On "Political Correctness"

How to have that "don't be a dick" dialog, w/o the teflon-response of "bah, political correctness—it was funny!" or "it's honest, quit avoiding the truth with political correctness". A very real problem I'd love to see tackled. A problem I predict seeing spin-up as a response to criticism of this morning's Fox & Friends conversation, depicted in the above photo.

Confronting real problems with frank dialog in the interest of devising solutions, and humor, both seem to be the most commonly cited reasons I've heard for defensive comebacks citing political correctness. Laziness in the pursuit of both problem solving and humor, I think it's fair to state, is the most obvious retort to those defenses. Beyond laziness though, how many jokes and solutions that cross boundaries defended as politically incorrect, have really been superior to alternatives pursued with higher standards of ethics? Arguably, none.

Confronting real problems with frank dialog in the interest of devising solutions, and humor, both seem to be the most commonly cited reasons I've heard for defensive comebacks citing political correctness. Laziness in the pursuit of both problem solving and humor, I think it's fair to state, is the most obvious retort to those defenses. Beyond laziness though, how many jokes and solutions that cross boundaries defended as politically incorrect, have really been superior to alternatives pursued with higher standards of ethics? Arguably, none.

The reflexive internment of Japanese Americans couldn't have prevented Pearl Harbor. On the extraordinarily marginal chance it could have prevented a second one: was that uncertain long-shot worth the lives it destroyed with certainty? Timothy McVeigh wasn't Muslim. Patterns of human thinking and behavior consistent between self-identified Muslim terrorists and Tim McVeigh are far harder to track, identify, and act against... but they're also far more successful in deterring angry humans that like to kill others in the name of a cause (aka Terrorism). 

Skinheads I was acquainted with in high school insisted that n**** jokes were funny. Examining them technically, I do think it's fair to say the jokes were composed as humor, and thus categorically were humor—but humor that was exclusive, utilized language rooted in hatred, made me cringe, and by all standards of human ethics, wrong. 

The difference between humor and funny as distinct adjectives in my mind, is that one can be used as an objective category, whereas the other is entirely subjective via reception. N**** jokes and misogyny quips are "humor", but do I find them to be at all "funny"? No. They're composed by their author as humor, in the same way that Billy Crystal composes his jokes that few would consider unethical—but Crystal's humor are jokes I'm quicker to yawn at, than laugh from. 

So, was it funny to suggest a woman who was knocked unconscious by her partner in an elevator, should have taken the stairs? By (what I hope to be) most people's standards of ethics, fuck no. Was that maligned quip composed in the author's mind as humor? Sadly, yes.

Intents versus results, and ROI in problem-solving. Where in my mind, the boundary lies between what is ethical, and what may "work", but no—don't say that, don't do that, try harder. Do better.