POLITICAL CORRECTNESS - Teal Swan -

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Political correctness… language, actions, or policies intended and designed specifically not to offend or disadvantage any particular group of people in society. In today’s world, speaking can be a bit like walking on broken glass. Political correctness is determined for you by the social group you interact with and grow up around. And you can bet different social groups do not agree on what is and isn’t politically incorrect. In this episode, Teal provocatively claims that we should do away with political correctness and stand for authenticity instead.
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Kuan Yin's Mantra (c) 2002 Lisa Thiel

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Hello there.

I know exactly what you're thinking;

"Who better to talk about
this subject, than me?"

One of the most

politically incorrect people
you will probably meet.

I am also willingly and knowingly
politically incorrect for a reason,

which you'll find out about later.

But what is political incorrectness?

Political incorrectness is
language, actions or policies

that are intended or designed

specifically to offend or disadvantaged
a particular group of people in society.

Political correctness on the other hand,

is language actions and policies
intended and designed

to not offend

or disadvantage any particular
group of people in society.

We've seen it in politics,

candidates endlessly dancing around
the truth of how they really feel

and what they really think
so that they can get the vote.

But are we so much different
than corrupt politicians?

Not when we're concerned with
people seeing us in a certain light.

Not when our main focus

is to express ourselves in a way

that we are going to be completely
received by somebody and accepted.

We cannot discuss political correctness

without also discussing
stereotypes and prejudices.

After all, a person who's
politically correct or PC,

is someone who seeks to set right
the injustices done in the past

by prejudice and stereotyping.

Specifically by changing
or avoiding language

that may offend those people.

Reality check moment:

We are all prejudiced.

We all have stereotypes,

whether or not we
censor those stereotypes

or cover that up
or admit to them or not.

Here's an example:

You're stereotyping when you say:

"Black people are good dancers."

It just so happens that this
doesn't offend most black people,

so it isn't politically
incorrect to say it.

You're also stereotyping when you say:

"White people can't dance."

It just so happens

that even if it does offend
white people to say it,

isn't politically incorrect to do so,

because whites are still expected
to pay for the offenses of slavery.

Now, if you said anything negative
about black people, such as:

"Black people can't swim."

That would be politically incorrect

because it's a social expectation

that we redress
the social injustice of slavery

by never saying anything
to offend black people.

In today's world,

speaking can be a little bit like
walking on broken glass.

And of course,

what is politically correct vs. incorrect,

is highly dependent on the opinion

of the social group that you grew up in.

And you can bet

that those social groups
don't always agree.

The more importance social groups place

on appropriateness and social standards,

the more dedicated they are
to political correctness.

But in case you haven't noticed,

it is damn near impossible to
express how you genuinely feel,

without offending someone.

Look, the desire and intention

to speak in a way that
doesn't hurt other people,

that's a noble enough cause.

I even did a video on it myself.

If you want to,
you can go take a look at it

It's called:

Authenticity vs. Just Being an Asshole

But let's be honest,

a genuine bigot is not going
to be wasting their time

watching a video on YouTube
about political correctness.

So this particular video,
is not designed for them.

This video

is not about the people

who don't really care about offending
people and thus looking bad,

this video is for the rest of you.

Those of you who can't stand the idea

of saying what you really think
and feel in case it offends someone,

and you come out
looking like a bad guy.

So what is the problem
with political correctness?

Well, to start with,

you're not doing it to decrease suffering.

You're not being honest.

What you're doing is being careful.

Careful to look good.

Being politically correct does nothing
to address the real issues

that political correctness
is supposed to redress.

It allows everyone to be covertly
prejudiced and covertly stereotyped,

while condemning everyone else who does.

I'm about to offend a bunch of people
with what I'm about to say right now;

Stereotypes,

they wouldn't exist in the first place,

if there wasn't something backing them up.

We can either become offended
that the stereotype exists

and demand to be dis included from it,

or we can live our lives out
of accordance with the stereotype,

and simply allow people's
stereotyping to be disproven.

For example: "I'm a spiritual person",

Did you know that it's a stereotype
that spiritual people are irresponsible?

That may be offensive,

I may feel like
I don't fit the stereotype,

but do you want to know the reality check?

I know a lot of spiritual people
who are damn irresponsible.

So I can either get
upset at the stereotype

and demand it isn't true,
based on me.

Or a demand to be dis included from it,

or continue to live in a responsible way

and allow people to form a different
opinion about spiritual people,

based on me.

Political correctness has fueled taboo.

It has made certain subjects
completely "off-limits".

That's a major problem.

Off-limits subjects,

wooo... you know what happens
when stuff gets driven underground,

it just starts to fester.

