POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
IN ITS ABSURDITY
We are and have been living in times where political correctness often makes you feel like you are walking in a minefield.
Sometimes it feels like political correctness is just a fancy elaborate, ingenious, embellished term for socially accepted censorship.
Political correctness has become a straightjacket. — Gary Oldman
Perhaps it is just me but I am tired of having to weigh every word I say to not accidentally offend anyone. In an earlier letter (AN IDEAL WORLD) I wrote about how counterproductive it is to give everyone and everything a label. I stand by all I wrote but due to this labeling that we are doing, we have to find more and more complicated ways to address people or things to ensure we do not step on anyone’s toes.
My attention was brought to a post on Instagram a while ago, which is a great example of the absurdity of today’s political correctness, overthinking, and overanalyzing.
This post was about the fact that we shouldn’t read classical fairy tales to children anymore, because they give children a wrong worldview. Fairy tales were presented as harmful and shameful in this post.
The author claims that
“we are feeding toxic beliefs to children with the bedtime stories we read to them and indoctrinating an understanding of the world which proves to be problematic when they grow up.”
The writer of this post apparently underestimates children, obviously believing that they do not know the difference between creative, beautiful fantasy and reality, stating:
“Most of the fairy tales you know are riddled with sexist and racist representations and we need to actively undo or alter these stories before any more damage is done.”
So, censorship has now even reached fairy tales… I was shocked but admittedly not really surprised considering the last two years…
The author of this article takes the example of Sleeping Beauty, the damsel in distress, to emphasize how harmful fairy tales are for children. After all, Sleeping beauty did not give her consent to be kissed by the prince:
“Kissing a girl in sleep is unacceptable. Sleeping Beauty is woken from slumber by a stranger’s kiss without her consent but it all ends well, for they fall in love at first sight and get married.”
So the question is, should Sleeping Beauty have sued the prince for sexual harassment? I highly doubt that anyone has ever heard of a sex offender stating in his defense that the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty was read to him too often in his childhood? Is it just me that sees the absurdity in this?
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism. — P. D. James
This post simply flabbergasted me because I was read fairy tales a lot as a child and it never crossed my mind to abandon my children in a forest when times got rough, as in Hansel and Gretel – which I read a lot to my children as well and they loved it. I also never even considered cannibalism or witch burning, which, if you take Hansel and Gretel apart is essentially what happens in this tale. Following the example of this hideous post, we would also need to ban or rewrite Harry Potter and all other fantastic stories for children as well. Imagine how harmful it would be if the children grab a broom and try to fly off a roof to play Quiddich… It would be the end of all fantasy and creativity!
I have always loved fairy tales and stories – and still do – and read them to my children when they were small and they loved them so much. I read them the old classics as well as modern ones and I hope they will do the same for their children one day. I see them as entertaining and not as educating. Fairy tales stimulate fantasy and increase creativity and there is certainly not enough of that in our world. Children are confronted with the harsh reality of life much too soon anyway so why not let them enjoy the world of fantasy, dreams, and happy endings as long as possible. Reality kicks in soon enough.
We all love a dream world once in a while, taking a break from our everyday lives. Isn’t that what fairy tales – classic or modern – are essentially for?
The latest from Germany in terms of the absurdity of political correctness is hard to beat though - and this is NOT an April Fool's joke
Last Friday there were several FridaysforFurture demos in Germany and an artist - who has already performed at a former FFF event - Ronja Maltzahn, was invited for the event in Hanover. However, she was uninvited again shortly beforehand for an absolutely unbelievable reason. I took the liberty to translate the letter she received:
Hello Ronja,
We are sorry that this news comes so spontaneously and that we have to cancel your invitation. The reason for this is that we are focusing on an anti-colonialist narrative in this global strike and therefore it is not acceptable for us to have a white person with dreadlocks on our stage. Dreadlocks on white people are a form of cultural appropriation because they are associated with the identity of black people and it was used by white people as a sign of oppression in the times of slavery. For this reason, white people should not wear dreadlocks, as they are appropriating a part of another culture without experiencing the systematic oppression behind it.
We hope that you will engage with this and we will offer you the opportunity to discuss this in the days after the demo if you wish.
Should you decide to cut off your dreadlocks by Friday, we would of course welcome you at the demo and let you play.
We are sorry that we let it come to this situation in the first place and that we didn't think enough about which artists would be requested for our demo.
Many greetings
FridaysforFurture Hanover
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at so much stupidity, ignorance, and arrogance when I read this. So now FridaysforFurture is also a fashion consultant and apparently they discriminate against people on the basis of their appearance. The absurdities really know no bounds anymore. So it is not enough to achieve uniformity through the useless and harmful masks, no, you are no longer allowed to choose your own hairstyle - perhaps this should be regulated by law...
I hope I don't have to hold up the sarcasm sign! The big question is how on earth you can take any of these people seriously when they are discrediting themselves like this?
🎶My Song of the Week
A song to relax, keep your cool, and put on repeat…
For more good music, go to this Spotify playlist where you can find all the songs from the Change & Evolve Letters!
📚My Poem of the Week
The Faeries by William Allingham (1824-1889) is a poem about fairies in the woodland. Allingham grew up in Ballyshannon in Co Donegal which is surrounded by beautiful countryside and no doubt provided much of the inspiration for Allingham.
The Fairies
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain lake,
With frogs for their watch-dogs,
All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old King sits;
He is now so old and gray
He’s nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with music
On cold starry nights
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern Lights.
They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,
Between the night and morrow,
They thought that she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of flag-leaves,
Watching till she wake.
By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
If any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
👀Impressions
A little magic from Lake Starnberg 🪄
If you would like to connect with me, find out more about the Enneagram and yourself, how it can transform you and your life, I would be happy to take the time for a speed coaching call that you can reserve right here go to my website or simply hit reply and get in touch with me directly.
Have a wonderful start to your weekend and don't take everything too seriously, especially not the hairstyles of others. As always, I look forward to your feedback and if you enjoy the read, give me a like!
Yours
Tanja 🤗
I’m sure you know this but here goes anyway: in antiquity the earliest forms of Greek statues were stylized young women and men, called kore and kouros respectively. The had dreadlocks.