Give Me Furley Or Give Me Death!!!

When I was in my early 20s it was during the mid 90s. Body piercing was the thing to do. I had a friend who wanted to get her brow pierced, so we took a drive all the way down to Venice Beach to some hole in the wall piercing place (why she couldn't get it done where we lived, I don't know) so she could get her brow done.

Now, Venice has a bit of a rep, and that's good. There's nothing worse than waiting around for someone to get a piece of metal rammed through their face and there's nothing else around to look at. Good thing that Venice has a dynamic array of weirdos and freaks year-round. Plus, there's the dudes working out, and there's that big mural of Jim Morrison, which is pretty interesting to look at for about 38 seconds, mostly to wonder why someone chose to paint a picture of Jim Morrison on a wall in the first place. Another thing to do while at Venice is to look for all the locations that appear in the opening credits of Three's Company.

Looking for such exciting locals as the bike path where Jack fell over on his bike while ogling some hot chick enevitably leads to humming, then outright singing the theme to the show. The theme song sounds like the guy singing is drunk.

It's weird.

But it's not just the theme song, the show itself is a total mindf**k. Supposedly, it's based on some Britcom called Man of the House. I've never seen the original show, but if it's a trippy as the American version, I'm glad that I haven't. Ok, the show is about 3 roomates: two chicks, the ultra-babe Chrissy, and the plain but feisty Janet (she has to bebecause she's not as hot. She's like Kate Jackson in Charlie's Angels. Sabrina was the smart one. She's the one who kicked ass because whe wasn't so hot that a guy wouldn't sock her in the face), and the one dude, a chef named Jack. Now, apparently the free love 60s had totally passed their landlord, Mr. Roper, by because he wouldn't allow single opposite-sex people to live in the same unit, even if one of them is the pretty-in-a-plain-way Janet. So, in order to get Mr. Roper to allow Jack to stay, the 3 roomies had to convince Roper that there is ansolutely no possibility that Jack would ever bed either of his roomies premaritally. They tell their landlord that Jack is gay.

Jack isn't.

This is where, as they say, the hijinks ensue, but after watching the pilot episode, it's not so much hijinks as it is let the gay-bashing begin. This show is terrible! I don't mean that it's terrible in the qualitative sense, although there is a reasonable argument to be made that the show is an exercize in crap. But, this show is totally offensive. Mr. Roper's incessant anti-gay remarks (he calls Jack a "fairy" and "tinkerbell") are nearly cringe-inducing. Not to mention there's the total demeaning depiction of women in the show. Chrissy is really nothing more than some guy's whack fantasy -- blond and stupid.

Did you know that there's an episode where you supposedly can see John Ritter's balls?

Really. He's wearing really short shorts and he raises his leg and there they are. I heard that the episode had aired for years before some kid watching the episode on Nick At Nite saw it and told her parents. I don't know how a kid saw it and all those adults that saw it did not.

What I kept thinking while I was watching was how politically incorrect the show is. The show debuted in the 1970s, and watching 70s TV is an exercise in spot-the-stereotype. You can pick virtually any show, and there's bound to be some character who would never make it to air these days. Sometimes, in the case of shows like What's Happening? or Good Times it's the entire show that's offensive. I often hear people lament that back in the 70s you could get away with alot more than you can get away with now. Some people say that movies like Blazing Saddles could never be made in our politically correct climate or that characters like Archie Bunker would never make it to air. That's probably true (it's also not true that the 70s were some magical no-holds-barred era of entertainment, either. you might not see Archie Bunker on TV but I certainly saw Dennis Franz's bare ass in primetime). There's alot of complaining about political correctness. If one spends any sizable amount of time watching Fox News, you'll hear quite a great deal of bitching and moaning about political correctness.

But is TV today more politically correct than TV 3 decades ago? And if it is, does it really matter? What's so wrong with being politically correct?

