Political Correctness = Language and Thought Control

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Makia Freeman, ContributorWaking Times

Political correctness is a Rothschild invention of language control. Like Orwellian Newspeak in 1984, its ultimateaim is to reduce the scope of free thought.

Political correctness is language control. And language control is thought control. Period. The rise of modern political correctness (PC) is a great example of the cunning way in which social engineers such as the New World Order manipulators operate.Political correctness is soft censorship.It is intolerance disguised as tolerance. As George Carlin said, it is fascism pretending to be manners. It is running amok not just in Universities but now almost everywhere in society. Just as Orwell laid out so precisely in 1984,political correctness is the Newspeakwhich is threatening tolimit our ability to freely speak and think, by reducing the number of available words in our vocabulary.

Truth is stranger than fiction. When you look at the twisted contortions the PC crowd is insisting people go through to rid their language of anything offensive, it has entered the theater of the absurd. Political correctnessdictates what you can and cant say, based on how offensive aword is. Right off the bat there are severalproblems with this. Firstly, who are the commissars,officials or authorities who are granting themselves massive power by getting to decide what ranks as offensive? Secondly, since when did feeling offended or having your feelings hurt become such an important issue that it legally justifies restricting everyones freedom? Last time I checked, freedom of speech was a genuine and legitimate human right (enshrined in the legal documents of many countries), whereas the right to not feel offended is imaginary and non-existent.Thirdly and most importantly just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too is feeling offended in the realm of thebeholder. Words are words; each person is in charge of their own emotions; choose to ignore, respond or react to words how you want, but dont blame someone else for your emotional state. You are in control of your own state of consciousness. To blame someone else because you feel angry, offended or upsetshows an abandonment of responsibility and an utter lack of emotional and spiritual maturity.Since when did we humans become such crybabies that wecouldnt stand hearing or being called a word, a name, a label or a phrase? Grow up, please!

As always, theres more to the story here.Political correctness has roots in marxism and communism. Wikipedia notes that In the early-to-mid 20th century, the phrase politically correct was associated with thedogmaticapplication ofStalinistdoctrine, debated betweenCommunistParty members andSocialists. However, it goes back further to theFrankfurt School (Institute for Social Research) in Germany, which was set up in 1923. TheFrankfurt school was a think tank for social engineering, aiming tospread collectivism (or its offshoots of socialism, marxism and communism) around the world. Asthis article from theSchiller Institute states:

The task of the Frankfurt School, then, was first, to undermine the Judeo-Christian legacy through an abolition of culture (Aufhebung der Kulturin Lukacs German); and, second, to determine new cultural forms which wouldincrease the alienation of the population,thus creating a new barbarism.

It goes on to point out those funding the Frankfurt School:

although the Institute for Social Research started with Comintern [CommunismInternational] support, over the next three decades its sources of funds included various German and American universities, the Rockefeller Foundation, Columbia Broadcasting System, the American Jewish Committee, several American intelligence services, the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, the International Labour Organization, and the Hacker Institute, a posh psychiatric clinic in Beverly Hills.

Sowe have reference to the Rockefellers funding the Frankfurt School, and it is well known that the Rothschilds funded the rise of Marxism:

Nathan Rothschild had given Marx two checks for several thousand pounds to finance the cause of Socialism. The checks were put on display in the British Museum, after Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a trustee, had willed his museum and library to them.

Both of these key New World Order families are thus implicated in marxism, the Frankfurt School and political correctness. Interestingly, many researches have pointed out that political correctness is part of a broader movement ofcultural marxism,which is the subversion of a countrys culture with collectivist ideology, as opposed to the more direct political version.

Yuri Bezmenov, a former SovietKGB agent, said that ideological subversion would change the perception of reality of every American. He outlined how there was a slow brainwashing process taking place to change the individualistic culture of the West, consisting of:

1. Demoralization (covert, 15-50 years) (basically completed);

2. Destabilization (overt, 2-5 years);

3. Crisis (6 weeks);

4. Violent Change and Normalization (can take years, goes on forever).

All this was with the aim of making the West collectivist. The question is: how much has it worked?

Whatever good intentions political correctness may have had in trying to stop homophobia, racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind, it is long passed the threshold of absurdity. Consider the following examples of what the PC crowd is trying to make people say with their bias-free language:

seniors, elders, elderly => people of advanced age

overweight, obese => people of size

rich => people of material wealth

American => US citizen

This last one is especially interesting, given that the US Government is a corporation which lays claim to the entire United States of America, whereas American denotes a natural-born individual of the Republic. The PC police also want to eliminate the following words:

male, female, father, mother, too, hard worker, third world,crazy, insane, retarded, gay, tyranny, gypped, illegal alien, fag, ghetto, raghead

and phrases such as I want to die and that test raped me.

Donald Trump recently got heckled for using the termanchor baby by a PC journalist, who wanted him to say the American born child of an undocumented immigrant. What a mouthful. Funnily, enough that PC journalist was breaking his own inane rules, since now were been told that American is disallowed.Remember theban bossy campaign? Grown adults indulging in utter stupidity. More political correctness and languagecontrol. How can you ban a word anyway?

Its not just specific words or phrases that the PC crowd want to obliterate. At some universities, they are banning entire ways ofbehaving. Check out these ridiculous university rules (taken from the book Choosing the Right College2012-2013), which have moved beyond speech control into total behavior control:

Brown University: banned any speech making people feel angry, impotent and disenfranchised

Colby College: banned any speech leading to loss of self esteem

Bryn Mawr College: banned suggestive looks

Haverford College: banned unwelcome flirtation

University of Connecticut: banned inappropriate laughter

West Virginia University: banned theuse of words boyfriend or girlfriend but instead told students they haveto use the words lover or partner.

Look what the Grand Valley State University recommends we do:

Avoiding Racism and Ageism

Mention a persons race or age only if it is relevant to the story.Biased: A strange Black man spoke to me at the grocery store.Better: A strange man spoke to me at the grocery store.

Disability and Disease

Focus on people rather than conditions.Biased: I met an epileptic on the bus today.Better: I met a person with epilepsy on the bus today.

Since when is becoming less descriptive equivalent to less discriminatory?Talk about a perversion of straight and ordinary speech! Political correctness is standing reality on its head. Here is a chilling quote from 1984:

You havent a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston, he said almost sadlyIn your heart youd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You dont grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?

Dont you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it

All words are potentially offensive. Everywordcould potentially be associated with something bad, so every wordcould come under the scrutiny of the PCpolice.Slurs, insults and derogatory language have always existed ever since humans could speak. You cant just annihilate them. Even the concepts ofmicroaggression andhate speech are failed notions, trying to make havingyour feelings hurt or getting offended morally orlegally equivalentwith harassment. There is no equivalence! Stick and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me

I encourage anyone whohas even a mild interest in a free humanity with complete freedom of speech, and total freedom of thought, to resist political correctness with every fiber of your being.If you are concerned about hurting peoples feelings unnecessarily, you can always find ways to express something in the right way. In those kind of situations, what really matters is the way you say words, not what you say.

We dont need speech police to tell us what we can and cant say or can and cant think. We dont need to go through convoluted verbal gymnastics and masturbation just to say what we think or express ourselves.

Its time for those hiding behind feeling offended to grow up. Stop demanding those around you change because of your lack of maturity. Stop trying to hijack everyones else freedom because of your timidity. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, offense in the mind, attitude and reaction of the beholder.

Itstime to call a spade a spade. We need the spirit of straight talking. Weneed the courage to speak truth to power, not to go in the opposite direction and become afraid of saying anything.The real agenda of political correctness is to stifle objective investigation and free speech. Ultimately, it is to eliminate criticism of the NWO manipulatorsunder the guise of stopping hate speech and making everything fair and equal.

