By Selwyn Duke

Most of you have probably heard about the racial accusations being hurled at Prince Harry of England.  The story is that he was caught on tape with his military outfit issuing utterances that didn't sit too well with the tea-time-and-plum-pudding types back at home.  What was his offense?  He referred to a fellow soldier of Pakistani descent as "our little Paki friend" and told a white comrade wearing some type of headgear that he looked like a "raghead."  For this he has been demonized as a racist.

Now, maybe it's just me, but it really seems a tad immoral and indicative of terminal ingratitude when politically-correct leftists, sitting at home in safety, try to assassinate the character of a young man bravely serving their country.  And make no mistake, that is what Prince Harry is doing.  His service is not of the symbolic variety, where one might have a cushy position far from flying bullets.  When he joined the armed forces, his desire was to go into action with his men, and he has been serving in Afghanistan for more than a year.  But that's not good enough for leftists; you can sacrifice an arm for them, but if you dare utter an unfashionable joke, they'll want to take the other one. 

So, a couple of nights ago, I happened upon Greta Van Susteren's program on the Fox News Channel.  It's not something I regularly watch, but she was doing a piece on the Prince Harry story and the intensity of the reportage drew me in.  I do not mean that as a compliment, mind you; rather, it was the tabloid quality of the segment that struck me.  There she was, prominently displaying that old Halloween-party picture of Harry decked out in a Nazi uniform while she was talking about the accusations of "racism."  Really classy, Greta.

Let's do a reality check here.  These are military men, not a bunch of nattering ninnies at a black-tie correspondents' dinner.  As to understanding this fact, I have to give Monica Crowley of Fox News credit.  She is one of the gaggle of blond, female analysts of whom Bill O'Reilly seems so enamored, and this just could be the only time I'll pay her a compliment.  She was asked about the incident and simply brushed off the criticism saying that she was tired of the feminization of men and the military.  Bravo.

It's also quite tiresome to hear the word "racist" bandied about so loosely.  First, people of all races, ethnicities and creeds make racial jokes and use racial terms all the time.  And what was Harry really doing in calling his comrade-in-arms "our little Paki friend"?  Its seems obvious that the characterization was meant as a term of endearment, which is no doubt why the soldier in question didn't complain about it. 

As for "raghead," we should understand that one doesn't have to be of any particular racial group to be thus described.  The British soldier T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wore the headress in question — known as a Keffiyeh — as did John Walker Lindh, the American captured while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.  And, yes, the term is associated with Arabs, but lighten up.  Terrorists are also associated with it, and these Western soldiers are risking their lives by locking horns with them.  Besides, these terrorists have some choice names for us, too.

Most significantly, I dislike the left's sanctimony and cherry-picking of virtue.  While they fall all over themselves condemning "hate speech" (read: anything conflicting with their agenda), they have no problem with purveyors of popular-culture poison who expose our youth to continual profanity and filth.  And they actually seem to relish having film characters use the Lord's name in vain as much as possible.

This brings me to one of the problem with modern man: He doesn't know what should be sacred.  In fact, a definition of that infernal brainchild of the modernist mind — political correctness — could be the elevation of the mundane, profane and sacrilegious to sacred status.  But few if any of its objects of protection are sacred.  Race is not sacred.  Ethnicity is not sacred.  Feelings are not sacred.  Human beings are, of course, and thus should be treated with dignity.  However, this isn't possible unless we understand what is sacred (e.g., "abortion rights" aren't, unborn babies are).

Really, I'm sick and tired of leftists' bleat about their sensitivites, especially since they are so characteristically insensitive.  I say this because they never seem to exhibit sensitivity when the matter is a traditional vision of the sacred.  So my message to the left is simple: Physician, heal thyself.  Until you show some respect for my sensitivities, you can take your faux virtues and wrap a rag around them.   

                 © 2008 Selwyn Duke — All Rights Reserved