I remember the first time that someone called me a "bigot."
It was in response to my taking a liberal stance on 'free speech', (now commonly referred to as the 'Libertarian stance') where I concluded that "the government should possess no authority to fine or imprison an individual for, or otherwise preclude from, expressing or vocalizing their opinion."
As a proponent of philosophy and critical thinking, I, as a young man, took enormous offense to the grotesque slander of being labeled as 'closed-minded.'
C'est la vie.
Flash forward a decade to present time, and the "bigot" insult doesn't have the same potency as it once had. In fact, it's become such a commonplace buzzword that it's virtually lost all meaning.
It's kind of like the word 'heathen' or 'blasphemer'. Once upon a time these were serious charges that could potentially have a devastating impact on those who stood accused.
If somebody called you a "heathen" in 21st century America, however, you'd probably just laugh them back to the dark ages from whence they came.
So what's happening with the so called 'P.C. Police?' Where did they summon their presumed authority?
Society, through cultural revolution, wrote the 'new tenets of morality'; that diametrically, and often times antagonistically, opposed the previously established moral code wrought by evangelical predecessors.
In other words, the morals of the 'religious right-wing' were being overrun by the emerging left-wing's.
The new morals were written, but it needed its own muṭawwiʿūn; its enforcers.
Factions of the new left assumed that role, in various forms, and began aggressively attacking those who were formerly viewed as 'power wielders': the church, fundamentalists, ultra-conservatives etc.)
The war was waged primarily via the media, left-leaning publications, academia etc. with only isolated incidents involving physical violence and/or coercion.
Yesterday's liberals knew this was happening. Some even encouraged it because they shared much of this "new" morality (marriage equality replacing religiously provoked anti-gay legislation, for example).
Initially the culture war against the evangelical right-wing was a tangled web consisting of liberals, libertarians, leftists, radical leftists, anarchists etc.
They were able to function as a result of their shared enemy: dubbed the 'authoritarian right.'
But early observers, such as George Carlin, saw the propensity for backfire and prophesied that enforcing new, contrasting moral codes would draw identical tyranny.
Carlin famously said:
“Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people's language with strict codes and rigid rules. I'm not sure that's the way to fight discrimination. I'm not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech.”
Carlin was right. It backfired.
The P.C. Police's power had grown too strong. Moreover, its focus no longer had precision. An umbrella effect occurred and the targets of the P.C. Police increased exponentially.
Liberals, who once thought they possessed a sort of diplomatic immunity, were now being targeted.
Comedy writers, in protest, took aim against the P.C. police by satirizing political correctness in the mid-late 90's. Television programs like 'South Park' and 'The Simpsons', that were viewed as "cool" by America's youth, went on to lead creative campaigns to thwart the reach of PC dominance.
20th century intellectuals, both on the right and the left, criticized political correctness and attempted to dissect and dismantle it.
Even outspoken leftists, like Professor Umberto Eco, who sympathized with the intended good of political correctness, sharply criticized it for becoming erratic in practice.
Musicians, like Billy Corgan of the 'Smashing Pumpkins' voiced strong opposition to the P.C. police's hypnotic and tyrannical effect on society. A voice shared across a multitude of music genres-- on P.C.'s ability to curtail artful free expression.
The ACLU, which has more than occasionally wandered off the path of 'civil libertarian' and onto the road of regressive outrage politics itself, has still rigorously maintained its stance on the 1st amendment and continues to teach the importance of free speech.
So what happened to all of this, both reasoned and comical, opposition to the P.C. Police?
As Ricky Gervais, socialist, atheist and one of PC's latest victims, will tell you, they'll simply brand you as an "Alt-Right Nazi" and attempt to protest you into oblivion.
People of all political affiliations, religions, races, genders etc. are being aggressively targeted by a disproportionate, elitist group of busybody neo-puritans.
We've attempted denial, intellectual discourse, bargaining, reason, satire, comedy and everything in between to try to level with them... to no avail.
In the grand chronology of things there can only be one final step; we simply have to ignore them.
