[QUOTE=RenDaHai;1201076]But a lack of common sense is one of the largest problem that faces western society today.
I think we need to keep redefining everything we know in order to advance.[/QUOTE]
Political Correctness in western society is a huge problem for addressing race issues. People are so over sensitive that even mentioning another’s race can be socially unacceptable. Then you have people approaching matters from a “common sense” point of view afraid to contribute to the conversation for fear of being ridiculed and labeled.
A reasonable person can see that participating in a “racist” joke is not an indicator that the parties hate or have malicious intent towards another race. We tell dead baby jokes and black-eyed women in the kitchen jokes and no-one accuses us of hating babies or women. Race jokes are funny. Look how much time stand-up comics of all races spend in pointing out our cultural differences. This isn’t malicious, but when it’s portrayed as such, it hinders discussion of real issues.
I’ll give an example of how ridiculous PC has become in the West. My wife and I frequent a Chinese restaurant run by an immigrant family. I’m American, she’s Thai. One of the young men that works there is in good shape. I comment to my wife, “I wonder if he trains Kung Fu.” She say, “so ask him.”
Now I have to try to explain to her why that is perceived by the other Americans as stereotyping and why it’s ok for me to ask a random white guy if he studies Kung Fu, but it may be considered racist, or in bad taste, to ask a Chinese man the same question.
To her this is all absurd. Kung Fu comes from China, he’s Chinese and works out. It’s a legitimate question and there’s certainly a higher probability that a Chinese immigrant may have studied the art then a Sudanese immigrant. I am in no way under the assumption that everyone who is Chinese studies Kung Fu.
And so this how the rest of the non PC world reacts, but in the West we can’t say such things in mixed company or with strangers.
I’ve mentioned in conversation before the fact that blacks compromise the largest population of prison inmates in the USA. The mere quoting of statistics brings out accusations of racism.
Whether I am using the data to support a claim that blacks are more likely to be criminals, or more likely to be the victim of an inherently racist prison industry or that there may be larger socioeconomic factors at play matters not. I become labeled a racist simply by quoting a fact that may be perceived as stereotyping.
So, if we as a society can’t say “they eat tacos in Mexico,” without being attacked by the PC crowd, how can we ever hope to address serious racial issues like the prison industry or our manufactured welfare state?
