When I was younger, I loved to sit and watch the beauty pageants – Miss USA and Miss America.  I enjoyed the Miss USA pageant more because it seemed more glamourous.  Though I would roll my eyes when it came to interview time.  If I had a favourite, I would worry that she might not answer the question very well.  After several years of hearing standard questions like “What do you hope to accomplish as Miss USA?”, I thought every contestant would have their answers memorised: “I want to fight for world peace, end hunger and save the children.”  It was always the same answers even though the contestants acted like it was the first time they had heard such a question.  Some would stumble through it.  My sister and I could have done a better job of delivery.  As I got older, it became boring and I wished someone would have the nerve to say something outlandish.  However, they were not given that chance because the questions themselves started to change.  It seems that viewers felt the same way I did.  We didn’t want set questions and answers anymore.  We wanted some individualism.

Unfortunately, that individualism may have cost Miss California her crown at the recent Miss USA pageant.  Miss Carrie Prejean did not apologise for her comments.  She truthfully acknowledged on national TV that she did not believe in gay marriages because that was how she was raised.  Had she been desperate to win (and people believed she was the front-runner), she could easily have sidestepped the issue and stated that though she was raised in traditional beliefs, she has come to realise that gays have the right to marry their partners.  The “boos” would have turned to loud cheers and the applause would have remained respectfully the same.  But she didn’t.  She stayed true to herself and now I feel sorry for her.  Not because of her comments but because of the consequences.

Political correctness nowadays means that discrimination is against those who hold on to conservative sets of views.  We can never achieve true non-discrimination.  We all have innate prejudices, whether it’s against that fat person, that skinny person, that blonde, that red-head, that Jew, that Christian, that Muslim, that conservative, that liberal, etc.  I may be accused of being racist, sexist, religious, etc., but at least my friends, who come from all walks of life, all religious beliefs, all sexual orientation know that even with my conservative values, I do not discriminate against any of them personally.  Miss Prejean probably has the same intentions.  However, everyone now knows her name and the media has portrayed her as a homophobe.  Most likely, she will be discriminated against when she goes for job interviews.  Though many people agree with her views, employers will be frowned upon by their employees or other patrons if they should hire her.  It is unfair.

Political correctness was supposed to end discrimination but it has only created new ones.  As society becomes more liberated, we’re encouraged to think for ourselves, yet the political correctness team does not like that idea.  They want you to think what they want you to think.  You are forced to conform your ideals to theirs or you will be branded a bigot, a racist, a sexist, etc.  If that is not thought control, then what is it?