Makia Freeman is the editor ofThe Freedom Articlesand senior researcher atToolsForFreedom.com(FaceBookhere), writing on many aspects of truth and freedom, from exposing aspects of the worldwideconspiracy to suggesting solutions for how humanity can create a new system of peace and abundance

**Sources embedded throughout article.

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Political Correctness = Language and Thought Control was last modified: June 18th, 2016 by WakingTimes

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Political Correctness = Language and Thought Control

Political Correctness Gone Mad – TV Tropes

That is so offensive! Don't you know that only the Northern Hemisphere has Winter in December! note (they also forgot that some religions DO celebrate the Winter Solstice as such, as well as forgetting that Christmas takes place a few days AFTER the Winter Solstice)"And in a gutless act of political correctness, 'Pizza Day' will now be known as 'Italian-American Sauced Bread Day.'"This title, taken from an infamous Catch-Phrase of the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, can refer to one of two things.In some cases, this might be literally about political correctness taken too far, presented through a Granola Girl or Soapbox Sadie who embodies the negative aspects of the PC movement. It may also involve Moral Guardians attempting to Bowdlerize a work in order to remove anything, no matter how trivial, that might be considered "offensive". However, in other cases, the accusations of political correctness are baseless.Along the same lines, a governmental authority (often a local council or Media Watchdog) is accused of being over-zealous to the point of parody in trying to avoid offense to minority groups - not unlike the Culture Police but in the other direction. Certain words or phrases are said to have been "banned", as if, say, Chipping Sodbury Borough Council has any effective power over the English language or, indeed, anything. Often, the body in question is not only being overly cautious, they're actually oppressing the group that is the target of their actions, and are shocked should their targets explain that a patronizing, paternalistic attitude can be just as offensive as the perceived slight. On the other hand, since this is often a satire we're dealing with, it's just as likely that the mere hint of the word "offense" will indeed result in the offending work being Banned In Chipping Sodbury.Politically Correct History is a specific variant where Common Knowledge historical accounts are treated as Fanon to avoid Unfortunate Implications such as Values Dissonance or having to explain Aluminum Christmas Trees.Usually, a range of urban myths are presented as examples of Political Correctness Gone Mad, such as ...

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"I know what youre thinking now. Youre thinking 'Oh my god, thats treating other people with respect gone mad!'"

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Everyone: Whose faith is the right one, it's anybody's guess. Man in turban and Santa suit holding up a phone: What matter most is camera phone for twenty dollar less!

Announcer: It's Asian American Doll, we made her from a place of fear! (gong sound effect) I specifically said no gong!

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[On his Nan abusing the term to confusion] "In the old days, you could get your head and you could submerge it in a vat of boiling acid, and now they're going 'Oh, don't do that, what if Jews see it? It'll annoy the Jews'."

Jeff: So, Walter, Happy Holidays!

Walter: *beat* You're really going to do this, huh?

Jeff: So, Walter, Happy Holidays!

Walter: Screw you, it's Merry Christmas!

Comic Books

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Lance: Always trying to shut the white man down. Conspiracy Brother: THAT'S RIGHT! That's Right!... Oh, that ain't right.

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Wesley: Apparently she felt I'd disrespected the Hacklar's culture by killing it.

JD: It's so great because the residents are practically our slaves. In JD's head: Ah! I just said "slave" to my new, black girlfriend!

JD: We should, like, make him be our personal slave.

Turk's Brother: Our personal what now?

JD: Uh, I didn't mean-

Turk's Brother: How about this? How about he be the house slave, and I be the field slave. That sound like fun to you?

JD: No, that doesn't sound fun at all.

Turk: What's going on?

Turk's Brother: I forgot how much fun it was messing with Alfalfa here!

Liz: Can't one human being not like another human being? Can't we all just not get along? Steven: Liz, I wish it could be like that. And maybe someday our children or our children's children will hate each other like that, but it just doesn't work that way today. Liz: So what you're saying is that any woman that doesn't like you is a racist. Steven: No, no, no, no, no. Some women are gay.

Paul: I just blacked out.

Mike: Uhh, excuse me, you African-Americaned out.

Music

One greeting card to cover everything

Confusing yes, no one will guess

We left out Kwanzaa!

We felt so guilty when he was all through It seemed there was one of two things we could do Live without food in the nude in a cave Or next year have someone say grace besides Dave

One of the many fine things one has to admit is the way that the Army has carried the American democratic ideal to its logical conclusion, in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed, and color, but also on the grounds of ability.

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Ellis: Wouldn't it be easier to call them by stuff that makes sense, like "High Elves," "Wood Elves," "Sea Elves," "Cave Elves"... Sarine: ... What? Ellis: No... "cave elves" sounds kinda stupid. How about "Dark Elves"? "Night Elves"? "Black Elves"? "Angry, Disenfranchised Minority Elves"? On second thought, go back to calling them by unpronounceable crap.

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Dog: *barks* Guys: THAT'S OFFENSIVE!

[BlizzardRep]: Phylumism, were it an actual thing, would go against everything we stand for as a corporation.

[An00barak]: yes thats what ive been saying thank you thank you

[An00barak]: >8< >8> <8< <8> >8< spider priiiiiide

Fafa: Then what do I call them?!

Mario: Gentlemen or women of the country music persuasion.

Lelouch: NOT IF HER HEAD EXPLODES!!!

Dan: I don't like the way you said "black."

Pat: [talking to the game] Get away, you bouncing monkeys! D.K. Junior: Again with the hate speech! Pat: What did I say? D.K. Junior: Do you know how offensive it is to use the "M word"? Pat: The "M word"...what, monkey? Butbut that is a monkey! A green monkey! D.K. Junior: Specieist! The "M word" is no longer acceptable to say. "Evolutionary challenged simian" is the preferred nomenclature. Pat: When did that change? D.K. Junior: A few days ago.

Western Animation

Principal Skinner: When I look in my closet, I don't see male clothes or female clothes. They're all the same.

Edna Krabappel: Are you saying that men and women are identical?

Skinner: Oh, no, of course not! Women are unique in every way.

Lindsey Naegle: Now he's saying men and women aren't equal!

Skinner: No, no, no! It's the differences of which there are none that makes the sameness exceptional. Just tell me what to say!

Dr. Hibbert: Yes, I remember Bart's birth well. You don't forget a thing like Siamese Twins!

Lisa: I believe they prefer to be called "conjoined twins".

Dr. Hibbert: And Hillbillies prefer to be called "sons of the soil". But it ain't gonna happen.

Doctor Orpheus: Wow.

Iggy: So this medical caregiver of indeterminate gender, because nurses can be male or female, says to his or her disabled, or should I say differently-abled patient, "Why do you have a penguin on your head? They're endangered!" Haaa!

Rick: Well, that's retarded.

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71-Hour Ahmed: Be generous, Sir Samuel. Truly treat all men equally. Allow Klatchians the right to be scheming bastards.

Live-Action TV

Shakespeare: Who are you, exactly, and, more to the point, who is this gorgeous blackamoor lady? Martha: (British, of Ghanaian and Iranian descent) What did you say? Shakespeare: (apologizing) Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl, a swarth, a Queen of Afric? Martha: (angry) I can't believe I'm hearing this. The Doctor: It's political correctness gone mad.

Jeff: Well, Walter, you look very festive. Happy Holidays! Walter: You know, there's something I've been wanting to say for a while: Screw you, it's Merry Christmas!

Ricky: [laughing] Leprechauns don't exist!

Karl: It's the same thing, though. If they did, they'd go, "Don't call 'em that"

Karl: [beat] Gnomes, or... [Ricky and Steve burst out laughing]

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Brian: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here today to apologize- Man: Why did you say "Ladies" first? That's sexist. Brian: It's just, it's just a-a standard greeting. Let-let me start over. Gentlemen and ladies- Woman: Ooh, says the man. Brian: Okay, sorry, I-I... Um, humans in the audience- Man 2: I identify as a basketball. Brian: Humans and basketballs- Man 3: I'm a parrot who mimics words but doesn't comprehend them. Brian: Humans, basketballs, talking parrots, and-and whatever else is out there... Woman 2: "Whatever"? It's whoever. Woman 3: Actually, it's whomever. Woman 2: No one likes you, Mary. Brian: All right, all right, just-just calm down, okay? Woman 4: Now you're tone policing us! Man 4: That makes me uncomfortable. Anything that makes me uncomfortable in 2017 should be illegal.

Originally posted here:

Political Correctness Gone Mad - TV Tropes

USC mascot squabble: Trojan horse for political correctness? – Fox News

In California, the raging U.S. cultural battle over Civil War icons has spread to the names of horses.

At the University of Southern California, a student group has declared the equine mascot of the schools Trojans football team to be a symbol of white supremacy.

Why? Because the horse bears a name similar to that of a steed that belonged to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The USC football horse is called Traveler (one L), while Lees horse was known as Traveller (two Ls).

The student groups leader voiced her disapproval of the home team horses name earlier this week, at an on-campus rally to protest last weeks violence in Charlottesville, Va.

