In these days, when the political Right is the target of righteous
opproprium -- and rightly so -- it's also politically incorrect to feel
in the right about anything, particularly anything controversial.
Today's political correctness makes "right", wrong.
Let me put a bug in your ear:
"Right" is another way of saying, "of high integrity".
We don't feel right when we are out of integrity.
The
problem with, the word, "right", isn't with those who are right. It's
with those who use the word, "right" do things that are wrong and should
be left behind, and yet call themselves and their actions, "right".
Such people are mentally unbalanced; their perception is distorted but, to them, seems exactly correct.
They're
off-balance and yet they say they feel right about what they're doing,
which is half-assed. They don't know what "right" feels like, only that
some things are right -- and they take their sense of rightness, from
that.
Thus, the word, "right", is degraded by half-assed people.
The word, right, is sometimes used in criticism to disempower someone who is right, in a quarrel:
"You just have to be right, don't you?"
Many people feel it's wrong to be right,
that it's wrong to have high integrity,
which people confuse with being self-righteous
or insufferable.
And
they feel it's right to tell someone they're wrong for being right --
except for themselves, who are right to tell someone they're wrong for
acting as if they're right, when they are.
Why is it wrong to be right?
One reason: because high integrity makes people of low integrity look bad, and they don't want to look bad.
It's
a superficial life. As long as we don't pay any deep or steady
attention to the other person, as long as we sufficiently "go through
the motions" and rituals of "social lovingness," we can be loving toward
each other. But not too deeply. The look is there, but not the depth.
It
is these people who object to someone else being right and knowing it.
It's unheard of! so arrogant! whom do they think they are! (Notice what
you felt, about the word, "whom".)
... and for someone to be right consistently, Well!! That's insufferable!
And
so they carefully make sure that not only are they not guilty of being
too right, calmly centered in themselves (which feels right), but
neither should anyone else feel and act right. We should all be soft and
waffly, or at least not be
too forceful or direct, lest we hurt someone's feelings or make them feel inadequate.
another half-assed view ...
The
true feeling of rightness is a kind of equilibrium, a calm clarity, a
balance, an ease, a rest, a poise-in-motion, grace in action, simple
directness or even comfortable, whimsical play. Within that equilibrium
field of attention, our sense of position is suspended. It is both
stable and dynamically active. It feels right.
The
problem is that some people can't distinguish the feeling of "feeling
right" from the attitude of "being right" as a way of hardening ones
position.
Being Right vs. Hardening Ones Position
To
be half-assed and harden ones half-assed position is to be a real pain
in the ass. We see that state in incompetent politicians, bureaucrats,
and low-level clerks.
At
equilibrium (the state of rightness), there's sufficient support from
the integrity of things taken into account that there's an easy balance.
Being half-assed is Work!
Being right is easy!
However,
those who object to our being and feeling right make it hard on us.
Then we get confused about "what's right". If it's wrong to be right,
where does that leave us? If we're right, we should feel wrong about
being too right, or at least, tentative about it. If things are too clear, something is wrong.
There's an old joke: "Am I being paranoid if they really are out to get me?"
corollary:
"Am I wrong for really being right?"
As common as it is, particularly among politically "liberal" circles, making people "wrong" for being right is wrong.
corollary:
Making
politically liberal individuals wrong for being politically liberal is
also wrong because, despite the tyranny of "political correctness",
being liberal is often right.
That's right. Right.