Miner Queries | Cherie Miner
Have you experienced the Trump effect?
Or maybe your children have. It’s all part of Donald Trump’s war on political correctness. As I’ve noted before, political correctness is nothing more than civility or politeness, and it’s the glue that holds together a civil society.
However, right wing media ringmasters (think Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Alex Jones) have raged about it for years in their battles against the imaginary evils of liberalism. Like tantrum-throwing toddlers they believe they should get to say and do whatever they want without consequences. And what consumers don’t understand is the media uses this as a tactic to build ratings and make money. Whether these media personalities believe anything they say is immaterial. Facts are immaterial. It’s the outrage that sells.
Enter Donald Trump.
With his presidential campaign, Trump has ushered in a degrading new low in discourse. He argues one should be able to say and do anything. He models this behavior daily on the campaign trail and in media appearances. We’ve been living with the onslaught for more than a year.
So last April, in an informal survey of teachers during this election season, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC -- an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and known for battling white supremacist, hate and extremist groups) noted results “suggest that the campaign is having a profoundly negative effect on children and classrooms.”
The SPLC survey recorded two effects: first the fear of minority students about their safety. Second: teachers reported, “Other students have been emboldened by the divisive, often juvenile rhetoric in the campaign. Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail.”
Throughout the campaign, numerous incidents of Trump supporters verbally and physically assaulting others, particularly minorities and women, have been reported. But incidents in schools have been on the rise as well.
Last Wednesday, I came across a BuzzFeed story about a seven-year-old American Muslim child – a first grader – allegedly bullied and beaten up on the school bus ride home. According to the child’s family, five of his classmates attacked him while uttering slurs about his religion and Pakistani heritage. Where do you suppose these first graders got the idea this was OK?
All I have to do is turn on the radio, TV or read comments on the Internet.
But I also hear it as I’m out and about. Where once people would have been afraid to use certain derogatory terms, now they are willing to fling them out, petulantly asserting it’s their right.
They conveniently forget their individual rights overlap with those next to them; we live in community.
I was taught polite society refrained from use of certain terms and worked to maintain a civil tone. Derogatory terms for or about other people were unacceptable. Name-calling and fights were unacceptable. Everyone deserved respect.
Most of all, we expected this from our leaders.
Even if we come to our senses soon enough to avoid a Trump presidency, we are going to have trouble stuffing the ugly genie of racism, misogyny and incivility we’ve unleashed back in its bottle.
Cherie Miner is a local parent, community volunteer, freelance writer and artist. In a former life, she was a corporate writer and public relations professional. Contact her at news@redoakexpress.com or on Facebook.