So we're not allowed to express
the sometimes painful and unsavory truths

that are hidden deep within our being.

Obviously,

if we can't expose these truths

directly enough to get anywhere
with our communication

or solve problems
relating to those truths,

we can't get anywhere
within society in general.

It has made it so we can't get
comfortable with each other.

We're always in performance mode,

manipulating people's opinions of us,
while hiding our genuine selves.

It is critical that we understand

that we cannot have any
meaningful conversation or discussion,

if we can't talk about taboo subjects,

or if we can't reveal our true thoughts

and feelings relative to any subject.

We are fueling negative
diversity and separation

by prohibiting open communication

in this way.

When we are so careful
about certain groups of people,

we acknowledge and treat them
as a separate group.

Also, we are fueling shame.

If we think or feeling a certain way,

that we have been taught is unacceptable

to think and feel,

we begin to condemn ourselves.

The fact that we shouldn't
think or feel that certain way,

does not change anything.

It doesn't change the fact
that we feel that way,

so we're convinced something's
wrong with us or bad about us.

You want a harsh truth?

The harsh truth is:

"There are many harsh truths

that we don't want to face."

It doesn't feel good to look at them,
it may offend us to look at them,

but unless we do,

we're literally up the creek
without a paddle.

There's a lot of deep truths that
will offend people and piss them off.

There's a lot of deep truths within you

that may not cast you
in the greatest light.

But it is important
for the sake of authenticity

to expose those truths
so they can be meaningfully addressed.

It is absolutely critical,

that you say what you mean and
that you mean what you say.

As a spiritual teacher,

I am really really feeling
frustrated about the fact

that I run into so many people

on this earth

who would rather hear a direct lie,

than somebody say something
that is politically incorrect.

If we constantly censor ourselves

relative to anything that might be
controversial or offensive or taboo,

we will end up in a prison
of restricted expression

and self-righteous moral indignation.

Do you know how many of us are content

to have an elephant in the room?

Not just one elephant in the room,

a whole damn herd of them.

Now, I'm gonna tell you that
part of your spiritual practice

is to expose these elephants.

Look, if we can't talk
about taboo subjects,

if we can't talk about our
prejudices and stereotyping,

if we can't talk about
the differences that puzzle us

in the things we're
genuinely curious about,

without fear of giving offence,

how can we ever come up
with actual solutions to problems?

How can we overcome
our internal pain

or even our ignorance about one another?

I'm calling for an end
to this restrictive gag order

that has been placed over mankind.

I'm challenging you to be
open about your prejudices,

open about your stereotyping,

open about the unsavory truths
you're scared of revealing.

I'm challenging you to be authentic.

Now,

you can look at political candidates

and think you're
a lot different than them.

The reality is,

we're doing the same damn
thing they do every day

just with our particular social group.

They may be trying to
win over an entire country,

you may be trying to win over a room.

The entire point is,

you probably got voted into office

based on something you aren't.

Wouldn't you rather be voted into office,

based on something that you are?

If you get voted into any social group

by not meaning what you say
and saying what you don't mean,

you didn't win the vote anyway.

Your carefully crafted
socially acceptable facade did.

Here's an exercise:

Next time you feel yourself

trying to carefully craft
the things you say,

specifically so they'll
be received in a way

where no one's offended
so you can maintain

looking good,

I want you to uncork the bottle,

and just say whatever it is you mean,

in a raw unfiltered way.

Be is brave enough to
verbalize truth as you see it,

as you are brave enough
to see a different truth

or to have that truth proven wrong.

Tiptoe talk is hollow,
it lacks substance

because there is none of you in it.

It's like frosting with
no cake underneath.

And you're never gonna
be able to be careful enough

to avoid offending everyone.

Besides, wouldn't you rather

be able to directly converse about
something you actually think or feel,

even if it is offensive,
rather than pretend

you don't think you feel that way?

Wouldn't you rather vote or
not vote for a political candidate,

based on the solid foundation
of how they truly felt or thought?

I urge you as part
of your spiritual practice,

to care more about
your raw unfiltered truth,

about your authenticity,

then you care about looking good.

I challenge you to expose
the elephant in the room.

I challenge you to say things

even if they're going to offend people.

Not for the sake of hurting them,

but for the sake of actually getting to
the core of how you really think and feel.

I urge you to expose the taboo.

Openly converse about everything
even if the subject is sensitive.

Only then, will you see any genuine
and lasting positive change.

Only then can we come together,
instead of fuel our differences.

To sum it all up,

what I urge you to do,

is to take your political correctness

and set it on fire.

See what it feels like to be free.

Have a good week.

Subtitles by: Tanya Duarte