Defensive back Adoree Jackson's touchdown last season is part of the long and storied football tradition at the University of Southern California. (USA Today Sports)

White supremacy hits close to home, Saphia Jackson, co-director of the USC Black Student Assembly,told fellowstudents, in pointing out the similarity in the horses names, student newspaper the Daily Trojan reported.

The Black Student Assembly didnt respond to a Fox News inquiry on whether the group wanted Traveler renamed or removed.

The renewed debate on public symbols of the Confederacy has sparked a discussion at USC on whether the horse mascots name is a coincidence, or possibly a nod to its namers sympathy to the Southern cause.

Naming the USC mascot Traveler started nearly 56 years ago, after a rideron horseback galloped acrossthe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field during a Trojans home game. It was supposed to be a one-time stunt, but quickly became a school tradition, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The original rider of Traveler, Richard Saukko, died in 1992 -- withoutofficially confirming whether the name Traveler was intended as a homage toLees horse.

His widow, Patricia Saukko, however, denied the accusations, calling the kerfuffleabout the name a hysteria and a political issue.

The problem is this: Maybe three weeks ago it was fine, she told the L.A. Times. So now the flavor of the day is ... we all have to be in hysteria....Its more of a political issue. The horse isnt political and neither am I.

Over at USC theyre nonpolitical about their horse, she added. What if their name would be Lee? Would they want to change it? It doesn't make any difference. ...Hes a wonderful horse and a great mascot.

The widow also notedthat the spelling of the name is different -- andwhen her husband bought the horse in 1958, the name had already been picked.

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USC mascot squabble: Trojan horse for political correctness? - Fox News

How to Be Politically Correct (with Pictures) – wikiHow

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Three Parts:Becoming More Conscious of Political CorrectnessChoosing Respectful LanguageSpeaking with Individuals or GroupsCommunity Q&A

"Politically correct" is a bit of a misnomerit isn't about being right, it's about being respectful and considerate. Being politically correct means that you avoid expressions and actions that may exclude, marginalize, or offend a particular group of people. The term first became popular during the 1970s and 1980s.[1] Political correctness has an important purpose: it promotes equality by demonstrating an understanding that all people and groups are valuable to society regardless of race, culture, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

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Check with various communities about what language is appropriate, and what is hurtful.

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Apply your knowledge. In conversations or discussions with groups or individuals, remember what you've learned while working on yourself. Your goal is not to knowingly hurt or offend any person or group of people with your language or actions.

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Avoid segregating language. When speaking to or about other groups, refrain from unnecessarily using the words "we" or "they." This suggests a separation instead of equality and inclusion.

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Focus on valuing diversity. Your first reaction to someone who is different may be confusion or fearso take a deep breath, remember that the other person matters, and let your second reaction be one of acceptance and respect. Work on viewing individual differences as important and meaningful.

What if I want to do the opposite of 90% of this?

wikiHow Contributor

Then you do not want to be politically correct.

What if I don't care that you have 80 genders?

wikiHow Contributor

The main thing is to remember that other points of view are valid as well. You don't need to bend over backwards, but be respectful.

What if a person is using their individuality as a means of getting out of any sort of trouble, such as calling you sexist if you get upset over her literally grabbing your dick?

wikiHow Contributor

Stay away from this person. Grabbing your private parts without permission is sexual assault, and people of any gender have the right to have their boundaries respected. Set clear boundaries (such as "I am not okay with you touching my pants") and reiterate them if needed. If you're getting accusations, say "I'm not okay with people of any gender touching my private parts without permission." Having boundaries is reasonable, and if this person continues violating them, talk to an authority figure about how to deal with this.

What f I don't appreciate being called a homophobic because it goes against the natural laws God has put into His creation?

If you voice an opinion, especially a hurtful one, don't be surprised if other people voice their opinions, too. When you tell people that they're going against God, you're imposing your beliefs onto their personal lives. It's disrespectful to tell other people that their personal lives need to conform to your religious beliefs. Muslims can't stop non-Muslims from eating pork, Buddhists can't shave the heads of non-Buddhists, etc.

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How to Be Politically Correct (with Pictures) - wikiHow

ESPN took political correctness to a ridiculous low – New York Post

Its the biggest unforced error of the week and in this political climate, thats saying a lot.

ESPN became a laughingstock Wednesday for pulling veteran announcer Robert Lee off a University of Virginia football game because his name is too close to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general dead for nearly 150 years.

We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, ESPN said, simply because of the coincidence of his name.

Simply because of the coincidence of his name. This is the height of C-suite media condescension, though its unclear whos being condescended to: Is it red-state Trump voters? Does the network regard them as lumpen, half-wit knuckle-draggers who might take Lees presence as a tacit endorsement of white supremacy? Or is it the coastal, liberal elite that the network regards as babyish, too hyper-attuned to triggers and identity politics, ready to take offense at the inoffensive?

What if Robert went by Bob?

Within hours of ESPNs announcement, their Robert Lee was trending on Twitter. Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen weighed in. If this isnt the same Lee that led the Confederate Army, he tweeted, ESPN needs to reverse this idiocy.

Lee is Asian-American. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has extensive experience in both business and broadcasting. He graduated Syracuse University in 1999 with a B.S. in broadcast journalism. His most recent location is Albany. He speaks Mandarin. He describes himself as a team player . . . who meshes well with coworkers, customers and clients.

This is hardly the stuff of controversy. The networks overreaction only reminds us of its sad downward spiral: the bloodbath of over 100 employees fired in April; the flight of 10 million subscribers since 2011; the belief among liberal viewers that ESPN panders to conservatives and the belief among conservatives that ESPN is too liberal.

In trying to offend no one, theyve offended just about everyone. The networks tone-deafness extends to their statement. Its a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.

Indeed. If only they knew whom to blame.

More here:

ESPN took political correctness to a ridiculous low - New York Post

Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs …

The conversation happening in our nation in light of recent events is more about political correctness than the issue at hand. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and terrorists are bad people. The ideals of these groups are in opposition to everything our nation stands for and everything that holds true to our founding principles. Their hatred of people dissimilar to them is un-American and it should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Days ago, my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would remove all of the statues in the U.S. Capitol that honored Confederate soldiers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also called for the elimination of such statues. I respect their rights as elected officials to put forth legislation they believe is in the best interest of their constituents, however I simply do not agree.

As a Cherokee, I can attest to the fact that Native Americans have been on the losing side of history. Our rights have been infringed upon, our treaties have been broken, our culture has been stolen, and our tribes have been decimated at the hands of our own United States government. Native Americans have faced centuries of atrocities to their people, their land, and their culture all under various presidents who took an oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been.

Under President Andrew Jackson in 1830, our government passed the Indian Removal Act that drove thousands of Native Americans out of their homes on the treacherous journey better known as the Trail of Tears. Under President Franklin Pierce in 1854, parts of Indian Territory were stolen from tribes to create the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Under President Abraham Lincoln, the Sand Creek massacre occurred in 1864 when the U.S. Army attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes unprovoked, killing about 250 Native Americans. The Dawes Act of 1887 gave President Grover Cleveland the power to take back tribal land and redistribute the land to native people as individuals, not as tribal members. Under President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took the lives of 150 Native Americans. Under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, Indian and Oklahoma territories were unified to create the state of Oklahoma after Congress refused to consider a petition to make Indian Territory a separate state. President Roosevelt is even quoted as saying: I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.

Let me ask you this: Is history not an opportunity to learn from ones mistakes? When we fall short of the high standard we set for our nation and its citizens, we make mistakes. What's most important is that our nation remembers and learns from them. As soon as we forget about our history, we are bound to repeat the same errors.

Still, we have professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick who refuse to stand during the national anthem and others who stand in solidarity with him in protest of the United States. To what end? To protest this country, a country that I love and my friends have died to defend? As an American, you have the right to protest me, or another individual, or a group, but I believe that protesting the United States for the mistakes it has made when it gave you the freedom to do so in the first place is disrespectful. Any attempt to coerce the United States into erasing our history is disingenuous. Especially, when our country has learned from the mistakes it has made and is determined not to repeat them.

Should we erase our history in the name of being politically correct? Can we not all agree that it is what shaped our country to be the great nation it is today? One that we know to be full of freedoms, liberties, and rights that other nations only dream of?

The removal of Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol doesnt change our history. The removal of these statues merely attempts to disguise our ugly scars by hiding these statues out of plain sight. In an imperfect world, full of imperfect leaders, there are countless statues that may not live up to our American values. The statues of President Jackson and President Lincoln, both fervent oppressors of Native Americans, stand tall in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Still, these statues tell the history of the good and the bad of our nation.

