Leodora: The world of political correctness isn’t perfect – The Times Herald

I found myself mindlessly channel surfing the other night.

What else was there to do? The Phillies season hadnt started. Villanova made an early exit from the NCAA Tournament, decreasing my usually all-consuming interest in March Madness. And Ive seen every rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond at least a dozen times.

Suddenly I was stopped by a conversation about political correctness.

I have heard similar conversations before. Dennis Prager, the nationally syndicated deep-thinker of the radio waves, calls the hysteria generated by political correctness one of the most dangerous and destructive attitudes in America.

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Part of the discussion came from Nick Adams, the best-selling author who was born in Australia but was made an honorary Texan in 2013 by then-Governor Rick Perry. He is known as a champion of American exceptionalism.

His book Retaking America Crushing Political Correctness also identifies the PC movement as one of the most destructive forces in the country. In it he claims, Political correctness has ripped through America, turning life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness into lifelessness, suppression and the pursuit of mediocrity.

He was joined in the discussion by NYU professor Michael Rectenwald, who ventured deep into enemy territory when he launched an attack against political correctness at the radically liberal university. As a result, he faced a wave of discontent from other staff members for his incivility and claimed, They are literally pushing me out the door for having a different perspective.

In a major upset, after asserting his First Amendment rights, Rectenwald was reinstated and actually promoted from assistant professor status to full professor. Score a (very rare) victory for the politically incorrect. Despite a warning to faculty from Dean Fred Schwarzbach, reminding them to be respectful of opposing views, Rectenwald continues to be shunned, marginalized and even threatened.

This is the world in which we now live. The disciples of leftism, who spout a constant mantra of tolerance, are the least tolerant of all.

All of this gave rise to a lot of thought about the evolution of the political correctness movement which, according to Rectenwald, goes back to Maoism in Communist China. Here are some of the examples of changes in America, over time.

In 1981 Stanford University abandoned its long-standing nickname and mascot. The Stanford Indians were no more replaced by the Stanford Cardinal.

In other cases, it was just a matter of terminology.

The airline industry replaced stewardesses with flight attendants.

Midgets are now called little people.

Otherwise generally short people are said to be vertically challenged.

Janitors became custodians.

Orientals became Asians. By the way, is it still insensitive to refer to an oriental rug?

And what about the movement to remove keeping score from child sports? The goal is to keep the little snowflakes from being branded winners or losers.

Americas university campuses the national capital of leftism and radical thinking have taken the idea of political correctness to hysterical levels.

At many colleges it is now improper to refer to freshman. They are first-year students.

St. Louis University, a Jesuit college, was forced to remove a statue of a Catholic priest that had stood for more than 60 years on the campus. Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet was depicted praying over two Native Americans. Faculty and staff complained it represented white supremacy and demanded the racist statue be removed. The university caved.

After athletic teams at Susquehanna University were referred to as the Crusaders for more than 100 years, that nickname and mascot were dropped in 2015. The term was, supposedly, offensive to Muslims and Jews. The name is now the Susquehanna River Hawks. How long will it be before somebody worries about offending the birds?

And, each October, another storm builds on the college campuses over Halloween costumes. Yale University was at the center of the controversy. But the PC police also were surveilling other campuses. Dressing up as someone from another race was deemed particularly offensive.

Under those guidelines, say goodbye to all Trick or Treaters dressed as Zorro, geishas, belly dancers, samurais, Vikings, French maids, Pocohontas, Aladdin or even Spock (even if Vulcans do not have feelings). Throw out the grass skirt, the sombrero, the face veil and the Cossack hat.

In the world of politics, the war of words gets absolutely vicious.

Those who have not abandoned the terms global warming for climate change, illegal aliens for undocumented workers, and Islamic terrorists for radical extremists are in danger of a lifelong ban from any Kumbaya parties.

The important question that must be asked after these decades of intimidation by the political correctness movement: Are we better off?

Is America a better place to live now that we have changed all of these words, removed all of these offensive symbols? Or are we more divided?

We have created an army on the Left of perpetual victims. They stand ready to whine at the drop of a hat or a sombrero.

And the rest of America walks on eggshells.

The political correctness movement forces Americans to expend an inordinate amount of time, energy and money in order to do their bidding. And their bidding is the equivalent of picking fly poop out of pepper.

Tony Leodora is president of TL Golf Services, host of the weekly GolfTalk Live radio show on WNTP 990-AM and host of the Traveling Golfer television show as well as editor of GolfStyles magazine. He is former sports editor of The Times Herald. Send comments to tlgolfservices@aol.com.

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Leodora: The world of political correctness isn't perfect - The Times Herald