Beamer essay right to touch on PC

Beamer essay right to touch on PC

In the Sept. 11 Daily Herald, an essay by David L. Beamer, father of Todd Beamer appeared in reflection of this past decade since the 9-11 terrorist attacks against our country. Mr. Beamer mentions a few things that, regrettably, haven’t changed, “As the enemy employs old tactics of terror and new ones of deceit, deception and infiltration to attack us from within, we employ strategies embracing political correctness, appeasement, compromise, apology, praise and passive leadership.”

It’s good he lists political correctness first since, it is one of the enemies of freedom for, its goal is to quash free speech — a prerequisite to freedom. The practice of PC is collective coercion. It assumes there is one correct dialogue and attempts to suppress opposing views, first by denouncing but often by more forceful methods too.

Newspapers have reported cases of employers terminating employees for writing something on the Internet with which the employer disagreed. It hasn’t mattered that the employer’s name wasn’t mentioned or that the writing didn’t take place on company time or required the use the employer’s resources. Whereas, in the past one could sue someone for slander or libel for a falsehood alleged against them,

PC can silence someone who simply utters an unpopular truth. The coercive action of PC produces social, “groupthink,” a phenomenon well understood to typically result in poor quality decision making. The increasing secularization of Western Culture with its rejection or organized religion, especially Christianity, embraces a PC which entails the other strategies Mr. Beamer mentions above, leaving us less able to understand the motivations of our enemy.

The ancient Chinese General Sun Tzu said, “If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” That, I think, sums up modern PC pretty succinctly.

Brian Van Dine

Carol Stream