What Can You Say?

“What can you say?” is most often used as a way of expressing exasperation or amazement about something or someone. Someone does something really stupid and they have shown this to be a pattern of behavior over time…what can you say? Your favorite sports team blows another game….again…what can you say? Your teenager dies their hair pink…what can you say?

But, for me “What Can You Say?” is becoming a real question. I don’t blog as much as I used to because “What Can You Say”. When it comes to interviewing candidates, new laws are being passed in certain states and cities that prohibit me from asking about compensation history. “What Can You Say?” If you say something that goes against the progressive agenda, you’re a racist or a fascist or a homophobe. “What Can You Say?”. If you say something that isn’t in lock-step with the conservatives, you’re un-American or a socialist or just a mushy-headed liberal, now called a lib-tard. “What Can You Say?”. Admit that you actually voted for Donald Trump and….well, you better just not admit that. What can I say?

Political correctness run amuck. Just about anything you say these days is likely to offend someone, somehow. And with plenty of smart phones out there ready to capture the moment, what you say or do may just end up going viral. And if you put your thoughts in writing, good luck.

For example, I wanted to write something about a recent court case where it was ruled that movie theaters had to accommodate deaf AND blind patrons by bringing in special “interpreters” who can communicate the visual and audio content to the deaf and blind. I am not making this up. (https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2017/10/06/cinemark-movie-theaters-must-provide-interpreters-deaf-blind-customers-court-rules).

But, if I say what I really want to say about this, I run the risk of being labeled insensitive toward those who have disabilities. (Can you say “disabilities”? I don’t think so. It’s now ______-challenged or maybe it’s _______-impaired. I don’t know for sure. What can you say?).

We are in uncharted waters when it comes to what we can talk about. The left has their list of targets and the right has theirs. You can say pretty much anything about a target, up to a point. Kathy Griffin found the line not to be crossed when she did the bit on beheading Trump. On the right, you can say pretty much anything about an approved target this side of praying that their children burn in hell.

In this giant field of left and right targets, you’re expected to pick a side and go all in. I’m sorry, that’s not how I see the world. So my options are to say nothing or to say what’s on my mind and live with the consequences. What can you say?

“The two pillars of 'political correctness' are:
a) willful ignorance
b) a steadfast refusal to face the truth”
- George Macdonald