While rereading Sarah's monologues all I could think of this the song "Every one's A Little Bit Racist" from the Broadway Musical "Avenue Q". So posted is a link to a video of the London cast performing this live. The sound is off but I think that everyone should take the time to listen to the lyrics (which are slightly different from the ones in the US version since they have inserted British humor) they really are insightful and relate to the theme of "Spinning into Butter" and the idea of always being PC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA&feature=related
The last verse of the song goes as follows:
"Every one's a little bit racist, it's true. But everyone is just about as racist as you! If we all could just admit that we are racist a little bit, and everyone stop being so PC, maybe we could live in harmony."
I think this relates to the play in that one of the driving forces of the play is the need to be PC. But, when you think about it being PC sometimes can be a bigger problem then just stating your mind, as exemplified in "Spinning into Butter." So, if everyone stopped being PC would we live in harmony or would racism be worse?
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I think PC is important to a point. When you're just meeting someone you shouldn't be calling them ethnic slurs, even in a joking manner. I do notice that as people begin getting more comfortable with one another they will joke about someone's ethnicity or gender or sexuality and so on. But really, people do treat the race difference a little too seneitively I agree.
ReplyDeleteIt's important to think about the origins of being PC. There used to be a lot of degrading sexist and racist language in public discourse, so a crusade came along to get it out (hoping that by removing it, people would think in less sexist and racist ways).
ReplyDeleteClearly, the pendulum has swung too far the other direction and everyone is scrambling to find the middle ground, which might just be, as Michael suggests, to be polite and PC until you know someone. The problem, though, is public discourse and how best to deal with the BS that always follows in the wake of political correctness.
Ok first of all I have to say, BEST SONG EVER! But seriously, one of the reasons I love that song so much is that I agree with it. I think that half of the reason people get themselves in trouble is that they dont know what is appropriate. If everyone stopped trying to be PC maybe things would get better.
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