Political Correctness

We of the left and center-left are often criticized for being PC. Many people overreact to stupid stuff, but a lot of PC is actually good for the promotion of civil society. It’s no longer PC to use the n-word, for instance. Unless you’re a rap artist.

But sometimes PC goes too far, and we like to have a laugh about it, or roll our eyes.

Usually, people on the right vilify those on the left and center-left for their political correctness, and hold PC up to ridicule and scorn. Which is fine…they have that right.

But the right has its own form of political correctness, and it can get ugly and chill dissent.

Craig posted yesterday about two items (with an update):

1. A Newsweek cover that was published in Korea for Koreans, which accused the US under Bush of abandoning freedom altogether. Craig made the true point that Newsweek would never dare publish that cover in the US. I wonder if the Korean version of Newsweek has editorial independence and a Korean editorial staff? In which case, it’s sort of dopey to worry about or cancel our subscriptions to Newsweek about. Thought and discussion about whether, in fact, that accusation is true is something we in America could very well do with. E.g.:

In order to bypass the Western world’s opposition to, and legislation against, torture, we now render captives to third world countries, (which do not have similar opposition, legislation, or opportunity for opposition), for a thorough going-over. Discuss.

2. A Pepsico executive who gave a commencement speech at an MBA graduation ceremony at Columbia U. (In the interests of full disclosure, one of my parents works for Pepsico).

Here’s the full text of the speech.

If you’ll bother to click & read, you’ll see first of all that she was using the hand as an analogy as to how America is perceived in global business. She was not saying, “this is what I think”.

This evening, graduates, I want to share a few thoughts about a topic that should be near and dear to your hearts: the world of global business. But, I’m going to present this topic in a way that you probably haven’t considered before. I’m going to take a look at how the United States is often perceived in global business, what causes this perception, and what we can do about it. To help me, I’m going to make use of a model.

To begin, I’d like you to consider your hand. That’s right: your hand.

Other than the fact that mine desperately needs a manicure, it’s a pretty typical hand. But, what I want you to notice, in particular, is that the five fingers are not the same. One is short and thick, one tiny, and the other three are different as well. And yet, as in perhaps no other part of our bodies, the fingers work in harmony without us even thinking about them individually. Whether we attempt to grasp a dime on a slick, marble surface, a child’s arm as we cross the street, or a financial report, we don’t consciously say, “OK, move these fingers here, raise this one, turn this one under, now clamp together. Got it!” We just think about what we want to do and it happens. Our fingers — as different as they are — coexist to create a critically important whole.

This unique way of looking at my hand was just one result of hot summer evenings in my childhood home in Madras, India. My mother, sister, and I would sit at our kitchen table and — for lack of a better phrase — think big thoughts. One of those thoughts was this difference in our fingers and how, despite their differences, they worked together to create a wonderful tool.

As I grew up and started to study geography, I remember being told that the five fingers can be thought of as the five major continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Now, let me issue a profound apology to both Australia and Antarctica. I bear neither of these continents any ill will. It’s just that we humans have only five fingers on each hand, so my analogy doesn’t work with seven continents.

Clearly, the point of my story is more important that geographical accuracy!

First, let’s consider our little finger. Think of this finger as Africa. Africa is the little finger not because of Africa’s size, but because of its place on the world’s stage. From an economic standpoint, Africa has yet to catch up with her sister continents. And yet, when our little finger hurts, it affects the whole hand.

Our thumb is Asia: strong, powerful, and ready to assert herself as a major player on the world’s economic stage.

Our index, or pointer finger, is Europe. Europe is the cradle of democracy and pointed the way for western civilization and the laws we use in conducting global business.

The ring finger is South America, including Latin America. Is this appropriate, or what? The ring finger symbolizes love and commitment to another person. Both Latin and South America are hot, passionate, and filled with the sensuous beats of the mambo, samba, and tango: three dances that — if done right — can almost guarantee you and your partner will be buying furniture together.

This analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents leaves the long, middle finger for North America, and, in particular, the United States. As the longest of the fingers, it really stands out. The middle finger anchors every function that the hand performs and is the key to all of the fingers working together efficiently and effectively. This is a really good thing, and has given the U.S. a leg up in global business since the end of World War I.

However, if used inappropriately — just like the U.S. itself — the middle finger can convey a negative message and get us in trouble. You know what I’m talking about. In fact, I suspect you’re hoping that I’ll demonstrate what I mean. And trust me, I’m not looking for volunteers to model.

Discretion being the better part of valor…I think I’ll pass.

What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. — the long middle finger — must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand…not the finger. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because the U.S. — the middle finger — sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.

Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand — giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers — but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

It’s a poignant little tale, reminding graduates that, as American citizens we are unofficial ambassadors of America to the rest of the world. Ms. Nooyi, a naturalized citizen, was asking the graduates not to conduct themselves with arrogance and disrespect for other countries and cultures, but instead to reflect America as the compassionate world leader we strive to be. She goes on, describing a recent stay at a Beijing hotel which had been upgrading its bathrooms:

In the hotel’s bar, the woman overheard a group of five American businessmen loudly making fun of the hotel’s lavatory facilities. As the drinks flowed, the crass and vulgar comments grew louder, and actually took on an angry, jingoistic tone. While these Americans couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, their Chinese hosts spoke English very well, and understood every word the men were saying.

She made a valid point, and the sort of point one would expect to hear at a commencement exercize. Go out and do good while being good.

But the right wing reactionary blogosphere has taken Ms. Nooyi’s words and twisted them, out of context, so that it is now widely perceived that she said that the US is the middle finger. And some grads in the audience were “offended” by her remarks, so Ms. Nooyi will have to apologize has had to apologize, and Pepsico will have to apologize, and there will predictably be boycotts of Pepsi, and probably not a few death threats to Ms. Noori herself.

PC.

The right can’t lecture to the left about how political correctness stifles and chills speech and thought, while in the next breath exercizing its own brand of PC to stifle and chill speech and thought.

An immigrant woman who advocates ex-post-facto for the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and suggests that we should be interning Arabs and Arab-looking people with exotic names, has a good roundup of the right wing super-mega-overreaction. I mean, it’s so bad I seriously doubt that any of these people scored really well on the “reading comprehension” portion of the SATs.

Here’s a pretty typical example. This is just beyond cretinous:

If you hate America so much Mrs. Nooyi then go back to India. Your comparison of the fingers to the continents is probably the worst attempt at political humor and slander…besides, there are 7 continents, not just 5. I think mine is better:

1. France deserves it’s own body part becuase it is just that bad. I think the back would be appropriate becuase everytime there is a conflict, what do we see? That’s right, their asses high tailing it out of there, screaming for mercy and waving a white flag.

2. The UN. Well, the UN isn’t a continent or a country, but it has enough influence to be worthy of a body part. I say….the armpit. All I smell is stench and corruption coming out of the UN, and worst of all…we throw money at it like there is no tomorrow. Kind of like wearing deodorant…it just never holds up like we would like it too.

3. Canada. I don’t even know what to compare Canada too….other than a dumpster.

Read Nooyi’s remarks. Agree or disagree. And if you’re offended, get over it. You’re all big boys and girls.(?)