OPINION

Political correctness is out of control

Bill Kennedy

Political correctness – absolutely the first part, and definitely not the second. The concept is abhorrent to me since it distorts or attempts to eliminate historical truths to make them fit the viewpoint of modern society. Perfectly good words, phrases, job titles and the like are considered to be offensive to a portion of the population for no reason that is apparent to me. Certain segments of our society seem to be overly sensitive to things that are not directed toward them individually or as a group. They are simply historical leftovers that aren’t in line with current views of society.

History is what it is, the record of things that happened in the past. It is inevitable that some of those happenings were unpleasant by today’s standards, but removing things that remind us of them will not remove them from our past.

In the city of Baltimore, the mayor is considering whether to remove two pieces of statuary from public places because they celebrate the positives in the lives of several significant historical figures. One of these statues is of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger Brooke Taney, whose most well-known decision was probably his worst; and the other is a beautiful piece with artistic merit, although it is of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson. The larger statue is a double equestrian, which is very rare, that was created by a woman, another probably even rarer happening. Simply because the subjects of the statuary in question have an association with slavery, a small but very vocal segment of the population sees racism, which was never the intent of the sculptors.

What is the next target of the zealots? Should we cover the faces of Washington and Jefferson on Mount Rushmore? Could the call to dismantle the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in D.C. be on the agenda? Would Washington and Lee University need to be renamed? Maybe the capitol city and the western state need to change as well.

Recently H.C. “Curley” Byrd had his name removed from the University of Maryland’s stadium simply because he was a product of his times and, like the leaders of many colleges located in southern or border states, fought to keep the university segregated. It made no matter to those who led the campaign to remove his name that he built many of the classroom buildings, the McKeldin Library, Cole Field House as well as the stadium. His successes were ignored in the name of political correctness.

It’s not just about statues or places or things, political correctness attacks our language too. Job titles and other words that end with m-e-n, must now be changed because they are wrongly perceived as demeaning to women. Naval Academy students, both male and female, are referred to as midshipmen. The term refers back to the times when naval officer trainees slept below decks in the center of the ship, hence midshipmen. Since the academy students are likewise officer trainees, the term fits. There aren’t policemen or firemen any more, they are lumped as first responders, which is all well and good, but to my mind, whatever the title, it has nothing to do with gender, just the job.

There are probably more than a few things that could upset me if I chose to let them, but I don’t. Attempting to hide the realities of history only shortchanges the upcoming generations by not giving them all of the facts on where we are as a society and how we got here.

Bill Kennedy writes every other Monday from Taneytown.