I recently saw a movie titled, The Invention of Lying. Although it is classified as a comedy, I didn’t find much humor in the 2009 film. A few scenes made me chuckle, but overall I thought the movie was boring and just plain silly. In that film world no one ever lies. Everyone tells the truth and says exactly what they are thinking. When the main character, Mark, finds himself at wits ends after being fired from his job and watching his life slide downhill, he decides to do something different to improve his life. He tells a lie – the world’s first lie. Since no one in the universe is familiar with lying, people believe everything that Mark says and he soon begins taking advantage of his newly acquired skill. Nice stretch of the imagination, but the movie left me wondering how the real world would be if everyone told the truth all the time.
The film gave me cause (yet again) to think about the downside of political correctness, an apparent good idea run amok. Now it has become a game that no one wants to play anymore, but everyone is being forced to participate to avoid being tagged out. You frequently see the absurdity of PC exposed on live TV programs, you hear it from politicians at public forums, and you even feel it when you and your peers hesitate to candidly express your thoughts, because you don’t know what reaction you will receive if your thinking does not align with theirs.
Stepping outside of the PC box can draw criticism like automatic gunfire. Is the practice zeroing a scope on the First Amendment right of free speech? Anyone can say anything publicly providing that what’s said conforms to the liberal ideology and the status quo. To say something contrary about another person’s racial or ethnic group, sexual orientation, gay marriage, interracial relationship or anything considered to be “the new norm” could be political suicide, cost you your job, or negatively impact you in some other manner.
In today’s society honesty is more of a detriment than a virtue. Do you always speak the truth and risk alienating your peers, co-workers or other people or do you act like Mark and take the safer route?
CNN addressed this subject in 2005 when it issued a statement defending its use of the word “refugees” relative to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Will people eventually say “enough already” or will society ride the PC train until it crashes and burns?
Pop quiz – How do relatively honest people living in a PC saturated society avoid intimidation? They lie.