Growing up in the 1980s and 90′s, I was inundated with the PC backlash. As in, the public frustration on the part of conservatives toward 1970s era political correctness. Many spent the 1990s screaming about rampant political correctness as if it were some plague on humanity that people ask other people to be respectful. Heaven forbid we champion generosity, consideration, kindness, and hope as our greatest attributes rather than jealousy, hypocrisy, greed, and paranoia. The whole anti-PC thing is a movement chasing a demon that hasn’t existed in decades.

Things are changing.

The fields are burning, the heat is rising, the ice is melting, and suddenly the crazies are actually starting to look like crazies. We’re tired of Westboro Baptist and climate change deniers. We’re tired of old anti-science dressed in a postmodern prom dress. We’re tired of paranoid delusions passing for public policy. And most of all, we’re tired of bigots blaming victims.

No more parsing rape. No more ridiculous assertions about what constitutes “legitimate rape“. No more pretending that white men are impartial when it comes to legislating morality. Yes, I’m white and male, but I sure don’t think like a neanderthal and I don’t vote to preserve my privilege.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We’ve had enough. This feels like a real moment to me. After a year and a half of anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-science, anti-intellect, anti-worker rhetoric masquerading as “freedom,” we are done. Rep. Todd Akin is an ass. But more importantly, he is an idiot and he represents all of us as a member of our Congress.

We have to stop allowing this crap to be acceptable. Not because I want to police what people say, but because it is false, defamatory, sexist, and wrong. And we must stop pretending that what happens to women, minorities, the weak, children, the disabled, and even men isn’t our priority.

What happens to the least of these, you do to me, eh? We not only let it happen, we let fools feel comfortable enough to spit venom at victims. That is on us.

P.S.: Check this out: “The Official Guide to Legitimate Rape.” It is awesome.