Political Correctness or A Grassfire of Cultural Revisionism

Italian Americans will generally admit that they are very rarely burdened by racism and the general social policies that have prevented other groups from cultural access (social anomie). Of course, there are those nagging admissions that in spite of this privilege, Italians do carry particular burdens. Madison Avenue stereotypes persist, portraying Italian Americans as dumb guys named Guido with links to the Mafia. This malicious and perverted racist trend is habitually exacerbated through the proliferation of such mass cultural entertainment phenomena as: The Godfather, The Sopranos and Growing Up Gotti. All magnifying, romanticizing and in fact, glorifying, the most negative “cherry picked” elements of Italian culture. This is particularly injurious to Italian Americans who in fact, possess a truly rich cultural heritage. Under the guise of entertainment we are forced to view this disgusting bile. Although this garbage emanates from its smallest demographic, it is presented in a manner as if reflecting a majority of Italians.

Over five hundred years ago, an Italian started American history and yet there are those especially sensitive Italians who say that since their arrival they have faced unrelenting, exploitative racism, sexism, violation of rights, a veritable lexicon of victimization. Well, Italians seem to have arrived as the super sensitive City University of New York carved out and awarded Italian Americans a prized place in its affirmative action list of official victims deserving of remediable preferences. I find it noteworthy that New York State has had an Italian governor and currently along with Boston, an Italian American mayor, yet there are those who persist in the belief that Italians are oppressed. Lawrence Castiglione, founder of the Italian-American Legal Defense Fund, said “The general image is that we are affiliated with organized crime and thuggery. People think Italian Americans are anti-intellectual”.

Maybe we should have laws passed against all racial bias. Or perhaps we Italians ought to insist on an indexing of “privileged class” under current antidiscrimination regulations. Perhaps this could trigger an entire watchdog industry of victimization. We may suddenly discover that we are in need of protective covenants in addition to our codified laws. The City of Cincinnati passed an ordinance forbidding discrimination on the bases of all the usual bill of fare: race, sex, sexual preference, marital status, color, religion, national origin and disability status. It was driven to a logical absurdity. It forbids discrimination based on “Appalachian regional origin”. That means “birth or ancestral origin from that areas of the eastern United States consisting of the counties listed in an Appalachian Regional Origin Document” allegedly kept on file by some operative council.

The University of California suspended a fraternity house for issuing tee shirts with a man in a serape and sombrero holding a bottle of tequila. This was judged to be another insensitive stereotype.

In Marietta, Georgia, Kennesaw State College’s nickname was “The Hooters”, the basketball team play in “The Hooterdome” and baseball was played at “Hooterfield”. The college changed the name to “The Fighting Owls” because the old name reminded sensitive people of the “Hooters” chain of restaurants with women waitresses in tee shirts featuring the upper portion of the female anatomy. Surprise! In liberally biased, politically correct, compassionate, sensitive Boston, “Hooters” was approved by the Boston Licensing Board for the North Station area. The University of Illinois, anticipating inevitable repercussions, banned the use of the University’s venerable Indian symbol, and in Massachusetts at Amherst was nicknamed the “Redmen”. This was considered an insensitive symbol so the name was changed to the “Minutemen”. More progressive thinkers said that a gun-toting militant is inappropriate. Protests against the use of minutemen were led ironically by a black student who postulated that this designation was culturally biased and prompted racism.

Where does this treadmill of political correctness take us? How much of it can we absorb or avoid as the case may be? This preoccupation with sensitive and insensitive designation along with all racist palaver begs a single unrealistic designation; a cultural umbrella for all of us? This new phenomena of social activism obliterates any and all designations and distinctions, natural and unnatural, past or present. The objective seems to promote a single unifying cultural dogma. A kind of revisionist whitewash. This society has been too long on the cutting edge of historical and cultural revisionism or political correctness. It impoverishes our lives as it wipes out all of our differences. If this continues unabated it promises to destroy the true richness and chiaroscuro of our multicultural society which historically had enriched our daily lives. Secularism is on the march.

Copyright, 2006.