In Politically Correct America, Everybody Wins – But No One Knows How to Compete

The refusal of the departments of the Army and Defense to call the killing of 12 Fort Hood soldiers – a civilian employee – and the wounding of at least 30 others an act of terrorism is the latest example of political correctness gone amuck. No judging! The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., refused to label the actions of devout Muslim Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan an act of Islamic terrorism despite mounds of evidence to the contrary. In recent congressional hearings, Defense Secretary Dr. Robert M. Gates said, “I’m not going there,” when asked if he thought Hasan had committed an act of terrorism. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano refuses to even utter the word terrorism, and prefers “man-made disaster” instead. Yet she embraces a report that identifies returning combat veterans, right-wing Christians and gun owners as potential domestic terrorists. While on Larry King Live the day of the Fort Hood massacre, sensitive celebrities like Dr. Phil McGuire surmised that there wasn’t enough information available to conclude if Hasan is a terrorist, or if he had just snapped. President Obama cautioned people not to jump to conclusions about Hasan until all the facts were in. But he was quick to call Cambridge, Massachusetts police sergeant James Crowley “stupid” when he arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. when he refused to obey orders to identify himself and then carried on like a spoiled child when he didn’t get his way. But, of course, Sgt. Crowley is an American white, Christian male – the least politically correct species on the planet by today’s PC standards. Christmas is next for attacks by the politically correct crowd. As in recent years, leftists have sought court injunctions against displaying nativity scenes, Christian religious symbols or even the singing of Christmas carols on city property. Retail stores have taken the hint, and “Merry Christmas” has been replaced by the more politically correct greeting of “Happy Holidays.” Not to be outdone, a school district recently banned Christmas items at a Christmas fundraising event. Mount Pleasant, Michigan changed the name of its annual “Dickens Christmas Festival” to the “Dickens Holiday Festival,” for fear of offending a single non-Christian. Since when did America become so sensitive to the feelings of others that it is willing to destroy its own culture for the sake of achieving a “diverse” or even neutral culture? My school teacher niece said she attended a continuing education class on bilingual education – not to learn Spanish or another language, but to learn how to be sensitive to the feelings of students who did not speak English. I suggested instead they send the school kids to a class on how to assimilate to American culture. But, of course, that would be politically incorrect. Little kids sporting events like soccer and baseball games are adversely affected by officials who refuse to keep score. How can you have a sporting competition without keeping score? But, alas, they want everyone to come home a winner! Just show up and you get a trophy. To the political left, the thought of actually losing a game must be so traumatic that they think it might drive the little tikes to acts of “man-made disasters.” These PC do-gooders seem to forget that all of life is a competition. Losers evaluate their shortcomings and strive to improve. Winners learned early what was necessary to achieve goals. Children raised by politically correct standards will turn bitter and disillusioned when they become adults and the real world smacks them in the face. America needs to wake up to the ills of political correctness and encourage personal responsibility instead of collectiveness, to promote leadership instead of crowd following, and give praise only when it is deserved. Let me be one of the first to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.