America is and will always be a success story. We have African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and members of other ethnic groups elected to positions inside our governments. The American free enterprise system is the greatest tool to lift people out of poverty ever created in human history and when applied properly, does not discriminate by race, religion, or skin color. When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle this process and the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been. Let us look boldly into our history and learn the lessons that made us the shining city on the hill and the example for all other peoples.

Republican Markwayne Mullin represents Oklahomas 2nd congressional district.

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Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs ...

Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs … – Fox News

The conversation happening in our nation in light of recent events is more about political correctness than the issue at hand. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and terrorists are bad people. The ideals of these groups are in opposition to everything our nation stands for and everything that holds true to our founding principles. Their hatred of people dissimilar to them is un-American and it should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Days ago, my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would remove all of the statues in the U.S. Capitol that honored Confederate soldiers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also called for the elimination of such statues. I respect their rights as elected officials to put forth legislation they believe is in the best interest of their constituents, however I simply do not agree.

As a Cherokee, I can attest to the fact that Native Americans have been on the losing side of history. Our rights have been infringed upon, our treaties have been broken, our culture has been stolen, and our tribes have been decimated at the hands of our own United States government. Native Americans have faced centuries of atrocities to their people, their land, and their culture all under various presidents who took an oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been.

Under President Andrew Jackson in 1830, our government passed the Indian Removal Act that drove thousands of Native Americans out of their homes on the treacherous journey better known as the Trail of Tears. Under President Franklin Pierce in 1854, parts of Indian Territory were stolen from tribes to create the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Under President Abraham Lincoln, the Sand Creek massacre occurred in 1864 when the U.S. Army attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes unprovoked, killing about 250 Native Americans. The Dawes Act of 1887 gave President Grover Cleveland the power to take back tribal land and redistribute the land to native people as individuals, not as tribal members. Under President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took the lives of 150 Native Americans. Under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, Indian and Oklahoma territories were unified to create the state of Oklahoma after Congress refused to consider a petition to make Indian Territory a separate state. President Roosevelt is even quoted as saying: I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.

Let me ask you this: Is history not an opportunity to learn from ones mistakes? When we fall short of the high standard we set for our nation and its citizens, we make mistakes. What's most important is that our nation remembers and learns from them. As soon as we forget about our history, we are bound to repeat the same errors.

Still, we have professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick who refuse to stand during the national anthem and others who stand in solidarity with him in protest of the United States. To what end? To protest this country, a country that I love and my friends have died to defend? As an American, you have the right to protest me, or another individual, or a group, but I believe that protesting the United States for the mistakes it has made when it gave you the freedom to do so in the first place is disrespectful. Any attempt to coerce the United States into erasing our history is disingenuous. Especially, when our country has learned from the mistakes it has made and is determined not to repeat them.

Should we erase our history in the name of being politically correct? Can we not all agree that it is what shaped our country to be the great nation it is today? One that we know to be full of freedoms, liberties, and rights that other nations only dream of?

The removal of Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol doesnt change our history. The removal of these statues merely attempts to disguise our ugly scars by hiding these statues out of plain sight. In an imperfect world, full of imperfect leaders, there are countless statues that may not live up to our American values. The statues of President Jackson and President Lincoln, both fervent oppressors of Native Americans, stand tall in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Still, these statues tell the history of the good and the bad of our nation.

America is and will always be a success story. We have African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and members of other ethnic groups elected to positions inside our governments. The American free enterprise system is the greatest tool to lift people out of poverty ever created in human history and when applied properly, does not discriminate by race, religion, or skin color. When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle this process and the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been. Let us look boldly into our history and learn the lessons that made us the shining city on the hill and the example for all other peoples.

Republican Markwayne Mullin represents Oklahomas 2nd congressional district.

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Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs ... - Fox News

Statues Be Warned: Political Correctness Is Afoot as Australia Seeks to Remove Captain Cook and Arthur Phillip – The Whole Story

Statues of historical figures around the world are likely to be targeted by political correctness following the protests in the US about statues of Confederate generals.

With the Charlottesville protests regarding the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee and a statue in Ohio being damaged by vandals who took its head from a cemetery, Australian Sydney City Council is now seeking advice on whether the statue of Captain Cook should be removed.

The ABCs indigenous affairs editor Stan Grant wrote an analysis on the issue on Friday and argued the statue represented a damaging myth that Captain Cook discovered Australia.

Sydneys Lord Mayor Clover Moore is now seeking further discussion over the 126-year-old statue. Another statue of Captain Arthur Phillip could also be removed.

Shooters and Fishers MP Robert Borsak stated in the newspaper The Daily Telegraph Attempts to rewrite our public history for the sake of political correctness which is what these activists want to do is little better than Stalin erasing his political opponent from photographs,

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Statues Be Warned: Political Correctness Is Afoot as Australia Seeks to Remove Captain Cook and Arthur Phillip - The Whole Story

When political correctness runs amok erasing our history doesn’t … – Claremore Daily Progress

The conversation happening in our nation in light of recent events is more about political correctness than the issue at hand. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and terrorists are bad people. The ideals of these groups are in opposition to everything our nation stands for and everything that holds true to our founding principles. Their hatred of people dissimilar to them is un-American and it should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Days ago, my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would remove all of the statues in the U.S. Capitol that honored Confederate soldiers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also called for the elimination of such statues. I respect their rights as elected officials to put forth legislation they believe is in the best interest of their constituents, however I simply do not agree.

As a Cherokee, I can attest to the fact that Native Americans have been on the losing side of history. Our rights have been infringed upon, our treaties have been broken, our culture has been stolen, and our tribes have been decimated at the hands of our own United States government. Native Americans have faced centuries of atrocities to their people, their land, and their culture all under various presidents who took an oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Under President Andrew Jackson in 1830, our government passed the Indian Removal Act that drove thousands of Native Americans out of their homes on the treacherous journey better known as the Trail of Tears. Under President Franklin Pierce in 1854, parts of Indian Territory were stolen from tribes to create the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Under President Abraham Lincoln, the Sand Creek massacre occurred in 1864 when the U.S. Army attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes unprovoked, killing about 250 Native Americans. The Dawes Act of 1887 gave President Grover Cleveland the power to take back tribal land and redistribute the land to native people as individuals, not as tribal members. Under President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took the lives of 150 Native Americans. Under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, Indian and Oklahoma territories were unified to create the state of Oklahoma after Congress refused to consider a petition to make Indian Territory a separate state. President Roosevelt is even quoted as saying: I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.

Let me ask you this: Is history not an opportunity to learn from ones mistakes? When we fall short of the high standard we set for our nation and its citizens, we make mistakes. What's most important is that our nation remembers and learns from them. As soon as we forget about our history, we are bound to repeat the same errors.

Still, we have professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick who refuse to stand during the national anthem and others who stand in solidarity with him in protest of the United States. To what end? To protest this country, a country that I love and my friends have died to defend? As an American, you have the right to protest me, or another individual, or a group, but I believe that protesting the United States for the mistakes it has made when it gave you the freedom to do so in the first place is disrespectful. Any attempt to coerce the United States into erasing our history is disingenuous. Especially, when our country has learned from the mistakes it has made and is determined not to repeat them.

Should we erase our history in the name of being politically correct? Can we not all agree that it is what shaped our country to be the great nation it is today? One that we know to be full of freedoms, liberties, and rights that other nations only dream of?

The removal of Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol doesnt change our history. The removal of these statues merely attempts to disguise our ugly scars by hiding these statues out of plain sight. In an imperfect world, full of imperfect leaders, there are countless statues that may not live up to our American values. The statues of President Jackson and President Lincoln, both fervent oppressors of Native Americans, stand tall in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Still, these statues tell the history of the good and the bad of our nation.

America is and will always be a success story. We have African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and members of other ethnic groups elected to positions inside our governments. The American free enterprise system is the greatest tool to lift people out of poverty ever created in human history and when applied properly, does not discriminate by race, religion, or skin color. When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle this process and the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been. Let us look boldly into our history and learn the lessons that made us the shining city on the hill and the example for all other peoples.

