Don’t Be PC & Don’t Be a Dick
By Michael Jamal Brooks & Philip L. Mckenzie
The war on language and PC culture has been waging across college campuses since the 80s and through the 90s. In the 21st century, the battlefield has shifted primarily online via social media and other online mediums. Both the political Left and Right find a leg to stand on in this ongoing debate. The Left focuses on an almost obsessive attention to the “right code” of speech; the Right in turn digs in its heels and resists any critique of the “good ol’ days”. Neither of these is particularly appealing. As a result, the internet is filled with spectacles such as #CancelColbert, the men’s rights movement, as well as finely worded but otherwise misplaced PC critique such as Jonathan Chait’s anti-political correctness essay. Battle lines are drawn and you engage at your own peril.
The almost always hilarious and almost always tasteless podcast “Race Wars” mocks the obsessive attention on speech and code words. Shock jock Anthony Cumia was rightfully taken to task for his openly racist diatribes but conversations he would have with late great comedian Patrice O’Neal were often cathartic, uncomfortable and sometimes enlightening. These conversations need a place to take place and take root in our collective consciousness.
As two dudes, who attempt (and sometimes succeed with mixed results) to treat people respectfully, act with empathy and consider power and privilege in society we have a simple rule: “Don’t be PC & Don’t Be A Dick”. In the tradition of Pope Francis we are invoking a new “golden rule” of the highest order.
Being PC & being a Dick are two shortcuts with a different nature but they are shortcuts just the same. Being PC stifles tension and debate. In short, we have to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Political correct tone is a short cut that leads away from discourse and the necessary complicated conversations that are needed to make genuine progress. Our complicated issues require rigor, not knee jerk reactions despite the fact that we live in a knee jerk world. It’s also not fun and turns to speech obsessive, emotionally hollow humorlessness really fast.
Being a Dick is the shortcut of wanting everything to remain the same simply because you are used to it. It is lazy and it is mean and has no place among thoughtful people who truly want to engage in serious issues. A Dick wallows in their own privilege rather than coming from a place of empathy and compassion. What is more galling is that Dicks often think they are being provocative or edgy when in actuality it is the exact opposite. There is nothing “edgy” about punching down and reinforcing racist, homophobic or misogynist views. Sadly that is as mainstream as it comes. Dicks need to grow up, reform their views and check their bullshit at the door. If Sarah Silverman can self reflect, anyone is capable of jumping off the “being a dick” shortcut.
We want a culture that is free, open, self critical, creative, empathetic uncomfortable and honest. We want comedy that is above all: funny! The two shortcuts of PC and Dick are narrowing the frames of our collective discussion and turning social media into yet another dull echo chamber focused on the petty and the small. If we want to cover everything from being entertaining to confronting massive levels of social injustice we need to be unafraid and transcend the dull shortcuts of “PC” and “Dick”.