Mark Steyn On Political Correctness

Major Hasan was Enabled

Mark Steyn wrote a fine article about the problems the real world gets itself into when it adopts political correctness.

He starts off with quoting the Queen of Censors herself:

Ever since this magazine attracted the attention of Canada’s “human rights” regime, defenders of the system have clung to a familiar argument. In a letter to Maclean’s, Jennifer Lynch, Q.C., Canada’s chief censor, put it this way: “Steyn would have us believe that words, however hateful, should be given free rein. History has shown us that hateful words sometimes lead to hurtful actions that undermine freedom and have led to unspeakable crimes. That is why Canada and most other democracies have enacted legislation to place reasonable limits on the expression of hatred.”

“Hateful words” can lead to “unspeakable crimes.” The problem with this line is that it’s ahistorical twaddle, as I’ve pointed out. Yet still it comes up.

As if what J Ly said was not sufficient, it was mirrored when Messrs Steyn and Levant tag teamed the House of Commons Committee on truth justice and the Canadian way:

It did last month, during my testimony to the House of Commons justice committee, when an opposition MP mused on whether it wouldn’t have been better to prohibit the publication of Mein Kampf.

“That analysis sounds as if it ought to be right,” I replied. “But the problem with it is that the Weimar Republic—Germany for the 12 years before the Nazi party came to power—had its own version of Section 13 and equivalent laws. It was very much a kind of proto-Canada in its hate speech laws. The Nazi party had 200 prosecutions brought against it for anti-Semitic speech. At one point the state of Bavaria issued an order banning Hitler from giving public speeches.”

And a fat lot of good it all did.

But still the old refrain echoes through the corridors of power: vigorous honest free speech will lead to mass murder unless we subject it to “reasonable limits.”

The problem with political twaddle of any sort, but particularly that which demands to be correct, is that is sounds good coming off the tongue, as long as those in earshot are similarly inclined to receive said twaddle. It withers when confronted by someone who is more inclined to the truth, a la Steyn.

As Steyn points out political correctness has finally come home to roost, though most are still trying not to see it that way:

Actually, the opposite is true: a constrained and regulated culture policed by politically correct enforcers leads to slaughter. I’m not being speculative here, as Commissar Lynch is about my murderous prose style. It’s already happened, just a couple of weeks back. Thirteen men and women plus an unborn baby were gunned down at Fort Hood by a major in the U.S. Army. Nidal Hasan was the perpetrator, but political correctness was his enabler, every step of the way.

As Steyn goes on to point out in detail, Major Hasan is what happens when people who know try to hide themselves behind political correctness. The people did not have to die. Someone, one someone had to speak up, and shut Hasan down.

Read the rest of the article, please. Help stamp out political correctness. Engage your brain.

Called to Courage

Faint of Heart Need Not Apply

Jennifer Hartline of My Chocolate Heart wrote another insightful piece for Catholic Online. Here is her summary of the article:

'There will be no easy paths through these dark days, and no way around it. Our mission is clear: We must be the light in the darkness'

This is a post Fort Hood piece, but encompasses far more than just that tragedy:

Our society is made of bendy, cowardly stuff these days. The travesty at Fort Hood last week is only the latest proof. We're in desperate need of a vaccination, alright, but not for the swine flu. We need a massive shot in the arm of courage to help strengthen us against this rampant virus of godless political correctness.

After this terrible, heartbreaking week, I think if I hear one more person extolling the virtues of diversity I'm going to throw up. Diversity simply for the sake of appearances, for the sake of balanced-looking statistics leads to trouble. What happened at Fort Hood leaves no doubt. Battle-tested men with bars and stars on their chests were reluctant to speak the truth because the pressure of political-correctness was stronger than the threat of violence. 14 people are dead not because there wasn't tight enough security at the front gate, but because a terrorist wearing an Army uniform was protected by a climate of fear.

Even now, that climate of fear is working overtime to squelch the truth and put a palatable spin on the fact that we've been suckered like cowards into pooh-poohing the danger any fool can plainly see because we fear being branded as prejudiced or intolerant. So we cover our eyes and pretend not to see the truth staring us in the face, and deadly things happen.

Pitifully, this is the standard modus operandi now in our society. We're not much interested in the truth anymore; only in making sure we appear to be tolerant, diverse, and “equal” in all things. Here's a newsflash folks: all things are not “equal”, and some choices are always wrong.

To those who salute the flag of godless political correctness, sometimes the words equality, tolerance and choice are actually "code-speak" that disguises a nefarious meaning. Those terms are now used as weapons against anyone who dares to say that something is immoral and wrong. They are thrown like bombs at anyone who won't compromise what they know in their hearts to be right and true.

To the well-meaning yet weak-willed, otherwise commendable concepts like diversity, equality and choice have an attractive glow and they sound good and right, and it's easy to be fooled. But when the death of one person is being sold as the “choice” of another, when the immoral sexual activity engaged in between two men or two women is proclaimed to be “equality”, when appropriate questioning and good judgment are silenced for the sake of a false notion of “diversity”, it's time to wise up and see the wolf beneath the lamb's wool.

The goal of this godless agenda is simple: get people to sidestep the truth in favor of “diversity.” Bully people into ignoring the objective truth in deference to “equality.” Seduce people into abandoning the notion of truth altogether in service to their own personally constructed “rights” and “choices.”

Convince people to accept something they instinctively know is wrong by appealing to their vanity and self-interest, and soon they’ll voluntarily adjust their own moral compass and rally behind the wrong they once rejected.

Guilt people into walking lock-step in line behind the new and “enlightened” way of thinking about spirituality, sexuality, human relationships, or whatever, by shaming them, branding them as prejudiced, racist, hateful, judgmental, or fearful.

