Clint Eastwood, Donald Trump and the scourge of PC
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Speaking to Esquire magazine earlier this month, Clint Eastwood told the US, and the rest of the world, to ‘get over’ Donald Trump’s racism. The beloved actor acknowledged that Trump has ‘said a lot of dumb things’, but said it was our contemporary offence-obsessed culture that really annoyed him.
Trump is ‘on to something’, Eastwood said, ‘because secretly everybody’s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That’s the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now. We’re a really pussy generation. Everybody’s walking on eggshells.’
Eastwood’s comments predictably sent much of the US press into an emotional frenzy. But the You Can’t Say That response to Eastwood’s comments only proves how right his blunt observation is: it’s about time we learned to ‘just fucking get over it’.
Eastwood is right, our politically correct culture does nothing but stifle social interaction and slow our intellectual and moral development. Do we really want to live in a world where it is better to sit down in silence than stand up and voice our opinions?
For all his moronic, bigoted statements, Trump has the one thing that the rest of society is rapidly losing: the willingness to offend. What the US political establishment refuses to acknowledge is that it is Trump’s rejection of PC culture that has made his campaign thrive. And, instead of meeting Trump’s missives with robust debate, the elite has proceeded to prove him right – by balking at his language and smearing his supporters.
Whenever Trump makes one of his deplorable statements, we shouldn’t stick our fingers in our ears. We should get right in the thick of it and tackle his prejudices head-on.
A society that embraces free speech, debate and open conversation would have no problem dispensing with someone like Trump. Our ability to hear the good, the bad and the ugly – and challenge those ideas we despise – is a crucial component of Western civilisation. But the modern, PC rejection of free speech has put us on the road to moral cluelessness, where everyone is labelled a bigot and yet we are incapable of challenging real bigotry.
Every time the PC police ban speech, or block conversation, they pour fuel on Trump’s fire. It’s time the ‘pussy generation’ grew up.
Izzy Lyons is a writer and a campaigner for spiked’s Invoke Article 50 NOW! campaign.
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