4th of July

American independence day. And I don't really give a damn. But I am interested in why I don't give a damn. There is an American feminist/lesbian (these creds are about all I could garner from the news clip) visiting at the moment to tell us (kiwis) that we are all too PC. I didn't buy a lot of what she was saying, but I'm uncomfortable enough with the PC phenomenon right now to listen to what she had to say. I am not questioning my core beliefs, they are who I am. I also have no qualms about defending the very same when the need arises. Lately I have been constantly questioning my motivation for believing the things that I do.

Has something run amok with my belief system?

No, not necessarily, because surely without questioning your own values, without trying to understand tenets that conflict with your own, it is difficult to propound your own belief system with any real conviction. Regurgitation is transparent, cliches are tiresome.

There was this other thing on tv tonight, about this stunning ethiopian woman who sought asylum in the netherlands and went from working in a factory to become a member of the dutch parliament and is estranged from her Muslim family because she speaks out about the violence perpetrated against women in the name of the Koran. It was explosive to watch, even removed from the savage ideological murder of the Dutch film-maker who produced a short film she wrote that used the naked, brutally beaten feminine form as parchment for Koranic scripture.

I sigh at this point. I don't know if it was my own inclinations, or the story we got sold, but somewhere along the line at uni I developed this bias against the Western perspective and this almost tangible fear of in anyway championing imperialist/capitalist even democratic values. Because all my friends weren't doing it? Because I'm white? Because relatively speaking to the vast majority of the planet I have been incredibly privileged and need to atone for this? Because dominant value systems should have to apologise for their dominance and the historical carnage that has been wreaked in the name of, I dunno, dominating. Until this apology defines who we are?

There needs to be a line to PC-ness and it's difficult to know where it should be drawn and as a consequence I sometimes sense this tendency in the left to draw everything in pencil rather than ink. I believe in some basic fundamental human rights regardless of the need to respect and safeguard cultural/religious/ethnic diversity. It is easy for me to say that a life should be sacred regardless. Safe from being stoned to death for extra marital sex. Safe from execution for a crime deemed worthy of capital punishment in any of the 40 or so states in the beacon of democratic values and justice that is celebrating it's national holiday today.

I also think there needs to be a line so self-proclaimed prime ministers and their heavies can't go round demanding 'rent' from Gisborne hoteliers in the name of sovereignty.

Bottom line, I don't want to become complacent in any of my beliefs. I would really hate to think my belief system has evolved and continues to be shaped only as a reaction to voices that are less conscious of the need to be polite than mine.