Political Correctness, Apu, and the Golden Rule

from a photo by John Biehler

Hank Azaria talked with the New York Times about why he decided to stop voicing The Simpsons South Asian character, Apu.

“A key turning point, Azaria said, was realizing that while he may not be offended by a prominent character that mocked white Jewish men like himself, ‘[If] that character were the only representation of Jewish people in American culture for 20 years, which is the case with Apu, I might not love that.’”

That realization does seem like a turning point. 

These days, all the people I know who regularly complain about political correctness are a) White people who identify as Evangelical Christians, and b) deeply offended by common stereotypes of White American Evangelicals. (I’m not saying White Evangelicals are the only ones who complain about political correctness ... just that that’s who I hear complaining.)

Of all the people I think should be able to put two and two together on the question of mistaking situational awareness and kindness for political correctness, the most obvious to me are those claiming to have a personal relationship with Jesus, who famously said:

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. — Matthew 7.12 New American Standard Bible

I don’t find a lot of wiggle room in this Golden Rule that seems to me like a pretty good example of plainspeak.

These days, on the whole, my American Jewish friends seem to be closer to Jesus on this than many of my American Evangelical Christian friends.

To be clear, I do not claim a large number of American Jewish friends — only that the people I know who identify as both American and Jewish behave as if this ethic were indeed the Law and the Prophets. Whether or not they would say, in so many words, that they agree with Jesus on this point, I bear witness to what looks to me like excellent behavior in this regard.

On the other hand, I have had, and have, a multitude of friends who think of themselves as Evangelicals — they are the tribe who raised me. And it is my testimony today that many of them seem less than enamored with - if not at odds with - the Jesus whose words make up all but the last sentence of chapter seven in Matthew’s Gospel.

If Matthew is to be taken as a serious source, and if Jesus is to be believed, I think people who hate being stereotyped, disrespected, and mischaracterized for being White American Evangelicals should not be the last to identify the cultural doctrine against political correctness as an excuse for rudeness, exclusion, and lovelessness … they should be the first.

But they’re not. I don’t mean everyone who thinks of himself as an American Evangelical; I just mean the ones who mock other people for being snowflakes when they are awfully sensitive themselves — sensitive to the point of entitlement … sensitive to the point of looking silly — and then acting hurt and angry when people laugh at them. 

I don’t imagine any of the people I’m thinking about would, in so many words, disagree with Jesus about the Golden Rule. But if, as Jesus says a few sentences earlier, we are meant to recognize trees by the fruit they bear, it would appear that what some folks want is to be treated with contempt, because that’s certainly how they treat others.