Weinstein, Trump, pussy hats and rainbows: PC and the death of morality
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Here in our little corner of the universe town council is refusing to allow painted rainbow crosswalks on the streets. Kids have chalked in a rainbow on one crosswalk in protest. Advocates of feel-good, anti-prejudice are coming out with videos siding with the kids, criticizing the council. The general yawning reaction around town is “this is so 2012”.
In schools we have gay-straight alliances. At the same time we have dress codes that restrict clothing that’s too revealing, mostly aimed at girls. Meanwhile, kids of all ages have access to unlimited quantities of free garbage on their cell phones, cops are rounding up entire online rings of people trading child porn, and teenagers are committing suicide as a result of cyber-bullying.
Out there in the big world there’s Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein. Trump’s ex, Ivana, has just come out with a new memoir on her great parenting skills, based, in her mind, on how well her three children have turned out. Turns out, no surprise, that her skills in that department were atrocious, with most of the parenting done by nannies or the kids themselves. The real point of the book is to justify, apparently, her own lust for wealth, attention and power, coming as she did from the notoriously luxury-deprived communist Czech Republic. She decamped for Canada, then New York and latched onto The Donald almost as soon as she’d arrived. She hasn’t unlatched since.
Trump and Weinstein might as well be the same animal in different skins. They’re both power abusers. While abuse of women is involved, women are not the only victims. Everyone in their path is a potential victim. These are guys who are wired to screw over anyone or anything just for the hell of it. Business deal, female encounter, jumping to the head of the line, it’s all part of the same process.
These guys are not rare. They’re everywhere. Want to identify one close to you? Look for the diamond pinky ring, the flash car and the trophy wife. They ‘lead’ businesses and hold court wherever they are. They’re the centre of the crowd at any upscale bar or party. They’re sleazy and they have money. Politicians and artists and fundraisers suck up to them. We give them our power willingly and openly. And they take it.
Multi-generational wealth takes this for granted. They’re raised inside a bubble of privilege, which we help them maintain by genuflecting religiously before them. The “have-nots” worship at the altar of the “haves”, even those of us who stand back and criticize them. We’re all attracted to power like moths to a flame.
Until they lose their power. Once a Bill Cosby goes down, or a Ghomeshi or a Weinstein, everyone turns on them in a feeding frenzy, and rages about how horrible they are. Don’t dare try to defend these individuals when the mob turns on them. You’ll be tarred and feathered, too.
Political correctness is sanctimonious. And morally reprehensible. It’s the same kind of sanctimony that cheered on the executioners as the heads rolled off the guillotine. Marching on Washington wearing pussy hats is in no way going to change anything in government—and certainly not the minds of the people who voted for DT (it turns them into enemies).
PC covers over real problems by troweling on the bullshit. The real problem is not Donald Trump and his behaviour. It’s not Weinstein. It’s not Ivana. Or the Bush family, or the Royal Family, or the Wall Street gang, all of whom have abused their power and flaunted their excesses.
It’s time to clear away the bullshit. Here’s the bullshit: we live in a free society. We don’t. We have a functioning democracy. We don’t. It’s bought, and our representatives are hand picked by those who buy the system. Everyone has equal opportunity. We don’t. The affluent top 20 percent in any community get to push their kids ahead of the rest, always. We live in a meritocracy. No, we don’t. Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump did not earn their way to the top. They were born close to the top, and then were ushered up to it.
Morality begins with admitting the truth. Our Indigenous communities are a mess. Our climate change policies are frighteningly inadequate. Our methods of wealth distribution are appallingly poor. Our politicians are cowards and work for influential interests. Our society is decaying and collapsing around us. Our privacy, rights, freedoms are being stripped away; we live under constant surveillance. Our economic system is turning us into debt slaves…
Want to change the world? Take off the pussy hats and rainbow flags and start facing the truth. It’s right in front of you.
Additional reading:
Everywhere.
Here in our little corner of the universe town council is refusing to allow painted rainbow crosswalks on the streets. Kids have chalked in a rainbow on one crosswalk in protest. Advocates of feel-good, anti-prejudice are coming out with videos siding with the kids, criticizing the council. The general yawning reaction around town is “this is so 2012”.
In schools we have gay-straight alliances. At the same time we have dress codes that restrict clothing that’s too revealing, mostly aimed at girls. Meanwhile, kids of all ages have access to unlimited quantities of free garbage on their cell phones, cops are rounding up entire online rings of people trading child porn, and teenagers are committing suicide as a result of cyber-bullying.
Out there in the big world there’s Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein. Trump’s ex, Ivana, has just come out with a new memoir on her great parenting skills, based, in her mind, on how well her three children have turned out. Turns out, no surprise, that her skills in that department were atrocious, with most of the parenting done by nannies or the kids themselves. The real point of the book is to justify, apparently, her own lust for wealth, attention and power, coming as she did from the notoriously luxury-deprived communist Czech Republic. She decamped for Canada, then New York and latched onto The Donald almost as soon as she’d arrived. She hasn’t unlatched since.
Trump and Weinstein might as well be the same animal in different skins. They’re both power abusers. While abuse of women is involved, women are not the only victims. Everyone in their path is a potential victim. These are guys who are wired to screw over anyone or anything just for the hell of it. Business deal, female encounter, jumping to the head of the line, it’s all part of the same process.
These guys are not rare. They’re everywhere. Want to identify one close to you? Look for the diamond pinky ring, the flash car and the trophy wife. They ‘lead’ businesses and hold court wherever they are. They’re the centre of the crowd at any upscale bar or party. They’re sleazy and they have money. Politicians and artists and fundraisers suck up to them. We give them our power willingly and openly. And they take it.
Multi-generational wealth takes this for granted. They’re raised inside a bubble of privilege, which we help them maintain by genuflecting religiously before them. The “have-nots” worship at the altar of the “haves”, even those of us who stand back and criticize them. We’re all attracted to power like moths to a flame.
Until they lose their power. Once a Bill Cosby goes down, or a Ghomeshi or a Weinstein, everyone turns on them in a feeding frenzy, and rages about how horrible they are. Don’t dare try to defend these individuals when the mob turns on them. You’ll be tarred and feathered, too.
Political correctness is sanctimonious. And morally reprehensible. It’s the same kind of sanctimony that cheered on the executioners as the heads rolled off the guillotine. Marching on Washington wearing pussy hats is in no way going to change anything in government—and certainly not the minds of the people who voted for DT (it turns them into enemies).
PC covers over real problems by troweling on the bullshit. The real problem is not Donald Trump and his behaviour. It’s not Weinstein. It’s not Ivana. Or the Bush family, or the Royal Family, or the Wall Street gang, all of whom have abused their power and flaunted their excesses.
It’s time to clear away the bullshit. Here’s the bullshit: we live in a free society. We don’t. We have a functioning democracy. We don’t. It’s bought, and our representatives are hand picked by those who buy the system. Everyone has equal opportunity. We don’t. The affluent top 20 percent in any community get to push their kids ahead of the rest, always. We live in a meritocracy. No, we don’t. Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump did not earn their way to the top. They were born close to the top, and then were ushered up to it.
Morality begins with admitting the truth. Our Indigenous communities are a mess. Our climate change policies are frighteningly inadequate. Our methods of wealth distribution are appallingly poor. Our politicians are cowards and work for influential interests. Our society is decaying and collapsing around us. Our privacy, rights, freedoms are being stripped away; we live under constant surveillance. Our economic system is turning us into debt slaves…
Want to change the world? Take off the pussy hats and rainbow flags and start facing the truth. It’s right in front of you.
Additional reading:
Everywhere.
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