View post:

When political correctness runs amok erasing our history doesn't ... - Claremore Daily Progress

Donald Trump and the Sad Triumph of Right-Wing Political … – Reason (blog)

Time.comBack at the 2015 event at which Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency, his daughter Ivanka introduced her father as, first and foremost, an implacable foe of political correctness. "My father is the opposite of politically correct. He says what he means and he means what he says," she said, shortly before Trump characterized Mexican immigrants as disease-ridden, drug-smuggling rapists ("Some, I assume, are good people," he granted). In the first Republican primary debate, held in August of 2015, Trump himself reiterated that being anti-P.C. would be the hallmark of his political life, declaring, "I don't frankly have time for total political correctness."

It's ironic, then, that perhaps Trump's greatest accomplishment so far as president is to make it OKor maybe even mandatoryfor his followers to engage in the worst excesses of political correctness, especially its attempts to shut down debate and heterodox opinions through bullying, appeals to ad hominem attacks, and unthinking "whataboutism."

Among the Trump faithful, there are never legitimate grounds upon which to disagree with anything the billionaire says or does. If Barack Obama's most strident defenders were sometimes quick to claim any criticism of him was racist, thereby delegitimating honest disagreement, Trump's supporters are equally quick to denounce any dissent as proof positive of secret membership in Antifa, a pro-Hillary voting record, or a desperate attempt to look good among the communists who run the much-discussed-yet-little-seen Washington, D.C. cocktail party circuit.

And thus it has come to pass that the president of these United States, who hates political correctness at his very core, didn't "frankly have time" to immediately and unambiguously denounce by name violent right-wing protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia who last week carried torches and Nazi flags (complete with swastikas) around town while chanting "Jews will not replace us" and the Hitlerian slogan of "blood and soil." Sure, Trump had time to talk to the public. But even after a car ran into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others, the president only issued a statement vaguely condemning "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides." Reportedly pushed by advisers, including his daughter Ivanka, he eventually called out the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists specifically and boldly averred that "racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs." Within a few hours of delivering those remarks to generally poor reviews, even among his fellow Republicans and conservatives, the president whined via Twitter that "once again the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied...truly bad people!"

But the president wasn't finished with disquisitions on Charlottesville. He called a press conference on August 15 at which he rendered his second, explicitly anti-Nazi statement inoperative by stressing the presence and violence of left-wing protesters, the bias of the media, and the pressing need to preserve statues commemorating Confederate war heroes (a cause that was not mentioned in the posters recruiting protesters for the Unite the Right rally).

IMGFLIP.comAs Allahpundit of the conservative site Hot Air summarized:

Short of [Trump] overtly endorsing the alt-right, which he can't do (I think?), I don't know what more he could have said here to make them happy. He stressed that not everyone who was at the demonstration in front of the Robert E. Lee statue on Friday night was a white nationalist, that some perfectly decent people were part of the group. This group? The one carrying torches and chanting things like "blood and soil" and "Jews will not replace us"?

Trump's last comments on the matter drew praise from former KKK leader David Duke, who tweeted "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa," and ethno-nationalist Richard Spencer, who texted The Atlantic's Rosie Gray to gush, "Really proud of him."

Is it politically correct to expect the president of the United States to unequivocally denounce the racial theories and violence of neo-Nazis and white supremacists? For Donald Trump and his supporters, the answer is unambiguously yes and so even libertarian critics of the president who are unsurpassed in their contempt for collectivist racial theories and their defense of free speech (something Trump himself is not so good on) must be attacked for calling out Nazis as stupid, bigoted, and, well, definitionally un-American (didn't we fight a war against Nazism?). Don't you understand, Trump's supporters insist, that we need to fight progressives with the same tactics they use? If you hold him to basic standards of decency, competence, or comportment, they continue, you're as bad as the left (typically defined as libertarian-leaning Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and anyone to his left).

That sort of thinking may keep Trump happy and insulated in the Oval Office and his fans energized and ill-tempered online, but it also means there will over time be fewer and fewer of them. In fact, Trump's approval ratings, never good to begin with, continue to set negative records. According to Marist, just 35 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing and his support among Republicans has dropped 12 percentage points since June, to a new low of 79 percent. It seems unlikely that Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly for him, would be bamboozled by media bias, doesn't it? Perhaps Trump's falling approval rating has less to do with President Obama, the press, or the supposed power of Black Lives Matter to somehow cloud our minds and more to do with his inability to get much of anything done, to turn around the economy (the recent claim that he created an "unprecedented" number of jobs in the first six months of his presidency is flatly wrong), or to speak bluntly and honestly to the American people. On that last score, a recent poll for CNN found that just "36% of respondents said Trump was honest and trustworthy, while 60% answered that the description 'does not apply.'"

Yeah, yeah, I hear you already, Trump's P.C. loyalists: CNN is biased, what about all the people killed by Black Lives Matter at its rallies (zero, in truth), your gal HILLARY CLINTON would have been worse, why aren't you condemning Antifa and left-wing violence (been there, done that, and will continue to do so)!?!?

You are playing not a dangerous game so much as a losing one (as Trump's adviser Steve Bannon says, the alt-right is filled with "losers" and "clowns"). "The Left" is hardly ascendant in American life, especially if you use the imprecise measure of the number of Democrats who hold office in the United States; certainly Democrats in Congress aren't the reason why the GOP and the president can't produce balanced budgets, entitlement reform, or market-oriented health-care legislation. (Of course, from a libertarian viewpoint, we've got plenty of statists around, but they hail from all points on the conventional political spectrum, and that's a different argument altogether.)

Confidence in major American institutions (including the presidency and Congress, held by the GOP) are at or near historic lows and Trump's brain farts on Twitter and at press conferences aren't the tonic needed to change any of that. You're forgetting that most Americans actively despise left-wing political correctness for all the ways that it chokes off even the possibility of meaningful debate about all sorts of issues that matter to us all. Far from wanting a right-wing variant that squelches discussions before they can even get going, we want a social sphere we can talk honestly, work toward common ground, and agree to disagree.

You're not offering any of that, which helps explain why your man in the White House's numbers are sinking. Nor are you offering a positive vision of the future. Instead, you're merely standing athwart over Confederate statues, free trade, and economic innovation, and continuing ethnic diversification yelling Stop! Good luck with all that, but when you fail, please remember not to blame anyone but yourselves. For a change.

Related Video: "Trump Denounces Racism in Charlottesville. Too Little, Too Late."

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Donald Trump and the Sad Triumph of Right-Wing Political ... - Reason (blog)

OPINION: The rally against political correctness is not an excuse for ad hominems – N.C. State University Technician Online

On my first day of Principles of Sociology, the instructor asked each student to discuss the social issue about which they were most impassioned. Among answers concerning the racial strife in America and giving support to marginalized communities, one stood out. One peer was worried about what they perceived to be an overly politically correct, or PC, campus climate at NC State.

This would have been understandable, except the student was not concerned about an inability to express their opinion, but rather the way in which they felt they should be able to express them. In shorter terms, they did not wish to end political correctness, but do away with basic manners and civility.

The term politically correct has taken on various meanings, often suited to fit the narrative of the user. Some use it literally, as in right versus wrong political action. Others use it to justify or silence ideas they deem socially or culturally unfavorable. The negative effects of the latter on college campuses has been widely discussed over the last several years, with many fearing that it creates an echo chamber of liberal ideas, with little tolerance toward opposition.

Some universities have even gone as far as to issue warnings against this type of overly PC campus culture, like the University of Chicago, which issued an open letter to the Class of 2020 emphasizing their commitment to an open discourse on campus, while denouncing the idea of safe spaces and trigger warnings.

In the last few years, the term politically correct, which in its newest meaning should refer to avoiding language or behavior that any particular group of people might feel is unkind or offensive, has been demonized. Those who are tired of it have used their distaste for it to justify the breakdown of civility not only on college campuses but throughout the country. For example, in response to a peaceful die-in that occurred on campus last year, students made several derogatory comments pertaining to the movement and its participants. They may not have agreed with the beliefs of those who were protesting, but none offered any constructive criticism, instead relying on stereotypes and ad hominem arguments to bully their opposition.

The terms change of meaning can largely be attributed to President Donald Trump, who in many of his tirades against the PC culture, has justified his vicious bullying of women, minorities and several other groups by labeling it as a counter to political correctness. There is a difference between having the ability to voice your unpopular opinions and using speech to personally attack or degrade someone. Insulting individuals does nothing to further constructive conversations and can even deflect from the situation at hand. While you can choose not to be PC and go against campus norms, it is important to do so in a way that is civil, by at least respecting those you do not agree with.

