A Love Letter to the Right: Guest MINDSETTER™ Steve Forleo

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Guest MINDSETTER™ Steven Forleo

Dear Conservatives,

I’ve been meaning to write you for awhile now, but with all this political craziness, I just couldn’t get a moment to breathe. I’m sure you understand, considering how excited you must be.

So, if you allow me a chance to throw out politically correct speech, maybe we could gain some common ground?

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Now, now, don’t roll your eyes, or quietly say ****off.

Look, my mind has been swimming with grandiose thoughts and sugarplum wishes, but I really need to get this off my chest, so please bear with me. Our relationship appears to have lost its luster, so can we give it a chance, again, please? Let’s not allow alternative facts ruin our time together. And please don't lock me out emotionally, or literally.

Okay here goes (deep breath).

Our Problem Together

Political correctness is necessary in a multi-cultural society like ours.

Sorry to say that, but nagging pangs of conscience lead me to point out that this last election may have ushered in wholesale hatred and bigotry into our home, and quite frankly, we can’t have this split us apart. We’ve endured worse than this, I think?

Wait, don’t tear this up. I’m attempting to get the right words on paper so you won’t think I’m insincere.

You and I can readily understand certain words hurt. They do. No, I’m not infringing on your free speech, I promise. However, you must admit the candidate who won the electoral college did exhibit a tolerance for bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny. Yes, now, be honest.

It’s the truth. And I know you would want me to be as blunt as the remarks thrown around for a year or so since this PC assault began. How did we become so estranged? How did we get so angry? I thought our relationship was stronger than that.

Relationship Blues

I know you get very upset at these liberals (like me) who want to take away your right to say whatever comes to mind. I get that. But, laughing at the misfortune of others, tolerating bigoted comments, applauding racially insensitive remarks, and looking the other way on hate speech isn’t very becoming of you. Not the most attractive traits, especially since I know how you've always prized appearance over reality.

I know and have known for quite some time that nostalgia played a part in our break-up. I know you’d like America to be great again. But don’t you think that’s just code speak for regressing back to an all white America? I’m afraid those days are in the rear view mirror of dad's ’63 Corvair. The country is now richly diverse. Isn’t that the beauty of our relationship? After all, we elected our very first African-American president in 2008, when our relationship was just evolving. What happened to you? To us?

Mental Blocks

If we could ever reconcile, we would need to know how to use just the right words of commonality, respect, and dare I say decency.

Your free speech does give you the ability to say some people are fat, disgusting pigs, and mine to call others racists, bigots, and misogynists. But is this really about offending each other, or more of creating a political partition between us? I sure hope not, because our relationship never allowed petty words to come between us, right?

Shouldn’t we work harder to break down those barriers of bias and assumptions which only cause us to sit apart and pout? I truly believe you can foster a more tolerant home so we can enjoy more stimulating conversations about equity and equality. I’m willing if you are.

Well, at least we could seek counseling to keep us together.

Tough Choices

You can read where I am struggling to find just the right words for fear of offending you. I simply don’t want you to make me feel invisible, marginalized, or even a stereotype. I care about you. I care about your feelings. I can’t continue if you constantly tell me, **** your feelings!

I’ve tried very hard to avoid how you’ve labeled me in the past. Oh, yes, it hurt then as it does now. Calling someone a PC cop can stigmatize anyone. Mocking me for wanting civil debate was very hurtful. How would you like to be admonished for obliterating any form of decency, severing any ties to what resembles reasonable discourse, you troglodyte!

Yeah, it stings, doesn’t it?

Campus Arguments

Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you told me countless times that at colleges’ free speech is not free at all. Have I jogged your memory?

Yeah, you screamed, sorry, emphatically stated, professors are all left-leaning communists! And how students are so easily offended. I remember, you telling me that only one side of the issue is presented on college campuses. I thought you were joking, remember? When I couldn’t stop laughing, you got really mad, threatening to censor any divisive course offerings dealing with diversity.

And how about when you said that all college students are sheep, following professors into anti-American attitudes.How critical thinking is a farce, disguised as socialist propaganda.

Oh yeah, those words remain in my heart, and any deity of your choosing knows, I’ve always respected your attempts at sincerity, whether you meant it or not, for I never wanted to embarrass you, or make you more angry by saying academic freedom serves the public good. With all due respect, I knew those two words would increase your ire almost as much as fake news.

How could I tell you that all you ever wanted was to keep me in the corner, quiet, so you could say outrageous, hateful things on campuses using free speech as your own means of pushing your own agenda.

The Break-Up

That’s when I knew our time together was waning. We couldn’t even have a quiet dinner during this campaign season because you were so upset with me when I told you Trump was a racist, pandering to the dark reaches of xenophobia, and trafficking in the alt-right galaxy.

You flipped, telling me I am also calling you a racist! Then you told me how stupid I was for not seeing what Trump has done.

And I asked you what he did besides creating a culture of hate?

What you said next stunned me, and forced me to see how our relationship had so badly deteriorated.

You told me, no, instructed me, that he is killing political correctness. And we should all thank him for not having to worry about other people’s feelings. How you’d now be able to openly spout hateful words against any race, creed and color without having to feel bad or face societal ostracism.

You continued to berate me because I was part of this liberal conspiracy trying to delegitimize the new president. You told me free speech doesn’t mean making up things that never happened or exaggerating the “facts” to sensationalize stories nobody cares about.

I attempted to quiet things down by saying political correctness actually shows how far we’ve come as a society. How understanding of cultures, sexual orientation, sexism, and religious tolerance alows us to become stronger, loving, and respectful.

You wanted none of that, remember? All you kept repeating was how you have to monitor and sometimes censor what you truly feel and wish to express. How just because you have different views, and you may offend someone , you are held accountable, held up for ridicule as a racist, bigoted homophobe.

You went on and on about how you may joke around using ethnic slurs or insults, and how that shouldn’t be hurtful to anyone. After all people make fun of white folks all the time. That’s reality! Get over it! That’s the First Amendment!

Then, as we parted forever on that November evening, as you were about to walk away, you turned around, looked at me with that ill-fitting red cap and told me to put on my "big boy" pants, stop whining, and shut the **** up, you ignorant loser!

I miss you already.

XOXO

Steven F. Forleo is a faculty member at CCRI, writes editorials, and in his very limited spare time, teaches Shakespeare.

A Love Letter to the Right: Guest MINDSETTER™ Steve Forleo

Related Slideshow: Thousands Protest in RI Against Trump’s Executive Order on Immigrants - Jan. 2017

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A Love Letter to the Right: Guest MINDSETTER™ Steve Forleo

Related Slideshow: Thousands Protest in RI Against Trump’s Executive Order on Immigrants - Jan. 2017

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