maybe because they think, Well, at least that didnt happen to me today. I had a bad day, but I didnt get shoved in front of a subway. Just like they asked the editor of the National Enquirer once, Why do you always write about stars failing? And he said, Because our readers are failing.

Going back to the getting canceled question that audience threw at you: Why dont you think youve been canceled?Because Im not mean spirited and I make fun of things I love, and I make fun of the rules of the outsider world that Ive always lived in, not the rules of my parents.

This year is the 50th anniversary of Pink Flamingos. As far as potential fodder for cancellation goes, the one thing that stands out the most would be the couple abducting and impregnating elementary school children and selling their babies to lesbians.Yeah, I guess. And the chicken scene [in which a chicken is crushed between two characters when one rapes another], but I eat chicken. You cant call somebody fat anymore. Theres a really rude scene where she gets a birthday card, Happy birthday, Fatso, and the audience howls in laughter. But, yes, [backlash] probably is even worse today because of so-called political correctness, but it has not happened to the movie. It got named by the government to the National Registry. What more kind of acceptance can you get? And I think its because its the right person wins in Pink Flamingos: Divine is the right person, according to her morals, and the other people are jealous and judgmental, everything that Im against. So the morals are still correct in Pink Flamingos, even if theyre told in a very confusing way.

Speaking of political correctness, did you see that Lizzo got in trouble for saying spaz in a song?Yeah, you cant say that word. Well, in [my film] Female Trouble, one of the funniest lines in the whole movie is when Divine says to her daughter, You are most definitely retarded. We had you tested by a team of doctors. People still howl at that.

What do you think of the way culture has changed with regard to political correctness?I used to fear the right. Now I dont. If Im going to get [any blowback], it would be from rich, left, liberal students. Which, Im a liberal, and I guess Im rich I mean, if you had to say it, Im not poor. The only thing that the new politically correct generation does is they never make fun of themselves, and thats a flaw. And thats how you lose followers, thats how people go and vote for the other side.

That sounds like something you could explore more. Is there any chance youd make another film? Its been nearly 20 years since A Dirty Shame.Theres definitely chances. I have two possible things in the works and both my contracts say I cant talk about it. So lets just say, yes, it is a possibility.

Thats good news. A few years ago, you were saying, I just write books now.Well, things change. Old chickens make good soup, Ive always said it.

Theres a scene in Pink Flamingos in which a character mails a turd to Divine.Little Richard used to mail people a turd. When I read his biography, it was in there. So Pink Flamingos was not the first instance of that. And I thought I made that up.

You recently hosted a Pink Flamingos screening. What is it like watching that again, 50 years later, with people who havent seen it before?Its scary at first, because we said in the beginning, How many people have seen this? and only about a fourth of the audience raised their hand. Its usually 100 [percent] they all have. And usually, it starts out and they say, Mink Stole, everybody cheers but they were kind of quiet. Theyre like, Oh, my God, what is this? And by the end, theyre laughing and cheering.

Thats nice to see, Im sure.It is. It just proves I won.

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John Waters on the Truth About Lying and How Hes Avoided Cancel Culture - Rolling Stone

In the series premiere of Desus & Mero, the co-hosts, Daniel Desus Nice Baker and Joel The Kid Mero Martinez, enter a New York City classroom ready to be clowned. Late night for the people! Desus announces to a room of unimpressed elementary schoolers. The children immediately fire off both questions and roasts: Do you have kids? What did you do before TV? Arent you the guys who got dragged by DJ Envy on The Breakfast Club? The skit ends with one girl saying, You guys seem a little too ghetto to be on TV.

The (scripted, Im sure) comment noted the obvious: Neither Desus nor Mero looked, sounded, or behaved like other mainstream late-night hosts, many of whom are wealthy white men in suits. Desus and Meroof Jamaican and Dominican descent, respectivelyhad heavy New York accents, wore casual attire, and cursed openly and often. But more important, they openly embraced their connection to a version of the city that the elementary-school classroom represented: a New York populated primarily by working-class families and immigrants, where more than two-thirds of inhabitants are people of color, mostly Black or Latino.

When Desus and Meros show debuted on Showtime in 2019, the Bronx-bred duo seemed primed to launch a new era of late-night TV. By the Season 2 premiere a year later, David Letterman was calling them the future of the industry. The show continued a strong run, featuring guests as varied as Eddie Murphy, Sandra Bullock, and Chris Smalls, who organized the Amazon labor union on Staten Island. But then, last month, Showtime announced that the series wouldnt return for a fifth season. The hosts were ending their creative partnership, including, to the heartbreak of thousands of viewers and listeners, their popular, long-running podcast, Bodega Boys.

The reason for the shows cancellation is unclear. In a recent interview, Mero said that he and Desus had been discussing the split for more than a year. Yet in Junes Season 4 finale, Mero said that the show would only be taking a summer break, and shortly before Showtimes announcement, fans were speculating about tension between the duo. Whatever the exact cause, the end of Desus & Mero is a loss not only for their fan basenicknamed the Bodega Hivebut also for the broader television landscape. The show spoke to New Yorkers who grew up or live in the hood, provided a space for Black celebrities to show up as their full selves, and created a space where Black men in particular could tune in to conversations that sounded like ones they might have with friends.