We must always employ tact.

Aristotle noted that humans are unique in their ability to rationalize and use intellectual virtue, which allows us to contemplate and reason logically. Without this, humans would be unable to control basic impulses. Impulses that may compel you to say or do whatever comes to your mind, even if the action is considered impolite or uncivil.

Todays modern rally against political correctness is nothing more than a rally against intellectual virtue. Rather than create a logical argument to justify ones beliefs, we are seeing people give into brash impulses that only add fuel to a growing fire. To have an open and productive discourse on our campus, it is important to note that your disdain for political correctness does not justify personally attacking or degrading an individual.

For those who think it does, I would suggest you look to improve your argument.

Original post:

OPINION: The rally against political correctness is not an excuse for ad hominems - N.C. State University Technician Online

This Might Be the Most Ridiculous Example of Political Correctness in History (Thanks, ESPN) – National Review

Honestly, this is the dumbest time to be alive. Earlier this afternoon Outkick the Coverages Clay Travis tweeted that ESPN had removed an Asian announcer from an upcoming University of Virginia football game because get this his name is Robert Lee:

Surely not, youre thinking. No one is this politically correct, right? Even though Clays a sharp guy, his sources cant be right, can they? Well, maybe so. Clay next reported that ESPN responded with a statement. Our own Charlie Cooke reproduced it below:

Then it broke out everywhere, with multiple sports reporters claiming ESPN sent them the same thing. For example:

There you have it, sports fans. Its entirely possible that the nations premieresports channel not Oberlin College, not Evergreen State, not Yale has reached peak political correctness. A real person had his assignment changed because he shares the same name as a former Confederate general. Parents, if your last namesare Grant, Meade, or Sherman, might I suggest Ulysses, George, or Bill as boys names? Theyll have an inside track at ESPN.

I would say that you have to laugh or youll cry, but thats not right. ESPN is beclowning itself. Laughter is the only good response.

Excerpt from:

This Might Be the Most Ridiculous Example of Political Correctness in History (Thanks, ESPN) - National Review

‘Great Comet’ Broadway hit falls from political correctness … – Washington Times


Washington Times
'Great Comet' Broadway hit falls from political correctness ...
Washington Times
Ticket sales lulled when Josh Groban left Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and Okieriete Oak Onaodowan, who is black, took over his role as ...

and more »

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'Great Comet' Broadway hit falls from political correctness ... - Washington Times

Comfort level versus political correctness – Bangkok Post

North Korea's most public links to Thailand are the string of restaurants the regime has opened in Bangkok. (File photo via Vice TV)

The past few months showed Thailand's pragmatism. Its diplomacy is based on a comfort level rather than on perceived political correctness. With its location and added strategic assets, major countries have now begun to court Thailand at their own pace. Although the country's diplomatic pathway was put under severe stress in the first 15 months after the May 2014 coup, Thailand's regional and international profile has incrementally been gaining traction and leading to new cooperation with those countries that have forged the highest level of comfort.

India, China, Japan and Australia have emerged as countries that have provided much needed rapport with and support to Thailand and its leaders in the past three years. These four countries have made their relationship with Thailand special as their policymakers have established a high level of "comfort".

For the time being, the US, despite its superpower status, is not in the group. Neither is Russia even though the comfort level between Thai and Russian leaders has been better in comparison with the US.

Kavi Chongkittavorn is a veteran journalist on regional affairs.

When US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a five-hour trip to Thailand on Aug 8, he was unable to secure Thailand's commitment to downgrade its diplomatic engagement and exchanges with North Korea. Washington asked Bangkok to end commercial ties with North Korea by closing North Korean trade representative offices and cutting the number of its businessmen based here in Bangkok.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's reply was succinct, saying that Thailand would stick to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. As early as April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs circulated a 12-page letter to all Thai companies with trade links to North Korea urging them to follow all the UN resolutions, in particular No.2321 (on strengthening sanctions on North Korea).

In fact, Thailand has already shut down Pyongyang front organisations that operate under various disguises along Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, including a few restaurants.

That has disappointed Mr Tillerson, who has strongly supported Thailand since assuming the secretary of state position in the Trump administration. Also, Thailand was disappointed with the US State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons report, which keeps it on the Tier 2 Watch List for yet another year.

If this remains unchanged next year, despite the kingdom's all-out effort to prosecute high-level traffickers, Thai-US relations, which are supposed to reach a new normal level, will again slump.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai was quick to tell the press after his meeting with Mr Tillerson that Gen Prayut was scheduled to visit Washington in early October at the personal invitation of US President Donald Trump, who also invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Duterte has not responded to the invitation.

Despite strong mutual desire, Gen Prayut's planned visit to the US might not materialise due to schedule conflicts. So far, Thai authorities concerned have not yet called for a preparatory meeting for his visit.

However, deep down beyond the diplomatic pleasantries, it reflects Bangkok's growing anxiety about Mr Trump's political future as well as US policy toward this part of the world. Thailand is taking a rather non-committal position regarding North Korea, which in the past several weeks has been a top priority of the US in Southeast Asia.

Any dramatic change in Thailand's policy towards North Korea would disrupt Thai-Chinese relations. Bangkok is not willing to play into Washington's hands on North Korea. Indeed, like the rest of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Thailand strongly condemned North Korea's missile tests and other misbehaviour but is still not willing to downgrade ties or kick the country out of the regional security platform, the Asean Regional Forum.

Ironically Asean is intensifying its diplomatic efforts regarding the nuclear crisis to display its diplomatic finesse that an international crisis can be defused and subsequently resolved "the Asean way". Asean's two-decades-long engagement with Myanmar, which helped ended the country's diplomatic isolation and restored it to the international community, is frequently cited as one the group's big accomplishments.

Major powers that have a high comfort level are moving fast to fill the strategic vacuum left by America's botched diplomacy. Obviously, political pundits cite China as the biggest beneficiary of the repercussions from Thailand's three-year-old coup. That is partially true if one assesses Thailand-China relations solely based on defence and security cooperation.

China's Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House in July. China is among countries that have provided much needed rapport with Thailand in the past three years. (Photo courtesy Government House)

For years, Thailand has been looking for alternative sources to upgrade its military hardware. As such, the controversial procurement of Chinese submarines was a strategic move by the Royal Thai Navy, which has been on the drawing board for nearly a decade. Other non-security matters which showed the essence of Thailand-China relations still have steep learning curves.

What is remarkable have been the inroads made by Japan, India and Australia. They have increased their diplomatic engagement with Thailand since the referendum on the new charter passed last August. Both Japan and India were very supportive of Gen Prayut from the very beginning. In coming years, they will figure prominently in the country's strategic outlook.

For instance, Thailand and Japan, as fellow US allies, are strengthening their defence cooperation as never before. The two countries will soon sign a memorandum that would allow Japan's defence equipment to be transferred to Thailand, which will reduce costs and shorten delivery times.

Thailand and India view their growing economic connectivity as a new driving force for growth and stability. To realise this goal, the two countries need strong security cooperation and assurances. New Delhi has long wanted to provide military hardware to Bangkok at friendship prices. Additional Japan-India broader cooperation are in the pipeline, which would also impact Thailand as an integrated connectivity hub along the East-West Corridor.

However, Thailand's next strategic partner will be Australia, which has displayed a security commitment and resiliency in engaging Thailand and other Asean members. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop understands the pivotal role Thailand can play in leading and directing the group's future direction. Her speech on the 50th anniversary of Asean tracing the host's historical role at the Thai Foreign Ministry was well received.

Thailand's diplomacy has evolved and been highly adaptive since its first foreign emissary went abroad in 1603. Preserving peace while respecting sovereignty is the country's diplomatic principle, which outsiders often forget.

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Comfort level versus political correctness - Bangkok Post

Trump abandons political correctness and shows his true self – AL DIA News

We frequently wish to see a politician sincerely leave the script and speak from the heart. On Tuesday, President Trump fulfilled that desire, leaving the whole world with its mouth open.

In a combative press conference from the Trump Tower in New York, President Donald Trump decided to abandon the path of the politically correct and say exactly what was on his mind, turning the conference into one of the most important episodes in the contemporary political history of the United States.

The appointment came with the intention of outlining his infrastructure project, but his inability to address the violent encounter between extremist hate groups and counter-demonstrators in Virginia over the weekend has been perceived as a silent accolade to far-right groups, and the media focused their questions on it.

