The chilly winds of Political Correctness blow ever stronger.
Item #1: This past Thursday the French Parliament
passed
a law that bans
insults of women and homosexuals. No more calling a woman "mal baisée"
(sexually frustrated), or referring to the cleaning lady as a "femme de
ménage."
Item #2: To the north, the Canadian government features a report on its
website that proposes to categorize any sort of anti-feminist commentary
as a form of
hate
speech.
Item #3: A couple weeks ago Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party,
was
arrested for "incitement to commit racial hatred." His
offense? He was caught saying that Islam is a "vicious, wicked faith."
Item #4: In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green was recently sentenced to
one month
in jail. His crime was delivering a sermon that described homosexuality
as a "cancer of the society".
Now, people say it's only a matter of time until the Bible is banned as
a form of hate speech.
Of course these comments -- which disparage ideologies, not individuals
-- pale in comparison to the ad-hominem attacks that have gushed out of
the Left since it lost in the November 2 elections. But no one seems to
consider its invective to be hateful.
Any student of 20th century European history knows that totalitarianism
is knocking on America's doors. So it's time to honor a stalwart
American who this past year demonstrated undaunted courage and true grit
to turn back the forces of PCism.
This year's Award is based on three counts of bravery.
First, this man showed great fortitude as a candidate for governor. A
week before the election, a major liberal newspaper with the initials
"L.A.T." published allegations from six women that he had groped them.
Some of the incidents went back three decades, and the women were so
traumatized by the event that they hadn't been able to file a formal
complaint for all these years.
Political Correctness dictates that any politician so accused must
promise that if elected, he will pour millions of dollars into the local
Women in Perpetual Recovery from Sexual Assault fund. But this man would
have none of that. He issued a brief apology, and four days later went
on to win the election.
Second, last July he chided the Democrats for legislative foot-dragging,
using the derisive moniker "Girlie-Men." Despite the wailings of the
Easily Offended, a month later he tagged candidate John Kerry with the
same label. And during his televised speech at the Republican National
Convention, the "G-M" phrase was repeated
in
front of millions.
Don't worry, "girlie-man" is not a sexist put-down. When young lasses
chide their boyfriends for being wishy-washy, they call them "girl."
Women say it all the time, so why not a male politician?
Finally, our 2004 Award Winner took on the hot-button issue of Paternity
Fraud.
Political Correctness dictates that fathers must pay their child support
obligations -- even if they aren't the real dads. That rigid mind-set
has given rise to the welfare scam of the decade.
Paternity Fraud is when mothers of newborn infants -- usually single and
low-income women -- list the wrong man as the father of the baby. If she
happens to name an unsuspecting bloke with a decent job, she is assured
of legally-enforceable child support payments for the next 18 years.
Laws in many states make it difficult, if not impossible, for such men
to shed the yoke of a child support order -- even if they provide DNA
evidence showing they are not the biological father. Sounds incredible,
but it's an injustice that envelopes many
thousands of men nationwide.
But in late September this man defied PCism for a third time. He signed
a bill that will allow men to go back to court with their DNA results
and show that they were framed. The new bill
takes
effect January 1.
So roll the drums and open the envelope....Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
please step forward. You are the winner of the 2004 Award for Political
Incorrectness.
Take a bow, Mr. Schwarzenegger. Thunderous applause. Encore, encore.