This is the state of the world we live in, and it makes me so angry. It seems more and more lately like morality is slowly drowning, barely keeping its head above water as it gasps for air. Each day it feels like the water rises higher and higher and going under is inevitable. That, my friends, is called despair and lately I have felt the weight of it.

The national news is sometimes too much to bear, and when I dare to look into the prospective future, the future my children are inheriting, it seems utterly dark, oppressive, and without a shred of virtue. It's a culture that has elevated all things sexual to the level of a new idol, determined to steal away innocence and modesty and purity under the warped dictates of a counterfeit notion of personal freedom and equal rights. It's a culture that silences the truth for fear of “offending” anyone. People of faith who dare to fight against this dictatorship of relativism are hissingly marked with the scarlet letter “I” for intolerance.

Is there any hope of putting the brakes on this downhill slide? The weight of despair says no. Despair is what sucks the life out of the good fight. Despair convinces the beaten-up, weary soldiers that it’s hopeless; there’s no way to win, so stop fighting. Defeat is certain, so just give up. Despair is a weapon crafted in the misery of hell; it is powerful, persuasive, and highly deceptive.

What are we to do? Run. Run as fast as we can to the Author of Truth and hear what He has to say. Cling to the truth with a courageous heart and both hands.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” (1 Cor 16:13)

“Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6)

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called...” (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Cor 4:8-9)

There will be no easy paths through these dark days, and no way around it. Our mission is clear: We must be the light in the darkness. We must set our light high upon the hill and expose the evil that wants to remain hidden. We must tell the world the truth that will set them free. It is Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life; Jesus, the Light of the world.

Sadly, the forces of godless political correctness have denied the truth at Fort Hood again by refusing to count Pfc. Velez's unborn baby among those murdered. To them, the child in the womb doesn't count. The truth says otherwise. We must say otherwise. Our godless age says that sexual immorality of every kind is normal, good, and a matter of personal freedom. The truth says otherwise. So must we. The leaders of our godless age are corrupt and self-serving, and they say God has no place in government. The truth says otherwise. Will we?

The fight is intense and we're going to take some hits, but the victory is already won. We cannot give in to discouragement and despair. We must take courage and remain steadfast. Honestly, I don't know whether many of the battles we face will be won. But I intend to find out.

Jennifer Hartline is a Catholic Army wife and stay-at-home mother of three precious kids who writes frequently on topics of Catholic faith and daily living. She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.


Deacon Keith Fournier asks that you join with us and help in this vital mission by sending this article to your family, friends, and neighbors and adding our link (www.catholic.org) to your own website, blog or social network. Let us broadcast, we are PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC!

Jennifer Hartline is a voice in the wilderness. She is righteously angry at the evils in our society masked as good. I detest political correctness.

Good on you, Jennifer. May God Bless You Abundantly.

This is not a time to be Faint of Heart.

Double Standards - Fort Hood As An Example

Fr. Raymond de Souza Speaks Volumes

I first came upon Fr. de Souza's words of wisdom via Catholic Dialogue and the conclusion that its editor produced here:

It's the paradox of political correctness. A Muslim man kills 13 innocent people in a shooting rampage in Fort Hood (he started shouting "God is great!" in Arabic as he opened fire) and now the media are treating Muslims as victims. That's not a typo. The media seem more worried about potential violence that might be committed against Muslims in retaliation for the shooting, than about the 13 real dead people.

Father de Souza had even more to say about it. His piece at National Post starts as follows:

Add Fort Hood to the list. It's getting longer: New York, Washington, Jerusalem, Bali, Madrid, London, Bombay. It's the list of places where, we are told, it is important to be vigilant about anti-Muslim activity.

The phenomenon is by now well-established. An apparent jihadist visits death and destruction upon innocents, motivated in part by a violent brand of Islamic extremism, and soon the violence becomes an apt occasion to raise awareness about the danger of anti-Muslim thoughts, words and deeds. Violence by Muslims has a unique ability to spur a Canadian prime minister, British royal, or, as was the case this time, the American secretary of homeland security, to sound the alarm about violence against Muslims.

"The tragic shootings at the Fort Hood U.S. Army Base raise the spectres of hostility against Muslims within the United States, and of Islamic hostility toward the U.S.," editorialized Toronto's Globe and Mail. That's a strange symmetry. On one hand there may be a "spectre," but on the other there is the reality of 13 dead victims.

As Fr. de Souza rightly notes, most of the victims of fundamentalist Muslim acts of violence are Muslims themselves, you know the gentle peace loving ones who form the very large majority of all Muslims.

But, Father de Souza is on to the double standard that is applied to Christian crumbs, while we let Muslims off for stealing the whole loaf.

As Father de Souza comments:

On Tuesday, for example, my colleague Colby Cosh argued that we should be wary about putting too much emphasis on religion as the "evidence of the specifically Islamic nature of Hasan's mania emerges." After all, there were no doubt other factors at play. It would be "pretty stupid," he argued, to draw a straight, simple line between jihadist beliefs and the Fort Hood massacre.

But back in June, when George Tiller, America's most enthusiastic practitioner of partial-birth abortion, was murdered, Mr. Cosh took to these pages to argue that the killer was the logical extension of the pro-life movement, and that pro-life activists who denounced the abortionist's murder were no better than Pontius Pilate, washing their hands of something in which they were deeply complicit.

Mr. Cosh generally is more careful and rigorous than most, so that even he can use double standards on this issue indicates how widely they are accepted.

Mr. Cosh is just a symptom of a malaise that is not an epidemic, with no apparent man made antidote. Father highlights some other instances of the double standard, and then concludes:

It's a matter of basic honesty to look at all factors, and a matter of basic justice not to attribute to the whole the actions of the one. But it would be more honest and more just if that standard were applied to all.

Bravo Father.