President Donald Trump is proof that the American people are tired of the caste of political correctness that has long bound our dialogue. The biggest irony of all is that the same leftists who try to dictate what we can and cannot say are also the people who like to baselessly throw around words like “racist,” “sexist,” and “Nazi.” Let us not forget who the real casualty is in this language war. The ones who suffer the most are the ones who have genuine grievances to voice. When the Left calls every conservative a racist, it cheapens the word to the point where it becomes all the harder to out those who really discriminate.
I saw this very thing happen in an article published in the New York Times. A professor by the name of Daniel Pollack-Pelzner wrote an entire article calling the classic Disney movie Mary Poppins racist because Mary is playing in blackface when she goes up a chimney with Dick Van Dyke’s character. Of course, there is no way any reasonable American wouldn’t make the distinction between having soot on your face from crawling in a chimney and actually trying to disparage black Americans. However, liberals like Pollack are perfectly content to throw the term “racist” around as long as it gets them a headline. They do not really care how many peoples’ childhoods are ruined as a result of their false characterization.
Of course, many people came to the defense of their beloved childhood favorite. However, their reasoned arguments were met with a very predictable conclusion. As Pollack wrote, “Here’s one thing I’ve learned about the alt-right, after I wrote this article and received a zillion hate messages in response: they sure like Mary Poppins!” In other words, if you disagree with Pollack’s false narrative, that automatically makes you an alt-right racist along with Mary Poppins herself.
This kind of linguistic chicanery should not be tolerated. Real racism is a blight upon the lives affected by it. Let us work to make sure the word is not cheapened to mean anything less than the depravity it is.