Political correctness, according to Random House is, " marked by or adhering to a typically progressive orthodoxy on issues involving esp. race, gender, sexual affinity, or ecology". Ok, that's the formal definition. Others say that political correctness simply means that you cant say anything about anyone that might hurt someone else's feelings (and those people are always hypersensitive about everything). They say that people are forced to be polite at the expense of telling it like it is -- at the expense of telling the truth. Some say that political correctness is a form of obfuscation, especially when we talk about issues like race or one's national origin or legal status. For example, if I want to say something like, "a lot of Mexicans use up social services", I might be accused of being a racist. I might say (then) that that accusation is an example of political correctness. I might say that calling me a "racist" is a way that some people attempt to obfuscate the fact that many illegal individuals of Mexican decent use a great deal of social services. I might say that I'm just telling it like it is, and if what I say offends people, that's too bad. The truth needs to be told no matter who it offends.

That's what I might say.

The idea is, is that being politically correct, some say, is the habit of focusing so much on not offending people that an issue never gets discussed fully. Being politically correct, when you get down to it, is a kind of lie. The truth is often unpleasant or offensive to some individual or group. If we hold back because we're trying not to appear to be racist, homophobic, sexist, ageist, classist, or anthrocentric, we're not being completely honest with each others or perhaps more importantly, we're not being honest with ourselves. All lies are insidious, but self-deception is a particularly damaging lie. When we lie to ourselves we distort how the world truly is. If we don't see the world how it is, we cannot navigate in it successfully. If we fail to see the truth, we are deprived of the Good life (for more on the harmful effects of deception and not living in reality, see Robert Nozick's The Experience Machine).

But some people may argue that the aim of political correctness isn't to deceive people. The aim is not that people are harmed by not calling a gay man "tinkerbell" or by not making blatantly racist comments. The goal of political correctness is being respectful of people and appreciating the fact that any person, no matter their gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, is entitled to respect. It isn't a lie, it's being polite. The old attitude, that it was morally acceptable to call a gay man a "fairy" or that it's ok to act like an Archie Bunker, denies the intrinsic dignity of people. Those who say that they do not like or want to practice political correctness, are, at heart anti-Kantian. Kant wrote that each rational agent is entitled to respect (of his choices and autonomy). Do fail to respect the individual is a violation of his rights.

The point (initially) isn't to impose some sort of Orwellian thought police-esque you-can't-say-that attitude on everyone (especially when we disagree with others) or to stop anyone from saying what they want to say. We are well aware that no matter what is said there's a chance that someone or some group may be offended by what is said. Being "politically correct" is nothing more than a reminder than other people are entitled to the same kind of respect that we would desire for ourselves. That it's just not nice to call a gay man tinkerbell.... unless he shows you his balls.

Then it's perfectly ok.

