Political correctness

Part I: The Context

I warn you, dear reader, that with the exploration I am about to propose on the many negative effects I have found in those who follow, with exaggeration and extremism, the doctrine of "political correctness", I will run the serious risk of taking the opposite path.

Despite the warning, mind you, I myself started this article in a way that might be considered politically correct. In the days we live in there seems to be a bewilderment from the political point of view, in more than one sense. One might hypothesise that it has therefore become more difficult to understand what is right. Often, under the weight of extreme caution, verging on fear, even the most innocent and innocuous expression of an idea, opinion or feeling can be seen as "sincericide". Out of caution, so as not to hurt anyone, myself included, I decided to start by using the form I will criticise.

A few years ago I came into contact with a definition of "political correctness" that has become ingrained in my memory, to the point of making it my own. In fact, this means that I have forgotten the source and have been drawing on it to elaborate on the subject. The definition goes something like, "political correctness is a theory that supports the idea that it is perfectly possible to pick up a piece of shit from the clean side". Well, I don't think it's possible. If it's shit, it's shit. It's going to get dirty, stink and contaminate. On the other hand, if we see it beyond its most prominent features, we can use it as fertilizer, for example. Not as a tragic end to something but as a catalyst for some kind of beginning.

Apparently, we are not born equipped with the association of shit with crap. It's not natural to us, like shit. Only with experience, culture and education do we learn to make that connection. I bet you will know stories, in many cases the reader will be the protagonist, in which a child tastes or manipulates shit, moved by anything but repulsion. In the light of these stories, one could say that curiosity kills political correctness; it kills the idea of 'shit'. By contrast, it will be certainty, rigid conviction, inflexibility and the need for control that will drive us to choose to be more political. I won't be surprised if some psychoanalysts say we are more "anal".

We cannot change the essence of shit. We can, however, change the way we treat it and the end we give to it. You could say that those who opt for political correctness treat shit with such affection that they prefer not to touch it, so as not to spoil it, perhaps. Of course, we have to consider the obvious misophobic hypothesis: those who run away from dirt at all costs.

That seems to be one of the main motivators for using political correctness: caution. Not hurting, avoiding exposure, ensuring there are no misinterpretations or subsequent offence are all reasons why we say things with extreme caution. Caution, by the way, is at the origin of the expression 'politically correct'. It was created to designate language or actions that do not hurt or offend protected or typically disadvantaged groups. However, some argue, as I do, that this caution is being taken away from correctness, towards limiting freedom, in more than one sense. The worst of these being, the absence of freedom of thought.

So much so that it can border on arrogance. To assume that we know what will be best for the other person is, to say the least, patronising (it can also be maternalistic, to be politically correct). On the other hand, we are all so sensitive that such caution seems justified. Just observe the speed, ferocity and voracity of the attacks on any comment that does not align with the pre-existing and conventional, "black-or-white" ideas. If you don't know what I'm writing about, take a look at the social networks or the comment boxes of online newspapers.

At the risk of contradicting myself, examples like these can lead us to think that the notion that political correctness is going too far is wrong. And we easily find arguments to support this other perspective. Look at the recent cases of presidents of nations, some of them newly elected, and other political leaders who have gained weight and traction, and it will be easy to see that these figures represent, in many ways, the opposite of political correctness. The idea of contradiction is dear to the notion of political correctness. If on the one hand it was created to dispel prejudice, today it is used to maintain and solidify it.

Let it be clear, dear reader, the point of this reflection is not to expose my political position, nor to analyse how political correctness is being used by the left and the right, or whether it is for or against liberalism. It is true that the subject is on the agenda because there is so much talk about gender (un)equality, diversity and the fight against prejudice. My interest is more mundane. I am mainly interested in the effects of political correctness on interpersonal relationships, its impact within work teams and companies, and the way it influences friendship, family and marital relationships. This is exactly the point I will explore in the second part of this article.

Part II: The "disease" of political correctness in work teams

From my experience in the world of organisations, political correctness continues to do its thing. And, yes, in the context of interpersonal relations, in a large part of Portuguese companies, I believe it continues to produce quite negative results. Let's get back to the shit.

Imagine that in a work team there is an issue related to relationships between its members. Someone who can't stand someone, for example. Although it is known by everyone, this issue has not been talked about by anyone, ever. By putting this team in a picture, we can draw a circle where all the members are sitting on chairs, facing the centre. In the middle of the circle is a large turd. Like all of its kind, it stinks. Everyone smells it, many are bothered by it and there may even be some who like it (there's no accounting for taste). But there it is. Everyone sees it and everyone smells it. No one does anything about the situation. No one acts to alleviate the annoyance and discomfort. Rather, inaction keeps the turd in place, producing its effect. This is what political correctness looks like within a team.

There are teams and people who, not being able to stand that sight and smell anymore, adopt the strategy of putting a bag around "the problem". But everyone knows that if you have a bag with crap, the tendency is to fill it with more crap. It could be a universal law: rubbish attracts rubbish. Just look at any street in Lisbon. If someone puts a rubbish bag at the door, the bag is immediately transformed into a mini dump. The bag strategy is based on the definition I put forward in the first article - "political correctness is a theory that supports the idea that it is perfectly possible to take a piece of shit from the clean side" - which is the same as saying: it is possible to transform shit into something else, without doing something,. It isn't. On the other hand, to my knowledge, a bag like Sport Billy's has yet to be invented. All the bags I know of have limited capacity, they fill up. I'll spare you the image, or maybe it's too late, of what happens when you puncture, out of impatience, exhaustion or any other reason, a bag full of shit.

So what's the solution? Someone has to pick up the slack. Someone has to get dirty, knowing they can get clean. Even better if you can do it as a team. That way the dirt is spread. And the positive effect will be felt by all. In practice, the only way I know how this can happen is by talking. Not just any conversation. They are conversations about the way you talk. This will be the first step towards eliminating political correctness and starting to move towards the right.

It takes little for disintelligences, lack of alignment, differences in ways of being and working, idiosyncrasies, expectations to cause difficulties in interpersonal relationships and, as a result, in the work that a team has to operate. "You passed me in the cafeteria and didn't sit down to have lunch with me"; "you always unformat documents"; "you always refute my ideas"; "you don't let me talk"; "your opinion is always taken into account, mine isn't"; "your desk is always in chaos"; "you are unpleasant with me". These are just a few examples of small things that can become big problems when not addressed correctly. When you opt for political correctness. For the maintenance of the status quo, which is so often synonymous with "rotten peace".

I have verified, through the good examples I have seen, that the best antidote to political correctness, at the level of relationships between people, is elegance. And I have seen that the recipe for elegance includes ingredients such as: courage, respect, perspicacity and candour. These are qualities that we can hardly learn on our own. So, dear reader, if you want to cure yourself of the disease of political correctness, without falling into its opposite extreme, which is to become a rascal without filter, start by talking about it. As in any cooking recipe, the final result is not a mere sum of its components. And none of the ingredients is worth by itself. To "cook" good teams, we must use the best tools we have at our disposal: conversations.

Part I was originally published on Link to Leaders on 14 December 2018.

Part II was originally published on Link to Leaders on 14 January 2019.