From: sanio@sapwdf.UUCP (Dr Erhard Sanio)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.german
Subject: Re: Myths about "Political Correctness", was: V2, ..
Summary: Luegen haben kurze Beine
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:30:59 GMT
Organization: S.A.P. AG, Walldorf Germany

biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel) writes:

>Mal so ganz nebenbei: in den USA verbreitet sich seit einiger Zeit eine
>Art moralischer Arroganz die mit 'Political Correctness' kurz PC 
>bezeichnet wird. Hauptmerkmal dieses Leidens ist eine gewisse Blindheit
>gegenueber anderen Auffassungen und Meinungen, gekoppelt mit der
>Neigung Anderen ueble Motive zuzuschreiben. Ich kann es dem Werner
>verzeihen wenn er von dieser Krankheit infiziert wurde, schliesslich
>lebt er ja hier. Jedoch lese ich seit einer Zeit billig-moralische Predigen
>dieser Art auch von Deutschen. Ich kann nur hoffen dass es sich um
>einen gewissen jugendlichen idealistischen Ueberschwung handelt.

Well, Heiner, nice feeling to tell fairy tales from a remote country?
Maybe you forgot that under terms of modern communication the USA aren't
that far away.
As far as I see it, all that "PC" raving doesn't hold much water.
Personally, I did not find a single instance of persons or publications
claiming to be "politically correct" (maybe there are one or two), instead
lots of whining right-wing crybabies complaining to be under prosecution
of some PC world conspiracy once somebody dared to criticize bad habits,
sexist or racist language or simply their set of opinions - lacking reaso-
nable counter-arguments they chose to present themselves as victims of
the villainous PCers - without ever naming one.
Did I get it that wrong which political camp is argueing morally "pro life",
pro "family values", as a "moral majority", whatever? Do you probably post
from some strange parallel universe or do I get all my informations
from one?

The technique to suspect some bad motives or hidden agenda behind an
argumentation one cannot object in the first place has been developped 
long ago (some time during the Middle Ages, I suppose, though one could 
easily go back farther) and highly improved since then. Do you remember
the Cold War, McCarthyism etc.? IMHO best examples of blindness towards
opposing opinions, instead suspecting a hidden agenda. Only it never
called itself PC, too bad.
Now that those times are over, conservatives start to detect what sort 
of touchy souls the have and get deeply hurt by any contradicition.
Might it be that the attitude of self-pity has been learnt from Mr.
Kohl and his friends, just the opposite form of transatlantic crossover
than that you suggest to have happened?

By the way: as anonymous as the PC world conspiracy exposed by deeply
offended conservatives uses to remain are your accusations of "certain
Germans" supposedly developping moral arrogance in this group. We don't
like suspecting hidden agendas, thus we don't believe it was just a
tiny example of cowardice, don't we? You just didn't remember exactly
who and what, didn't you? If you did, you'd have such a lot of excellent
arguments, they just elapsed you, didn't they? Too sad, really.

>Aufpassen: alles was die Deutschen im zweiten Weltkrieg getan haben ist
>mithin verwerflich, denn sie waren die Agressoren. Alles was die
>Alliierten getan haben diente letzlich der Befreiung der Welt vom
>Faschismus und Nazismus, und ist also immer als positiv zu bewerten.
>(Siehe diverse Befreiungsdenkmaeler, wie etwa Berlin-Ost)
>Wer diesem nicht zustimmt ist wahrscheinlich ein verkappter Nazi.

He who is unable to comprehend is doomed to misinterpret. He
who lacks any factual argument is doomed to rave. He who can' t
argue at all is doomed to build up strawmen.
Those who didn't ban Biesel into their killfile (e.g. me) are doomed
to read his nonsense until they decide otherwise.


>Regards,
>       H. Biesel

regards, es

Newsgroups: soc.culture.german