We live in an age of being overly PC. It seems that we
must always be extremely careful about how we express ourselves. If I say
something that offends another person, then what I said is automatically wrong
and probably bullying. In some cases, if you’re not labeled a bully, you’re
just not respecting diversity.
Let me be clear on this, I know bullying exists and I
know it can be very damaging and at times have deadly consequences. I stand
firmly against this in any form. I do not support bullies in any way and I have
no problem calling people out for what I perceive to be bullying. It’s just
that on the flip side of that argument is what I see as the over application of
the term to a degree that seems to moderate the free exchange of ideas and
opinions. This moderation seems to slant in favor of the person(s) that are the
most offended by a particular idea or opinion. Sometimes thoughts and ideas
have to be suppressed for fear of being considered a bully. For this reason, it
seems to me that the pendulum has swung so far to one side that the concept of
anti-bullying has in and of itself, become bullying.
I see the exact same counterproductive measures being
applied to the whole idea of diversity. I see the diversity movement as an
attempt to divide people into different groups, point out all their differences
and then ask us to ignore them while celebrating them. Yep, this concept
thoroughly confuses me. I have seen some people carry this to such an extreme
that they seem to seek out a gay person or a black person to be friends with so
they can pull them out of their pocket and show them off to try and prove how
diverse they are when the need arises. You know who I’m talking about, in a
discussion they like to declare that they have LOTS of gay friends. In reality,
they probably have 2 gay acquaintances on facebook and have only met them a
couple of times. I think this kind of patronization is discrimination in its
ugliest form.
So I’m taking a stand against the Anti-Bullying Movement
with what I will call the Respect Movement. I don’t care what the color of your
skin is, where you were born, who you vote for, who you pray to, who you spend
your personal time with or anything else that makes you different from me. You
have every right to be who are your first obligation is to yourself. Even if I
disagree with you, I will fight to my dying breath for your right to be whoever
you are. I believe this is what freedom really is. Freedom for anybody means
freedom for all. However, I still reserve the right to disagree with you. You
also reserve the right to disagree with me, I’m not new to that idea. But
disagreeing must not cross the line into harassment.
I would also like to take a stand against the Diversity Movement
with what I call the Unity Movement. I think all people can come together and
learn to get along based on what we have in common. We all bring our own value
to any group. We are all different and through those differences we seem to
cover each other’s gaps and become a better and stronger whole. In order to
accomplish this, we need to learn to first come together and stop dividing
people into groups.
With that, I’m trading the idea of the Anti-bullying and Diversity campaigns for Respect and Unity campaigns.