I Truly Hate the Well Intentioned

I usually try to stay away from political discussions. That's an odd thing, considering that I not only have a degree in political science (which, does not in any way qualify me to speak with authority about anything), but I truly get off watching politics and the political process. As a matter of fact, I've made it my habit to avoid any serious discussion about anything that I love or enjoy doing. I suppose there's some head shrinker's couch waiting for me somewhere. But what's got me, is the fact that everyone else seems to have an opinion about what's going on out there in Washington, and are freely expressing themselves -- for better or for worse -- all over talk radio, web logs, and at bus stops. I'm the weirdo who dodges political conversations (for god knows what real reason). Which , by the way, is why I haven't really said anything about our new Commander-in-Chief. If asked my opinion, I give my standard agnostic "we'll have to see". Meanwhile, I'm screaming a mile a minute inside my head all sorts of madness about Right-wing conspiracies, failed economic policies, and whether Plato had the right idea when he said that the rulers should lie to the public. As so many of my thoughts are motivated by conversations, I was thinking about how I felt -- not about whether I think that Obama will solve our economic troubles ( it sounds so trivial to call an impending global depression "troubles"), but about the man himself. A few days ago, I was watching "the View". Ann Coulter was on (god knows why) expressing her confusion over half-black notables who, despite being abandoned by their black fathers, seem to claim their black heritage while also abandoning their white parentage. I'm not going to say anything about Ann Coulter here, as there are lany people who rattle on about her in a negative manner. But, she did give a little food for thought. The food for me, it seems, wasn't why halfsies only claim one side, but the idea of half-whatevers at all. I thought of an email I sent to a friend not too long ago that brought up the topic of race mixing. Let me say now that I'm not against the mixing of races. I don't care who anyone marries as long as they are past the age of consent and the marriage wasn't some sort of forced marriage deal. That said, there are times when the well-intentioned can say things that... well, make you stop wondering why there are Ann Coulter's out there. A few months back, when the primaries were going on, I had a discussion with two other people about, which was at that time, the Obama candidacy. Ever the pessimist, I said that I was worried that some yahoo out there might want or attempt to do "something" to prevent Obama from taking the presidency. My conversation mates and I lamented the fact the the thought that someone may be so disturbed by having a black president to take up violent action had crossed each of our minds -- a sign that we are not as far from racism as we may like to think that we are. Somewhere, and I forget who, someone mentioned something about Obama's half white parentage. Now that I think about it, I think I mentioned the fact that hating Obama because he is black is sort of stupid because he isn't a fully black person. (I know, liberal drivel about we're all mixed anyway, blah, blah, blah...). I mentioned that I have several "goobacks" in my own family. ("gooback" is a term from the show South Park. It was used to describe people from the future who had interbred racially to the point that everyone had a tannish hue to their skin). Now, I consider myself a liberal. I'm into acceptance, not tolerance. I have no problem with the fact that my brother has chosen to create his own colony of goobacks, and as an American keenly aware of our past, I know that my own bloodline isn't "pure". But, there's a sentiment that I just cannot stand, and I heard it out of the mouth of one of my conversation mates. It's this: WE SHOULD ALL INTERBREED SO THAT WE GET SO MIXED UP RACIALLY THAT THERE WOULD BE NO WAY TO DISTINGUISH ONE RACE FROM ANOTHER AND SO WE'D END RACISM. Huh? You know, I've only heard this sentiment from the mouths of people who, although they express this truly endearing sentiment, never seem to live by the statement themselves.Or, worse yet, are the most racially isolated people that one would find. Now, I'm not saying that my conversation mate fits into either one of these categories, but from what I've seen, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did. It's not even that the idea is wrong-headded or immoral. It's a perfectly good solution for a problem. In the absence of specific breeds, we can't discriminate against something that does not exist. I wanted, at that time, to ask that person who suggested that we all interbreed ( as that individual was a different race than I) if that person wanted to get down an start muddying up our gene pools right then and there. But, what overrode my sense of taking that person seriously was my disgust at what they had said. Sure, the sentiment seems like it's from someone who is anti-racist. But that's just it -- it's a sentimental, but ultimately meaningless statement. It's empty in the face that it's just not practicable. Unless you have some sort of forced reproduction program, my email friend wrote to me, people won't voluntarily interbreed with anyone. What about those who are "pure" ? Will they become some sort of social outcasts? Will they be illegal? There's this Dr. Seuss story called "the Sneetches". There are two groups of sneetches, one who have stars on their stomachs, and those who do not. The ones with "stars on thars" are the superior sneetches and those who do not are inferior. As with life, those who do not have want, and those who do have don't want the have-nots to have what they have. It all goes to shit when this dude comes around with a machine that can put stars on the non-starred sneetches. Pretty soon, no one can tell who is who. In the end, they realize that the stars don't matter. Unfortunately, people don't learn like Dr. Seuss characters do. Given a world of sameness, the inventive human will always find something. If not your race, then it's your height, or weight, or you're too cute, or not cute enough -- always something. That's why I found my conversation mate's remark so offputting. It's a cya thing to say. The worst of political correctness. Saying that we should breed out race sounds like you're one of the ones who isn't secretly carrying a confederate flag in his pocket, but, in turn, it reeks of the worst ersatz naivete well-meaning liberals often express. The kind that solves the problem by ignoring the problem. Instead of really confronting the reason behind something like racism, the response is to pretty up the situation by suggesting some kind of well-meaning, but unobtainable solution, that could happen, if people would only enlighten themselves or, more to the point, reject conservativism and become pacifica-listening progressives. I think I'm done with this one.