Sunday, March 27, 2005

BIGOTRY -- THE POLITICALLY CORRECT WAY

By Doug Hagin

There has always been bigotry, and sadly there always will be bigotry. Call it the ugly side of human nature, or the worst angels of our race, but some of us will always be consumed with hatred and intolerance for those who are different. Bigotry is a mental disorder if you ask me, a form of delusion where one person can not accept that someone else looks, talks, dresses, or prays differently than they do. It is truly pathetic to watch or listen to a bigot spewing their rank stupidity and generally making a public nuisances of themselves.

Perhaps the most disturbing bigotry on display in today's world is coming form a rather odd place. It is very strange indeed to see and hear the bigotry spewed by the political correctors of the world. These people have long cloaked themselves in the garb of social justice and equality, yet it is they who have become the bigots and the haters of today's society. Their hatred comes not so much from gender or race, but from ideological differences. Anyone is very welcome to look different from the politically correct, but watch out if anyone dares think of having a different opinion.

Consider please some recent examples of how obsessed the politically correct are to eradicate anyone who thinks differently than they do. Make no mistake, the goal of this group of bigots is not to debate or disagree honorably. Instead their goal is to stamp out anyone who thinks it OK to have a diverse ideology.

At a mall in South Florida the upcoming Easter holiday is being erased by the politically bigoted. No store can mention the word Easter. Oh there is a bunny there to take pictures with the kids, and an egg hunt, but the word Easter is forbidden. So much for respecting diversity of religion. The only religion the politically correct want to hear is their beloved secular humanism.

In Norway, the Prime Minister is angry at IKEA, a furniture manufacturer, because their instruction manuals show only men assembling furniture. The manuals are sexist and discriminatory according to Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Ah but there is a kink in the armor of the politically correct here my friends. Seems IKEA has opted not to show women in their manuals lest they offend Muslims. Quite the quandary these mental midgets have isn't it? Whom shall they dare to offend?

In Arkansas managers of a charity-run senior citizens center have been forced to ban any of these folks from saying grace before meals. It seems some narrow-minded busy-body threatened to sue if the prayers were allowed to continue. Once more only secular humanism is acceptable to these bigots. So much for their claim of loving religious freedom.

In Texas advocates of breast feeding are asking the state legislature to forbid baby formula manufacturers from giving out free samples to new mothers. So I suppose they are now to be the sole voice in how parents should feed their babies? How self-consumed these people are, and they are only too happy to enact laws dictating how others should raise their children.

At Bowdoin College in Maine the politically correct bigots are in high gear. They are outraged that a Black Conservative was invited to speak recently. The speaker Vernon Robinson, is not really a Black guy according to the small minded critics. He is instead an Uncle Tom who has no right to speak on campus.

Now this might seem the most insidious case of mental dysfunction but wait there is another punch line. The critics of Robinson are also accusing the student Republicans who invited Robinson of displaying a lack of openness by asking him to speak. Well sure, they forgot to check with the Bowdoin bigots before asking Robinson to speak. How dare they think for themselves!

At Harvard actress Jada Pinkett Smith recently ran afoul of the politically correct while giving a speech during the Cultural Rhythms show. What was the actress's sin? Why she talked about her marriage to actor Will Smith and apparently did not talk about Gay or lesbian relations. How dare this insensitive actress be heterosexual? And even worse she talked about it in public!

Students at Middle Tennessee State have decided that the word "lady" is sexist and derogatory to the universities women's athletic teams. "When we use the word 'lady,' today at least, we recognize it as sort of a sexist remark," said Ryan Husak, a member of Solidarity. "It is used to sort of suggest secondary status." Really? I just thought it was good manners. How nice of these know-it-alls to educate our heathen minds.

In Brooksville, Florida a City-Councilman has deemed the city logo offensive and racist because there are, hold your breath now, two Confederate soldiers carrying a Confederate flag on it. Once more history is to be erased and Southerners are to be ashamed of their ancestors and Southern heritage is to sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.

So understand this if you talk differently, think differently, dare to worship any religion but secular humanism, vote Republican, own a gun, are Southern, a White male, a Conservative Black or woman, call women ladies, mention that you are attracted to the opposite sex, drive an SUV, eat meat, smoke, do not worship the United Nations, or support America defending herself, you are now targeted.

There is no place here for you. You are not to be tolerated or included and your sensitivities matter not. Don't like it? Tough you should have thought more carefully before deciding to think for yourself.



ACADEMIC MERIT INCORRECT IN ACADEME

Another revolution is stirring at the influential University of California system. A faculty committee there concluded this week that National Merit Scholarships - the academic plums that high school strivers dream of winning - should be abandoned. Based on recent history, the suggestion may stir up a storm.

Four years ago, the University of California president declared he would dump the SAT college admissions tests unless changes were made. The College Board, which administers those tests, scrambled. As a result, last weekend thousands of students took a new, longer SAT that included a writing sample.

Now the merit scholarships, based on different tests taken by 11th-graders, are under fire out west. The California professors complained that too few minorities and poor students win the awards, which range from $500 to $10,000 and are financed by corporations and colleges.

This raises interesting questions. Are the tests a fair way to measure merit? And, more broadly, how much aid for college students should be based on financial need and how much strictly on academic merit?

National Merit Scholarships are only a small part of that issue. In recent years, the trend has been toward merit. In 1999, 44% of the grants colleges and universities gave students were based on measures of merit such as high test scores and class rankings. By 2003, that had risen to 54%, led by second-tier colleges looking to move up in college rankings.

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