POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

[SandyB]

HELP ME  HERE ,,,  I WAS READING AN ARTICLE  IN THE BUSINESS TIMES  A DAY OR TWO AGO , THE COMMENTARY WAS  ON THE STATE THAT SA's  UNIVERSITIES ARE  HEADING FOR  DUE  TO  FOLLOWING  THE PATH  OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS .. NOW  UNIVERSITIES  ARE  SUPPOSED TO BE PLACES OF EXCELLENCE .???
ANYHOW  SHE COINED A PHRASE  THAT WAS  SO PROFOUND ABOUT THE PC PLAGUE  ..  I WROTE  IT  DOWN  BUT LOST THE PIECE OF PAPER ...  IT  SAID IN ESSENCE THAT  POLITICAL CORRECTNESS HAD  SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE  AMMUNITION OF THE ............   LOST IT ,  CLOSEST  AND BEST I COULD FIND ON SEARCH WAS ,,,

" POLITICAL  CORRECTNESS  IS ANARCHY WITH MANNERS " 

INTERESTING TO DEBATE AND GIVE OUR THOUGHTS   .. ANYONE GOT SOME CHOICE SAYING ON THIS ??

[Bob Molloy]

Hi Sandy,

               Political correctness is all part and parcel of the wave of postmodernism which began around the first decade of the 20th century and swept the world after WW2. Essentially it deconstructed all the grand narratives and threw the field open for the upsurge of nutcase ideas and cults that largely dominated the thinking of the children of the Sixties.

It brought in the concept of relativism (any society is as good as any other society, any idea is as good as any other, there is no single truth and morality is just what I say it means.

Postmodernism infiltrated the universities and particularly the teaching of economics at business schools, producing those nice people who gave us boom and bust while walking away with billions of pension fund money in their Swiss bank accounts. It also gave us those academics who dreamed up political correctness.

Which brings us to your search for a definition. In my view, political correctness is the deeply held belief that you can pick up a turd by the clean end.

Regards,
Bob.

[SandyB]

ha  ha ..  Bob  read that one  in  my search ... a good analogy ...

[SandyB]

Mmm  see  no  opinion ...   come on  folks ..  lifes  far  more  important  than  when  is the  next braai  or   whatever  ..   PC  is an invasive  disease  that will paralyse all free thought .. and trust me it stalks ... when one of your  youngsters  suddenly subscribes  to it you gonna  be  sidetracked ..   be the rebel .. encourage your   young to be the rebel ...   

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

Hi Sandy, I got this post from Business Day.

South Africa: Universities Blinded By Political Correctness

Rhoda Kadalie 5 October 2010
opinion


Johannesburg — THE vice-chancellors of South African universities would do well to consider the place of their university within the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings. Interesting global shifts are taking place, and while the University of Cape Town (UCT) ranks within the top 200, our other universities come nowhere close.

While UCT came 146th last year, this year it has dropped to 161st place. Universities should improve, not deteriorate. Instead of questioning the ranking criteria and finding excuses, vice-chancellors should do their damndest to provide top-quality education for our children.

The world rankings are based on achievements in research, teaching and knowledge transfer. Accordingly, universities that do well invest much funding and competition into these three arenas. Sadly, at a recent higher education summit in SA, issues such as equity and diversity were placed high as priorities. When I raised why academic excellence did not even feature in the list of priorities, the response was that it was implied in all the other goals. And this is the problem: some vice-chancellors are too intimidated to put academic excellence their top priority against the government's political agenda.

South African universities perform poorly internationally because they give primacy to ideology and not excellence in teaching and research. We fail to produce high-quality research and graduates because "transformation" tops the agenda. Universities appoint transformation directors, but the budget, resources and powers of reporting do not match the rhetoric. On many campuses, academic freedom is dead and it is quite mind-boggling how much self- censorship and massaging of statistics, if not direct interference, take place in the public relations work of universities. This seeps into the teaching, knowledge transfer, research agendas, debate and academic discourse.

A case in point is a recent Mail & Guardian report in which University of Johannesburg deputy vice- chancellor Adam Habib warned the university would sever its ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University unless their joint memorandum of understanding was amended to include Palestinian Universities and it severed its ties with the Israeli military.

The University of Johannesburg debated this decision for four hours and then enlisted other universities to support it and, of course, oozing with political correctness, many immediately claimed to have no link s with Israeli universities. Analyst Steven Friedman said: "The decision is a breakthrough for those who think there should be no collaboration with Israeli institutions that undermine human rights."

The decision is no such thing. It is politically correct nonsense. Israeli universities do not undermine human rights. Israel is one of the freest democracies in the world and political dissent is widespread on Israeli campuses. Israeli universities have a level of political independence we can only envy in our own universities, which are unduly politically influenced and sickeningly politically correct.

When the University of Johannesburg should be focusing on academic excellence and freedom, or the problems assailing SA, it wastes its time going on a crusade against Israel. There is more academic freedom in Israel than here and while political correctness has become the dictatorship of the left in SA, universities abroad are flourishing. Such sectarian academic boycotts freeze dialogue and communication and expose the narrow-mindedness and the bigotry of those who crusade.

Why not pursue Sudan, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Iran with the same vigour? Why the silence against Iran's dictator? Why the silence against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan? Why has Israel become the whipping boy of leftist academics? The reason, I believe, is because their leftist project internationally and in SA in particular, has failed dismally. South African universities are so low on the academic radar that such a boycott will be laughed out of court. We have more to lose by cutting our ties with universities abroad than they have to gain from us.

Kadalie is a human rights activist.

[SandyB]

Thanks Pepe  that was the  expression  ....   

while political correctness has become the dictatorship of the left in SA,


SOOO   TRUE ...   

I  REMAIN   AS THEY WOULD  CALL  PROUDLY EUROCENTRIC  .. ITS AFTER ALL MY  CULTURAL HERITAGE AND MY RIGHT ...  I WONT SHOVE  IT UPON ANYBODY AND EXPECT THE SAME IN RETURN ...