There are some things you just can’t say. Not because they are not true but because they are just too politically incorrect. I’m worried that we are missing out on solving some problems just because it is unacceptable to speak about them.
Take for example saying the Obama is getting so much attention because he is black or that Clinton is getting so much attention because she is a woman. No no you can’t say those things because saying them implies racism or sexism that we wish know does not exist. But honestly do you really think that the reason Edwards got short changed in the media is because he was not a serious candidate? Of course not. The media decided that a race between a black man and a white woman was more interesting, would sell more, and so they left Edwards out. Is that because the media is racist/sexist or just because they think the public is or is it just because people are more interested in seeing something different? Does it even matter? Probably not but I think that saying race and gender had nothing to do with it is intellectually dishonest.
We are closing discussion that might help make things better in the future.
Or take some people saying that 9-11 was a reaction to things America did in the past. What sort of idiot thinks that Moslem extremists are not pissed off at the US for things we have done? Things like supporting Israel or taking advantage of middle eastern oil or being Christians? Who really deep down when they honestly look at history doesn’t understand that Arab Moslems have reasons that in their mind create justifiable anger at the US? But you can’t say that.
That is not to say that the anger or our actions justify (certainly not to us) the actions of 9-11. That day is clearly not a rational response to most sane people. But to deny that there are other people who see the world differently is, again, intellectually dishonest.
We are closing discussion that might help make things better in the future.
And just so I can get a third strike against me, there is the debates about treatment of boys and girls in schools. There are some who get violently upset if you say that some school environments are much more comfortable for girls than for boys. Heaven forbid that you suggest that boys and girls behave differently, learn differently, or respond to teachers differently. Gasp that is sexist. And yet does anyone really believe that boys and girls are the same? Note that no one is saying better or worse, or right and wrong – just different. Demanding that people close their eyes to gender differences in schools is intellectually dishonest.
We are closing discussion that might help make things better in the future.
Without honest open, no holds bared, no topic exclude, no viewpoint unheard discussion how can real problems be fixed? We can’t just ignore facts just because they make the world look differently than we want it to be. And yet, more and more often, that is just what we are doing.