Political Correctness and Terrorism

Introduction: Before I begin with my opening arguments, I believe that it is vital to elaborate on political correctness (PC) and my stance on it in this debate. Whether PC fosters terrorism is a highly controversial topic, making the debate on this issue paramount. In my case, I’ll be presenting evidence to substantiate that PC has been hindering the process in combatting terrorism—regardless of its kind, whether the acts of terrorism were politically or religiously motivated—and as Pro, my objective is pretty overt and straightforward; I must present instances where political correctness has hampered and impeded the West’s battle in fighting terrorism. Throughout the debate, I’ll be depicting instances and outlining the different methods PC uses to obstruct the process of battling terrorism. Without further ado, may the debate begin! Contention 1: Open Borders in Europe After the eradication of chauvinism / and ultra-nationalism, Europeans embraced multiculturalism, a notion that then became a popular trend across the continent. In fact, I think it will be prudent to infer that this contagion has infested several countries in the western realm. The citizens of countries that were once the subjects of European imperialism are massively pouring into Europe. Many researchers assert—based on their extrapolation from demographic data—that soon, ethnic Europeans will become a minority in their own countries by 2050 (1). Though politicians are prevaricating that immigrants will integrate into their new, European societies, statistics show otherwise that migrants have increased the crime rate and unemployment has been most prevalent among their communities. German authorities summated that million refugees who crossed their border in 2015 attempted and committed over 69.000 crimes in the beginning of 2016 (4): “The report showed that 29.2 percent of the crimes migrants committed or tried to commit in the first quarter were thefts, 28.3 percent were property or forgery offences and 23 percent offences such as bodily harm, robbery and unlawful detention” (4). Despite that, Europeans in Western Europe feel it as their duty to help the fleeing victims. 80% of German and Italian nationals concur that the migrants should be proportionally dispersed across the continent. Most who are in favor of this scheme are left-wing ideologists: “70% and 81% of left-leaning voters have a favorable view of the EU’s relocation plans” (5). This epidemic is also seen in the U. S. Dr. Andrew Oldenquist, who teaches philosophy at the Ohio State University, argues that PC “has crippled efforts to think clearly about education and improve public schools in the inner city” (6). The writer of the article shares his experience of being accused of racism for dissenting against open border policies. Henceforth, this sparked uproar where a portion of his audience started throwing asinine accusations of racism at him, though it was never explained how it was racist (7). The incontrovertible reality is that whatever is deemed racist by the media is consumed by the masses without any inquiries. I will touch on this subject in my third contention. Contention 2: PC and Right Wing Extremism Because of the massive migration influx, this has caused a clash between right-wing terrorism. For instance, the 2011 Norway attacks, executed by terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, was a politically motivated act. The staged terrorist attack targeted Norway’s Workers’ Youth League (a socialist organization who advocated the open border policies) and migrants; particularly, migrants identifying as Muslim and fleeing Islamic countries. Breivik was concerned that the country was being taken over, seeing that the birth rate of ethnic Norwegians began decreasing (3). He also considered it as his duty to eradicate the Muslim population from Norway (2). After the incident, many organizations / political parties supporting Muslim immigrants began using methods to prevent the dissemination of right-wing ideologists, which of course is by accusing people of racism, creating it a taboo activity when rejecting politically correct principles. Bruce Bawer, an American writer based in Norway argues: “In Norway, to speak negatively about any aspect of the Muslim faith has always been a touchy matter, inviting charges of 'Islamophobia' and racism” (8)… Bawer also asserts that one of the main reasons for right wing terrorist attacks like that of Breivik’s is the failure of politicians to emphasize on these types of attacks: “…the failure of mainstream political leaders to responsibly address the attendant challenges would result in the emergence of extremists like Breivik”. Disregarding the fact that Islam has been responsible for a vast number of terrorist attacks and perpetrations committed in Europe is ludicrous. Neglecting the issue only abets it even more (8). This is the issue of ignorance where people are freely and willingly accepting refugees into their homes, putting themselves under threat. An incident of this kind occurred once, where a teacher in Germany offered a refugee his home as shelter; then, the next day, he was found dead, his body being severely mutilated (9). Contention 3: PC Turns a Blind Eye The older generation used to taunt socialism as a completely imbecilic belief: “If a man is not a socialist when he is 20, he has no heart. If he is still a socialist at 40, he has no brain” (10)… This was primarily due to the flat rate being above 90% in the early 1970s. Generally, if you were making a decent salary at a young age, you were likely to identify as leftists. However, times have changed. Today, you could be making a decent yearly income, and still, identify as a socialist. Undoubtedly, people have a choice to be politically correct or incorrect. Freedom of Speech ends only when one begins to incite violence. Naturally, it is okay for people to call you a fascist or bigot if you don’t concur with their beliefs, though this utterly stupid, it is allowed. However, this is the issue, PC causes us to turn the blind eye and deny the existing issue. By throwing in accusations of racism and taboo, this siphons us from an intellectual conversation and debate. Activists are going as far burning books about European colonialism, Romans, Normans, and many other historical figures. The writer of the article argues: “Cultural correctness means we worry about offending the sensitivities of the communities from which sex attackers come and ignore the victims. We see it when we’re incapable of having sensible conversations about how Islam might fit into liberal western democracies. We see it when we tie ourselves up in knots over immigration for fear of saying anything wrong. And we see it when universities talk about banning books because they might upset students. ” (10). Indubitably, PC is has obstructed the West’s battle on terrorism by weakening the people of the West, where they became completely unvigilant and became subservient to a political ideology that calls a ban on everything that offends / marginalizes a certain group of people. We’ve become more tolerable towards immigrants flooding our countries. We’ve become unobjectionable to the point where Sweden has become the rape capital of Europe (11) after the massive influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees. Though the right-wing ideologists are reprimanded for their past of pushing forward fascism, the left-wing ideologists aren’t any different either. Nonetheless, the irrefutable truth is, the left became dominant in many western countries. Sources: (1): . http://bit.ly... (2): . http://bit.ly... (3): . http://bit.ly... (4): . http://reut.rs... (5): . http://bit.ly... (7): . http://bit.ly... (8): . http://bit.ly... (9): . http://bit.ly... (10): . http://bit.ly... (11):. http://bbc.in...