Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

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10 POLITICS BY JULIA PILLAI Your Political-Correctness Is Problematic. If you give me a sensible reason why I should say or do something in a different manner to ensure the safety and comfort of people of a minority group, I’d take heed. In fact, as a member of such groups, I understand how important these things can be. The term political correctness is somewhat jarring. It tends to be used by the far right to mock anyone with some form of human decency; and usually political correctness is just that - human decency. However I’m beginning to see how so called ‘political correctness’ deviates from protecting or ensuring the safety of a minority group, and more about moralitypolicing and agenda pushing in political spaces; ultimately undermining the actual purpose of using certain language or behaving in a certain way.
POLITICS 11 The Tumblr page ‘Your Fave Is Problematic’ is a perfect example of how political correctness can be undermined. The blog’s purpose is to name celebrities who have done or said something that is offensive or inappropriate. Reading through the site, there were some outright awful things that celebrities have done which they should be accounted for. However, there were also cases where they called out actions that happened while an actor was in character, which may not be their actual opinions. There were also times where actions are perhaps in a bit of a grey area, or missteps that were likely to be a genuine mistake. We shouldn’t necessarily excuse them for such missteps, but I find the concept of labelling somebody as ‘problematic’ concerning. Sure, someone may do or say something that is inappropriate or problematic- does it make their entire existence ‘problematic’- not necessarily. I also found myself asking, who are these people who run this Tumblr? What authority do they have to decide who is and who is not problematic? If it turns out that the 6 anonymous individuals who run the site are all cis-gendered, white, straight, non-disabled, middle class, and otherwise ‘privileged’ people, I’d be disappointed. Despite how much the blog stresses that they exist for the safety of minority groups it feels more like the moderators (and followers) of the blog are concerned more about their personal status, ensuring that they have some moral high-ground, rather than genuinely fighting for the safety of a minority group. And frankly, I’m not keen on these people fighting my fights for me. Cultural appropriation is a highly discussed issue, and we have a tendency to assume that there is a general consensus on issues, when there may not be. This can certainly be alienating for People of Colour who have ideas and opinions may vary to the mainstream. There are certainly cases of general consensus - Native American inspired headdresses is a great example. However there is discourse and dissent with many other issues in different communities- and this is not a bad thing. An example of where there may not be a general consensus is the Bindi. In her 2014 Huffington post article, Anjali Joshi argues; ‘We can’t accuse non-Hindus of turning the bindi into a fashion accessory with little religious meaning because we [Hindu’s] have already done that... the 5,000 year old tradition of adorning my forehead with kumkuma [coloured powder traditionally used to adorn the forehead] just doesn’t seem to align with the current Bindi collection in my dresser designed to perfectly complement my outfit. I didn’t pick up these modern day Bindis at a hyper-hipster spot... This lot was brought from the motherland itself.’ Furthermore, the debate is not just about who can and cannot wear a bindi- there are other arguments to factor in, and these arguments generate a range of questions; how do we define a Bindi? Is any kind of jewelled stick-on accessory worn on the forehead a Bindi? Is it possible to have any accessory on the forehead, without any appropriation? Are there different rules for non-Hindus wearing traditional Bindis (ie, kumkuma powder Bindis) and modern Bindis? This is not to say that the opinions of those who say that it’s inappropriate for non-Hindus to wear Bindis are invalid. However to say that there is a consensus on this issue, and every facet of this issue is incorrect, and it’s important to acknowledge that there is a wide range of issues in the community. Dissent about issues like this isn’t unhelpful either, these discussions are important for minority groups to discuss what is important, what is inappropriate and so forth. And let’s be honest- minority groups having general consensus on these issues, any minority and any issue, only favours members of privileged majorities who want to fit into a moral high-ground for the sake of their own political status. Finally, content or trigger warnings. Personally I think that these warnings when used correctly are fantastic. Not only for people who may have specific mental health triggers, but for mainstream audiences these warnings are helpful for people to choose what they want to read (if someone is having a bad day, they might not want to read an article with a trigger warning). However I have seen how these warnings have been misused or overused, which unfortunately renders these warnings meaningless. I feel that the key issue is context and audience- if you are sharing an article in a group that is a space for people who are affected by particular issues, or if it’s a group of people from a specific community, use as many trigger warnings as you want. If you are sharing something with a mainstream audience, use these warnings sparingly. Overuse is dangerous. I’ve definitely had times where I have read something that was perhaps more heavy than I thought it would be with a warning which I overlooked, because that warning had been overused. The issue is that the meaning behind particular warnings can be incredibly vague. For example, a warning for ‘murder’ could mean anything from someone saying that they were murdered, a vague discussion about murder the weapon and situation, or graphic details of a murder and possibly images of the crime scene. For mainstream audiences, the reactions to these discussions will vary from something they are desensitized by, to something that is completely shocking. The other concern (usually from right wingers) is if trigger warnings be used as a way to censor opinions; it’s an awful thing to admit, but at times they can. It is not the intent of such warnings, however these warnings can be misused- which does threaten unbiased reporting. Similarly, it’s about context and audience. It’s entirely appropriate to warn for homophobia and transphobia in a safe space for LBGTIQ people, or for a magazine or paper that particularly caters to that niche, however it pushes the censorship line a little when warnings for generally disgusting opinions (homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism) were to be used in the media more broadly, it would certainly threaten unbiased reporting, even if these opinions are generally, and rightfully rejected. So now you can ask yourself; is your political-correctness problematic? Political correctness done properly means ensuring that everyone can participate in discussions safely, that everyone has an informed choice to even join such a discussion, and that this discussion is diverse. Political correctness should be about human decency, and being kind to others, it should not be about political gain, or ensuring that you have a reputation of being a ‘nice person’. BY JULIA PILLAI
Page 1 and 2: Lot’s Wife MoNASH UNIVERSITY stud
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