Read: 20 perfect TV shows for short attention spans

The Desus & Mero set, a departure from typical late-night studios, captured the shows ethos. The co-hosts sat side-by-side on a low stage, with no desk separating them from the audience or their guests. The interviews were held first at a table crowded with graffiti (drawn by Mero) and most recently on a set modeled after a bodega, stocked with candy, beer, Jesus candles, toilet paper, and a sneaker display. Most of the props bore either the Desus & Mero logo or one of their catchphrases. (The brand was, as they always said, strong.) The flags of both of their islands were ever present, as were liquor bottles made to mimic Brugal, a Dominican rum. Desus and Mero wore Timbs, puffer jackets, and fitted capsa uniform familiar to Bronx natives and many of the citys Black and Latino residents. Mero in particular often repped Dominican paraphernalia, whether an guilas sweatshirt (for one of the countrys baseball teams) or attire from local Latino-owned brands.

The duos path to fame didnt resemble the one taken by many other late-night hosts: Go to a prestigious improv school, get hired at Saturday Night Live, and then wait your turn for a solo break. Desus had been a strip-club manager, a mechanic, and a bartender before working in media; Mero held jobs in IT and as a special-education paraprofessional. Their backgrounds featured prominently on the show and allowed them to wade into comedic territory that other late-night hosts wouldnt or simply couldnt touch.

Take, for instance, Desuss mocking defense of the basketball player Tristan Thompson, which referenced the stereotype that Caribbean men cheat on their partners. You know about us Jamaicans. Were loyal, he said in one episode. And then, after a pause: to all our families. They made frequent mention of Dominicans bringing spaghetti to the beach (if you know, you know) and of the regular fights that break out in City Island restaurants. Sometimes, the co-hosts bantered about drug addiction in Black neighborhoods, stop-and-frisk, and their parents threats to send them back to the islands when they disobeyed them. Though ostensibly dark, these moments reflected the humor that people who face these daily indignities use to cope. The cultural specificity kept them close to their New York City roots and their goal of creating a late-night show for the people.

Late-night shows also depend on celebrity access and memorable conversations, and Desus & Mero gave Black stars a space in late night where they didnt have to code switch. In a Season 1 interview with the Black Panther actors Winston Duke and Lupita Nyongo, the hosts pulled up a picture of Duke wearing leather slidesthe official footwear of every African or West Indian father, Desus observed. Duke had been called out by his Instagram followers for wearing the open-toed sandals while doing construction work around the house. And then you see all the Caribbeans coming on like, Whats the problem? Duke recalled. Thats regular footwear. They talked about immigrant parents expectations, and Duke mimicked his family members accents. In the Season 4 premiere, the hosts spoke with Denzel Washington (who was promoting The Tragedy of Macbeth) about having an overprotective mom and growing up in Mount Vernon, close to the Bronx. Mero dubbed the actor Hollyhood. (In contrast, Washington spent most of his appearance on another show quoting Shakespeare with the white host.) Desus and Mero also featured people who may not otherwise have been welcome in late night, including bodega owners; strippers; the rapper Bobby Shmurda, who was in prison for more than six years; and local internet celebrities such as the Long Islanders Bigtime Tommie and DJ Vinny Dice.

The pair didnt have much regard for respectability politics or political correctness. The N-word was used regularly, as was the term crackheads to refer to people addicted to drugs. Desus and Meros refusal to self-censor was part of their appeal and a reflection of conversations you might hear on East Fordham Road in the Bronx or on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. Still, they could be quick to correct themselves if they said something uncouth. During a bit on a Pride Month tweet by the CIA, in which the agency posted a supportive message of its gay service members along with a photo of a combat helmet with rainbow-colored ammo, Desus made fun of the gay bullets. But he immediately stopped himself: Why are we calling them gay bullets? These moments showed the co-hosts openness to growth and respect for shifting public sentiment about social issues.

As the seasons went on, the pairs stature grew. They became friends with celebrities, and their newfound fame appeared to fuel their disagreements over what was or wasnt appropriate to say on air. Desus in particular seemed more concerned with maintaining professional relationships. (In a segment on Mariah Careys 2021 holiday campaign with McDonalds, Desus cringed at Meros suggestion that the singer was wearing shapewear. When we eventually interview her, shes going to ask about that comment, he said.) Although both maintained their irreverent, raunchy, off-the cuff humor, Mero seemed to stay away from the glossy world opening up to them as a result of the showin large part because he was a family man with four childrenand Desus would often side-eye or distance himself from Meros potentially offensive comments. Hollywood Desus became a running joke between them and the Bodega Hive, although these jokes seemed less lighthearted by Season 4. At times, this tension made the show less fun to watch.

But no matter the growing pains, that Desus and Mero made it to television at all was a seismic achievement. Since the series premiered in 2019, other shows filling a similar void have cropped up. In HBOs Pause With Sam Jay, for instance, the comedian Sam Jay gathers friendsincluding formerly incarcerated people, government workers, and fellow entertainersfor broad-ranging conversations about issues such as capitalism, conspiracy theories, and LGBTQ education in schools. But no series offers the authenticity and local New York City perspective of Desus & Mero. The shows loss means one less space for people who grew up in the hood to feel seen and welcome and, most important, not judgedas Desus always said, Gods working on all of us.

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'Desus & Mero' Brought the Block to Late-Night TV - The Atlantic