Great Minds Differ

"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble."~ Ghandi

As society pushes us deeper into the confines of social and legal acceptance, political correctness grows from a mere expression of equality into a fully-fledged tug of war between right and wrong.

We find ourselves segregated by a line created, not by our ignorance to equality, but by our reluctance to express our natural diversity. We have created a black and white world where we are seen as a sinner if we express a suppressed belief, say the socially unacceptable opinion or even just make an unfortunate choice in words.

But this social divide: the line of segregation that we are all so scared of. Is this really caused by us expressing ourselves in a way which is politically incorrect?

I think this line is made stronger by the fact that we have to be politically correct. We have to agree with the ‘good and proper’ opinion. We have to go so absurdly out of our way, so as not to offend minorities, that we have stereotyped prominent minorities as victims, ignorant to the fact that each one of us is a minority because we are all unique. Society has segregated us by implying that some are different, despite the fact that it is the one thing that unites us.

This political ‘correctness’ is not closing the divide, its creating one.

We are never going to live in a perfect world, for good reason too, but freedom of thought, expression and identity - these things that make us unique. Why are we regulating them?

Nelson Mandela was not ‘politically correct’ at the time when he fought the apartheid. He was imprisoned for 27 years before his beliefs were truly accepted.
Crossing this line and saying the socially unacceptable opinion allows us to evolve for the good. We should embrace that.

We have the right to free speech, and despite the paradox that this right is set out in statute, we should take the initiative to use it. Take the initiative to speak our minds instead of being sheep to the minds of the hierarchy.

Some say that great minds think alike, but I beg to differ. And I cherish that privilege because it makes me human.