THESE days political correctness has grown by leaps and bounds; people who generally speak out tend to muzzle themselves in order not to offend some group or the other.
It means that often we have to stomach stupid statements without responding, to point out that the speaker/writer is clearly delusional. Or putting forward a silly point of view that has no merit.
Some time back, a TV presenter from Sky News, Tracy Spicer, gave a TED talk in which she blamed men for the fact that she had to doll up for her job. The TED talks have an aura about them; you only have to give one to be considered an intellectual.
Some years ago, Spicer was sacked from a job at Channel Ten, something she blamed on her advancing age. In the course of her talk, Spicer took off all her make-up, and disrobed to her underclothes. It was all calculated to hold the attention of people.
In the course of watching this guff, the audience forgot that she was talking nonsense. They forgot to tell her one simple truth: if she felt so hemmed in by the fact that she had to doll up every day for work, why didn’t she quit her job and join some other profession?
Surely, she is not being held hostage to work for a TV channel? When a woman makes stupid claims like this, political correctness comes into the picture; anyone who contradicts such stupidity will be derided as a misogynist.
This is again silly, since misogyny is the hatred of all women. Not the logical debunking of a stupid argument which is not contradicted only because it originates from a woman.
But that is the state society has descended to; we are hemmed in by people who tell you what you can and cannot say to various interest groups.
There are various requirements expected of people in different professions; to give the simplest example, one cannot go to work unless one is properly attired. And one cannot walk down the street buck naked; public obscenity is a crime. No matter that one subscribes to the idea that clothes are a waste of time.
There are organisations which have dress codes for women, specifically stating that business attire is to be worn at all times. And there are some companies which do not allow their employees to dress down, not even on Fridays.
But then one has to submit to these rules and regulations only when one works for these organisations. One can leave their employ and do exactly what one wishes to, within the rules of the land.
Making it seem as though others are responsible for one’s own predicament is playing the blame game. It’s easy to do that when one belongs to certain groups in society. People from these groups take advantage of political correctness and indeed build a career around it.
It’s high time someone called them for the frauds they are.