Think back about the non-fiction books where the lead female is not dramatically gorgeous.  You are amazingly well read and have a good memory if you can come up with even a handful.  Male leads, can indeed be ugly.

They usually need to be clever, brilliant, smart, compassionate, brave, funny, determined or even ‘destined for greatness.’  Truth is, the male lead can be stupid or stubborn and still pass on average looks.  Good books tend to actually justify the characteristic, but quite a few popular books have merely repeated over and over how clever the character was, without any demonstration at all.

In fiction however, the longer the description of how amazing the girl looks, the more important the character is.  Here is the rub, we as humans care quite a bit about female beauty.  We just do.  Characteristics such as compassionate, competent, loving, self sacrificing, understanding and even adaptability are all considered quite important secondary traits for the classic female character.

I don’t blame literature, or writers for this.  I don’t blame consumers.  Instead it is part and parcel of who we are.  It is a characteristic of our species.   I suspect that this would be much more obvious to a visiting alien.  I suspect that there are a lot of things a true alien could see as obvious, that would take quite a bit of explaining for us to grasp.  Kind of like the wheel in pre-Colombian South America.  It existed in children’s toys, yet some fairly advanced cultures never even considered something that was in almost every village and town in Asia, Europe and Africa.

It is fairly clear to someone paying any sort of attention, that man is quite able to have amazing blind spots.  The very fact that we use labels such as liberal and conservative, shows how willing we are to become blind.  There are more complex systems of defining political position, but they too are pretty shallow.  It is amazing how hard it is to explain an ethical issue to someone who profits even indirectly from the problem.  Few folk can face the concept that they are hypocritical.  Maybe, academically they can say they are hypocrites, but when pressed, few of them can name an example.

Yet when asked about those around us, we humans can see hypocrisy everywhere, except of course in our favorite political and religious leaders.

In some ways we are evolving a bit.  Oddly the entire ‘politically correct’ issue is one where I think our blind spots are evolving.  Here is a conservative issue, that is considered a liberal issue.  It is something that does not have a flag bearer or leader, most of us resent it in some way, yet it is truly a grass roots standard.  I personally think it shows an evolution of understanding, that is not yet understood.  It is truly flawed, yet essential to polite society.

I think I can explain my feeble grasp of this concept to a few readers.   Some words have inflections culturally built into them.  Kind of like the word pustule is much more gross than the word pimple.  I am of Scottish descent so I will use my background as an example.

If you say, “You are so Scottish,” to me, you may be implying that I am cheap, or poor, or more rarely a brilliant mechanic, frightening warrior, have an affection for single malt whiskey or kilt wearing chanter player.  All too true.

If you say, “You are so @#*$& Scottish,” You will not offend me, but it is possible that you have now shared too much information.

Some words or phrases have the ‘@$^%^%&’ built into them.  Some are over used and show issues.   If a person goes on and on about Scotsmen, then it will be offensive.  Largely because they are probably showing irrational classification and speculation that when taken apart demonstrate prejudice.    If it goes beyond that, then they are branding all of the people of Scottish descent or nationality, of being in some way lower.

Except of course in our case,  Mass hatred, fear or disdain is blind hatred, fear or disdain.  Blind hatred, fear or disdain, is the entry requirement for joining the multiracial and multinational legion of blindly opinionated bigots.

Making the blond girl joke, may be funny, when a blond girl does it.  Anyone else does it, well, it still may get a laugh,  but now the joke teller and the appreciative audience either look blindly opinionated and prejudiced, or actually are blindly opinionated and prejudiced.  If we keep talking about blonds, and blond hair to a blond girl, the chances are, we am going too far.  If we keep talking about blonds and blond hair to our friends, again, we are probably showing some issues.

So what is politically correct?  It is the rules your mother should have taught you.  It is being polite in a world that is now larger than just your village or click group.  It seems annoying for society to squeeze your arm and say, “SHHHHHHH!” as it drags you away from the awkward moment.  But seriously, at the point where society has started to drag you off and swat you, get over it, you probably stepped well over the boundary of good manners and taste.

It is often easier to see an imbalance when it effects you, and harder to see when it effects others.  It is easy to feel singled out and get upset, and think that everyone else is being rude, just like a spoiled child does, when dragged away from a gathering.  Sometimes a parent does not do a good job of explaining the issue, or is overzealous in their fear that a child will embarrass them.  Often the parent is every bit as embarrassing but only sees it when the child parrots them.

I feel these things too, for I have been and am still, that child and that parent.

Bob