Trump's response was rising in intensity, sparking a series of denials and condemnations, challenging journalists to "define the alt-right" and falling into historical nonsense.

For the president, a group of social activists with Nazi symbols, anti-Semitic slogans and references to the KKK - carrying guns, in addition - also has "nice people", and the counter-demonstrators share the blame for the unleashed violence.

"What about the fact they came charging -- that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do," he said. "I think there is blame on both sides."

Let us try to reconcile ideas and believe that the US president really wanted to take a neutral stance, and forget for a moment his record of racism as an entrepreneur ... is not easy. Especially when from his mouth do not cease to leave arguments like cannon shots to the boat of credibility.

You had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest because I dont know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didnt have a permit. So I only tell you this: there are two sides to a story, said the president, to the icy surprise of all who were listening.

Was the president of the United States making public an apology for racism? This seems to have been understood by members of extreme right groups. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, for example, even thanked the president on Twitter for "condemning leftist terrorists".

The danger of this situation is not only the escalation of violence, but also its legitimacy. The absence of a condemnation argued and the insistence in the distribution of guilt, will only add fuel to the fire.

Senator Marco Rubio, who wrote in his Twitter account that the president cant allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame. They support idea which cost nation & world so much pain. The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win. We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected.

For Democrats, Trump's reaction is due to his desire to maintain the support of white nationalists and the extreme right, especially from its political activists. This may have influenced the president's delay in addressing "the biggest domestic challenge during his short presidency," as described by Reuters, as it took him more than 48 hours to deliver a controlled and read speech, which cataloged the KKK and neo-Nazis as "criminals and thugs".

But enough for Trump to skip the pattern, forget the script and let his true self to flourish, so that the whole world is convinced that, unfortunately, racism has a permit under this administration.

See the article here:

Trump abandons political correctness and shows his true self - AL DIA News

Urban Dictionary: politically correct

A term originally meant to describe behavior that minimises offence, particularly in relation to minorities. Now the term is an overused strawmen misused against many of those against unfair prejudice. Call a racist irrational and get branded a PC pussy. The term has effectively been used to stifle debate and thought about issues. It has reframed those who want fair and equal treatment of people, to people who have a PC agenda. The term does not censor offensive discussion against minorities, but rather censors discussion for positive social change. People get branded as PC pussies instead of raising debate and free thought. Health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa calls women baby making machines. Bob: No way, he can't say that! Tom: Why not? Stop spreading your politically correct garbage here. Bob: It ain't nothing to do with political correctness. He has a responsibility to the state and people to make a good example and good policies. This statement shows he has little respect for women as people and it effects how he handles his role as a minister. It also sends the wrong message to the people.

Shintaro Ishihara claims foreigners would riot in the event of an earthquake requiring not the police but the self defense force. Bob: No way! Tom: Well someone had to come out and say the truth. All you political correct guys are pussies! Foreigners come here with their stinking culture and create crime. Bob: It has nothing to do with political correctness. It is both wrong, as foreigner in Japan have lower crime rates, and harmful, as it incites irrational xenophobic fear.

In France a local soup kitchen for the homeless only has pork dishes, while having many Muslim patrons. Bob: Man that sucks they should try some non-pork dishes too so that Muslims can also eat (Muslims can't eat pork on religous grounds). Tom: Damn pussy! Stop trying to be a politically correct idiot. Bob: What! It has nothing to do with politcal correctness. I simply want the soup kitchen to help as many people as possible. If non-pork dishes help in that sense they should do that. Particularly if it is supported by government tax breaks.

"Political correctness is one of the brilliant tools that the American Right developed in the mid-1980s as part of its demolition of American liberalism....What the sharpest thinkers on the American Right saw quickly was that by declaring war on the cultural manifestations of liberalism - by levelling the charge of political correctness against its exponents - they could discredit the whole political project." - Will Hutton

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Urban Dictionary: politically correct

Shamed MP behind burka ban protest says political correctness will destroy Australia – Express.co.uk

Pauline Hanson, an anti-immigration campaigner, shocked Parliament when she wore the burka into the chamber, to try to urge the attorney-general to ban the Islamic garment.

After receiving worldwide condemnation,Sky News host Tom Macleod clashed with the Australian MP as he demanded statistics following Ms Hansons claims.

Ms Hanson argued that political correctness in Australia would be to the countries detriment if the burka was not banned.

She said: It has been banned in a lot of countries in the world and actually a lot of them are Muslim countries. Malaysia, Tunisia, Egypt, Congo to name some.

SKYNEWSEPA

No, Australia hasnt banned it yet because we are politically correct here which is going to be to our detriment.

We are so far behind the rest of the world. They actually have the burka there and now [in Australia] and theyrealisethe impact it is having on their culture and their way of life and we need to address it now before our population of Muslims in this country grows to a stance that we cannot address.

I think this is very important. This is Australia, the burka is not Australian.

This is not the culture that we want here its not the culture of wearing the burka and hiding your face.

Its oppression of women, its control of women by a political ideology which is incompatible with our culture and way of life.

The Australian MP continued with her rant before she claimed that England hasitsown problems.

Australia hasnt banned it yet because we are politically correct here which is going to be to our detriment

Pauline Hanson

MsHanson claimed a lot of English people hhadve left the country and migrated to Australia becausethe UK has not banned the burka.

The Sky News host stepped in demanding facts from the Australian MP as he cut her off.

He snapped: You have no statistics. Whereareyour statistics?

Where is the evidence on that? Give me a number of people that have left England because of the burka.

The Australian politician angrily argued back.

She said: I am speaking. As a Member ofParliament, I have traveled my country quite extensively and I am talking to people. People are now saying, if this happens in Australia where will we go next."

MsHanson shocked the Senate chamber as she entered wearing the black Islamic body covering.

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The khimar is a long veil that fall to just above the waist. It covers the hair, neck and shoulders but leaves the face clear

Addressing the attorney-general, the leader of the One Nation party urged George Brandis to work with her to ban the burka in Australia.

The MP was quickly silenced by the attorney-general who insisted Australia would not be banning the burka before he received a rare standing ovation.

He said: To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do.

I am not going to pretend to ignore the stunt that you have tried to pull today by arriving in the chamber dressed in a burka when we all know that you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith.

I would caution and counsel you with respect to be very, very careful of theoffenceyou may do to the religious sensibilities of other Australians.

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Shamed MP behind burka ban protest says political correctness will destroy Australia - Express.co.uk

Reality vs. political correctness – Canada Free Press

Relinquishing control of the over-towering mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, would amount to a self-destruct subordination of long-term security to short-terms convenience

An historical divide exists between short-term convenience and long-term national security. The former adds fuel to the Arab-Israeli fire, as evidenced by the litany of genuine Western (mostly US) peace initiatives all of them failed, attempting to subordinate reality to oversimplification, frustrating expectations, and therefore intensifying terrorism and injuring Western stature. The only two successful attempts, so far, were Israeli initiatives of direct negotiation with Egypt and Jordan.

The appeasement of rogue regimes - Arab, Iranian or North Korean - wets their appetite and radicalizes their policies. While the defiance of rogue regimes entails short terms inconvenience, it serves long term values, principles, and national and homeland security interests.

In December, 1988, the US recognized/appeased the PLO, when it was the number one Arab terrorist organization, training terrorists from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, providing a tailwind to international terrorism. In September, 1993, the Oslo Accords snatched the PLO from the jaws of oblivion, when the PLO was losing ground in its own terrorist camps in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Lebanon. The Oslo accords conferred upon the PLO the misleading appearance of legitimacy. The pro-PLO gestures signaled submission, by the US and Israel, to wishful-thinking, rendering a victory of short-term convenience over long-term and complex reality; thus, dealing a blow to the medium and long-term homeland and national security of both countries. However, the primary victims of the enhanced stature of the PLO have been the Arabs of Judea & Samaria, who have been subjected, since 1993, to the wrath of PLO repression, corruption (e.g., Mahmoud Abbas nickname is Mr. 20%), subversion and terrorism.

