“Political correctness” (PC) is wrong. Some claim it doesn’t exist… they’re wrong, too, and here’s a glaring example. Some claim people who speak against PC are only doing so to justify their “politically incorrect” (PiC) opinions. That’s nothing more than a red herring, a PC red herring, if you will. PC is bad because it distorts reality and misleads people to wrong conclusions.
Let’s take a recent story out of California. Kimberly Susan Fial, a trans woman*, was stabbed to death while she was volunteering at a local homeless shelter in San Jose. This is tragic, no doubt. One other person was also killed and three others were stabbed but survived. A “mass stabbing” it was called.
Make no mistake, this was an absolutely horrible event that never should have happened. But here’s where the misleading PC comes in… it is being portrayed as a “trans crime”. Consider the evidence…
- The article title, Trans Volunteer Killed in Mass Stabbing at San Jose Homeless Shelter, plays up ‘trans’ and ignores all other victims involved, as if the trans aspect was the only important aspect. If you had read only the headline you’d think Fial was the only one killed, probably even specifically targeted, maybe because she’s trans.
- A quote in the second paragraph, “The report of her death means that at least 41 trans people have died by violence in the U.S. in 2020…”, again suggesting she was killed because she is trans. Really, it doesn’t leave much room for any other interpretation.
- The other victims are mentioned fleetingly, as if they’re insignificant.
- Then there’s this quote: “Lindsey Clark, associate director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative, released a statement mourning Fial: “At least five transgender women were killed in November alone. This violence is unacceptable and it must be stopped. By all accounts, Kimberly was a kind person who was treasured by her community and who gave back to those around her. Her death is a tragedy, as is every death of a trans or gender-nonconforming person. We call on everyone, from grassroots organizers to those at the highest levels, to take action to end this violence and protect the transgender and gender-nonconforming community.”
Everything about this article screams Fial was killed because she’s trans, especially Ms Clark’s comments, and that is simply not true. Kimberly Fial was simply a person in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s all. There is nothing in this article to suggest otherwise, but the PC crowd is playing it up as so. And she has already been added to the number of trans people killed this year by violence, and that number will be used to make the (very real) problem of violence against trans people seem worse than it really is. That’s dishonest, and I’m kind of a stickler for the truth. That’s lying-by-omission, and if I cannot trust you to be straight with me on something like this how can I trust you to be straight on the bigger stuff. That’s why PC is bad.
*-One article made sure you knew she was a “white trans woman”, as if her race makes any difference whatsoever.
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