Sean Lennon had a lot to say about political correctness in a Twitter thread on Sunday, May 23. He stated that political correctness is “not working,” adding “I suspect that over sensitizing ppl to arbitrary characteristics like skin color may be doing more harm than good.”
The thread started out as an observation before turning into something bigger. He began, “When I was young ppl used to say racist shit about Asians around me all the time and then be like ‘Oh sorry! But you’re not reeeally Asian so…’ and I think they sincerely thought that would make me feel better.”
He said that political correctness wasn’t invented until he’d already been in school for some time. Lennon acknowledges that at the roots of the ‘PC mindset and ideology,’ it seemed like a good idea. He continued, “It is often the case that seemingly obvious solutions fail and even make matters worse—I often think about the terrible track record we have in science of artificially modifying an ecosystem in order to ‘re-balance’ a problem we created but ultimately wind up making things worse by creating bigger unforeseen problems. ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ We’ve been trying this kind of morality policing for a while now & I would posit things are arguably getting worse. Race relations seem to be in the middle of a ‘two steps back’ moment.”
It has statistically been a turbulent time for race relations in the United States over the past few years, as Lennon points out. “I am very sad that I feel like I have to say the following but here goes: Asians are not the problem,” he states. “Blacks are not the problem. Jews are not the problem. And yes, Whites are not the problem either. No race or culture is ‘the problem.’”
“When I grew up New York truly felt like a melting pot,” the musician’s thread continues. “It wasn’t perfect, but ppl did not self segregate along tribal lines to the degree that I am seeing today. There is something wrong with the strategy and direction we have chosen, in academia, in politics, and elsewhere.”
At this point, Lennon arrives at the heart of his opinion. He states, “It’s not working. And to be clear I am not blaming all of the bad things we are seeing in culture today on political correctness. Yes we inherited a problematic history (yada yada) and I think PC culture has achieved some good and some progress for society. I am simply saying we should check our strategy if we are not getting the results we intended. I don’t know what the solution is, but I suspect that over sensitizing ppl to arbitrary characteristics like skin color may be doing more harm than good.”
Following his comment on the public’s heightened attention to skin color, Lennon also voiced support for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “vision of character over skin color,” saying “That vision surely made our society better. I’m not sure the modern vision of ‘race consciousness’ is making things better.”
He closed by stating that skin color and “arbitrary birth status” is always “ultimately the LEAST interesting, interesting thing” about anyone. “Okay that’s it,” Lennon signed off. “Peace and Love to all. I mean it. And one more thing…just remember who benefits from the ‘divide and conquer’ paradigm. It ain’t us that’s for sure.”
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