Arabs throughout the Middle East are aware of the Palestinian reality. Therefore, they have showered the Palestinians with much talk but no significant walk. While Mahmoud Abbas is welcomed with a red carpet in Western capitals, he is accorded a shabby rug in Arab capitals. Arabs are familiar with the Palestinian record from the 50s, when Arafat and Abbas were involved in subversion and terrorism in Cairo, escaping to Syria. In 1966 and 1970 they fled Syria and Jordan, respectively, because of their subversion and terrorism. In 1975, after plundering South Lebanon, they tried to topple the central regime in Beirut. In August 1990, the Palestinians joined Saddam Husseins invasion and plunder of Kuwait, which throughout the years had been the most hospitable Arab country to Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and their Palestinian allies, absorbing 300,000 Palestinians and enabling them to rise to top positions. In retaliation, following the war, and liberation by the USA, Kuwait expelled almost all Palestinians from the country.

A Palestinian state west of the Jordan River, on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, would undermine regional stability, eroding Western interests. It would provide a decisive tailwind to the current attempts to topple the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the Jordan River. During the Israel-Jordan peace treaty ceremony, Jordanian military leaders pleaded with their Israeli counter-parts to not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the river, lest it would topple the Hashemite regime east of the river. Israels military intelligence commanders were told by their Jordanian colleagues that Palestinians are known to violate in the evening that which they sign in the morning. The toppling of the Hashemite regime would trigger a tectonic ripple effect into Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, advancing the fortunes of Irans Ayatollahs and Russia, with destructive homeland security repercussions in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the USA. A Palestinian state would provide Russia, and possibly China and Iran, with naval, air and land bases, which would dramatically upset the current balance of power in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, the soft belly of Europe. It would also mean the devastation of the remnants of Christian centers in Judea and Samaria.

In order to minimize the volcanic nature of the Middle East, and to remain a net-producer not a net consumer of national security, Israel should control the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, serving as a growing geo-strategic outpost of the US, extending the strategic hand of the US, and enhancing its own posture of strategic deterrence. Ceding the mountain ridges of Judea & Samaria, Israel would be squeezed within a 9-15-mile sliver along the Mediterranean, dominated by the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, eroding its military power projection, which would deny the US a unique geo-strategic beachhead, demoting Israel to a strategic burden upon the US.

In 2017, Jordan is a positive neighbor of Israel. However, in the context of the intolerant, unpredictable, violent, tectonic Middle East, regimes are provisional, as are their policies, alliances and agreements. Therefore, Israels most critical and longest border (with Jordan) - which is the closest to Jerusalem, the coastal plain and Ben Gurion Airport - could become Israels most hostile and dangerous border upon a change of regime in Amman. Hence, relinquishing control of the over-towering mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, would amount to a self-destruct subordination of long-term security to short-terms convenience.

Ambassador (Retired) Yoram Ettinger is an insider on US-Israel relations, Mideast politics and overseas investments in Israels high tech. He is a consultant to members of the Israeli Cabinet and Knesset, and regularly briefs US legislators and their staff. His OpEds have been published in Israel and the US he has been interviewed in both Australia and the U.S. A graduate of UCLA and undergraduate at UTEP, he served amongst other things, as Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israels Embassy in Washington. He is the editor of Straight from the Jerusalem Cloakroom and Boardroom newsletters on issues of national security and overseas investments in Israels high-tech.

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Reality vs. political correctness - Canada Free Press

Politically correct Baltimore just lost my support – Baltimore Sun

Baltimore, the champion of political correctness, removes statues overnight, citing safety and security (Confederate statues under tarps, police protection in Baltimore lot facing uncertain future, Aug. 17). How many people were shot and murdered in "Charm City" so far this year? Well over 200 murders so far, second in per capita to only St .Louis. Tearing down statues is your answer to safety and security.

You only did it to conform to the despicable idea that history must be purged of those things that the political left doesn't agree with. Even your Republican governor has succumbed with the removal of Roger Taney's statue from the grounds of the State House. Where does this end? This is what communists do when they take over a country. They destroy history, statues, change street name and rewrite history books to remove all vestiges of past. Then future generations only know the lies being told to them.

It's a lovely path that Maryland is going down. We won't be coming for any more concerts or ball games. That's all we can really do in protest. Good bye, Charm City.

Frank Brown, Ocracoke, N.C.

Send letters to the editor to talkback@baltimoresun.com. Please include your name and contact information.

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Politically correct Baltimore just lost my support - Baltimore Sun

Steve Bannon: Post-Charlottesville racial strife is a political winner for Trump – Richmond.com

It had already been widely reported that President Donald Trump's chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, was among the very few top officials around Trump who quietly cheered as he resisted pressure to unequivocally lay the blame for the deadly violence in Charlottesville on Nazis and white supremacists.

But now Bannon has gone public with this view, in a pair of new interviews. Indeed, he has gone even further: In a striking admission, Bannon confirmed that he views the racial strife and turmoil unleashed by Charlottesville as a political winner for Trump.

In the first interview, with The New York Times, Bannon explicitly defended the portion of Trump's comments in which he seemed to defend the rallying white supremacists' opposition to the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Trump asked rhetorically whether this would ultimately lead to the removal of statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Here's Bannon:

"Bannon . . . said in an interview that if Democrats want to fight over Confederate monuments and attack Mr. Trump as a bigot, that was a fight the president would win.

" 'President Trump, by asking, 'Where does this all end' - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln - connects with the American people about their history, culture and traditions,' he said.

"The race-identity politics of the left wants to say it's all racist," Bannon added. "Just give me more. Tear down more statues. Say the revolution is coming. I can't get enough of it."

In the second interview, with the American Prospect, Bannon (believing himself to be off the record) elaborated a bit more on this general theme:

"The Democrats," he said, "the longer they talk about identity politics, I got 'em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats."

Remarkably, Bannon is gleefully discussing the political dividends that (he believes) Trump will reap from the fraught aftermath of racial violence that led to the burial of a young woman who was murdered for showing up to protest racism and white supremacy. In so doing, Bannon endorses the general view, also expressed by Trump, that leftist violence ("tear down more statues") is partly to blame for the ongoing racial strife, and defends Trump's drawing of an equivalence between statues honoring Washington and Jefferson on the one hand, and those honoring the leading lights of the Confederacy on the other.

On Thursday morning, Trump doubled down on this view in a seriesoftweets, calling efforts to remove Confederate statues and monuments "foolish":

"Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also. . .the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!"

Numerous historians have already pointed out the many problems with this equivalence. While Washington and Jefferson were indeed slave owners, they helped create the nation, while Confederate leaders sought to secede from it in order to set up a separate nation perpetuating slavery. Others have noted that the whole point of many of these Confederate monuments was to celebrate white supremacy during the Jim Crow era.

Indeed, since Bannon brought Abraham Lincoln into the discussion, let's recall that Lincoln famously hailed Jefferson by saying that his authorship of the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal") had given voice to "an abstract truth" that would counter "tyranny and oppression" in all future times, including in the struggle to uproot and destroy slavery. Contra Bannon, Trump's absurd conflation does not "connect" us with our history; it obscures it.

Ultimately, though, what is really significant here is Bannon's frank admission that he believes the current ongoing turmoil benefits Trump. To be sure, a more cynical, self-interested motive may be at work. As The New York Times reports:

"Mr. Bannon, whose future in the White House remains uncertain, has been encouraging Mr. Trump to remain defiant. Two White House officials who have been trying to moderate the president's position suggested that Mr. Bannon was using the crisis as a way to get back in the good graces of the president, who has soured on Mr. Bannon's internal machinations and reputation for leaking stories about West Wing rivals to conservative news media outlets."

There is ample evidence that this may indeed help Bannon's standing with Trump. The Post reports that Trump - like Bannon - also believes his remarks reiterating that "both sides" are to blame for the Charlottesville violence will boost him politically:

"Trump felt vindicated after the remarks, said people familiar with his thinking. He believes that his base agrees with his assertion that both sides are guilty of violence and that the nation risks sliding into a cauldron of political correctness."

With the special counsel's probe closing in, and with his numbers sliding deeper into the danger zone, Trump plainly believes that valiantly defying the forces of political correctness (meaning, the forces that want him to unequivocally condemn racism and white supremacy) will rally his supporters to his side. Bannon is clearly feeding that instinct, at least partly to shore up his own standing with the president. Neither, naturally, recognizes any obligations or duties on the president's part to try to calm the antagonisms that are being unleashed, and neither appears even slightly concerned about the damage they could do to the country, at a time when experts are warning that this sort of rhetoric could cause an escalation in white supremacist activity.

Indeed, as Trump's new tweetstorm in defense of Confederate monuments confirms, he appears determined to keep feeding these antagonisms. And new polling explains why.

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Steve Bannon: Post-Charlottesville racial strife is a political winner for Trump - Richmond.com