Politically Correct Dishonor

The Biblical prophets warned aloud that devastation would come to those who were unclean. Those that profaned God and the house of God, those who were drunken, fornicators, idolators, those that cheated, that gave unclean offerings. Israel was warned of the consequences of their behavior. And God did not punish Israel. Rather, by walking away from God, Israel simply suffered the consequences of its behavior and choices.

I chose, I chose, to live, to receive a transplant. I struggled to have the surgery that prolonged my life, I accepted the gift of a kidney from a whole person that I might live. I was convinced by family and friends that I had some role in the world, something I might contribute. And I believed that. My idea of contribution was to teach, to give to others what I had learned to do.

But I have lived to see injustice. To see self-interest and greed triumph over not merely right but reason as well. I see incompetence passed off as expertise, the mundane as the special, the satisfaction of self-interest as works done for the public good.

I am sick to death of seeing these things. Our society, our government and our institutions all loudly proclaim tolerance, inclusivity and fairness, but when called upon they judge falsely. The innocent are accused, and in our society those innocent are guilty until they prove themselves innocent. The most incompetent and manipulative accuse, and the well-intentioned and hard working suffer, are fired, lose contracts. In the name of equality and fairness, of inclusivity, all manner of systems are bypassed to create the results desired.

But when there is real inequity, when the evil and the liar are exposed, that same governmental, societal and institutional process requires endless, pointless steps to prove it. We judge falsely, exactly as the biblical prophets warned. We are required to give mathematical proofs and documentary evidence of what every one knows in order to achieve righteousness, while liars and manipulators have merely to accuse to be attended to.

And when these problems are brought forward, whether to government, or a neighborhood, or an instiution, the speaker is condemned as judgmental, not a team player, not in step with organizational and societal values. Depending on the venue they are called things like the Tea Party, or whistle blowers, or troublemakers. Loud, obnoxious, inappropriate.

But it is the organization which is wrong, the government and society which do wrongly. And I simply can’t stand it. I cannot believe that I struggled to live in order to be witness to gross injustice and falsehood. To see incompetence passed off as specialty expertise, to see bald lies accepted as truth, to see the obvious need mired in circular, pointless bureaucracy.

People and offices ask, with concern, what they can do to make things better. But they should already know. Each of us knows what is right, what is needed to honor the accomplished, to honor the beloved, to serve the poor, to right a wrong. It is their blindness, their concern for things other than justice, that leads to self-interested pseudo-solutions, always couched in the words of politically and socially correct inclusivity.

But I did not struggle to live to see these things, much less participate in them. I am completely outraged and disgusted by what I have seen. I already expected to be dead years ago. I will not, I cannot, participate in injustice and cupidity for the sake of life, or job, or any other thing. I will speak out, even as I speak now. Because it is worse suffering to stand silent in the face of injustice and by my silence condone it. I don’t condone these terrible things, whether by government, institutions or individuals.

Look in the mirror! Look at your hands! And ask yourself if you have done right.

Ted