Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD - How I Escaped Political Correctness And You Can Too

How I Escaped

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

And You Can Too

Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD

Inner Mammal Institute

copyright 2018

Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD

all rights reserved

Inner Mammal Institute

InnerMammalInstitute.org

contact: Loretta@InnerMammalInstitute.org

Books by

Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD

Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin

The Science of Positivity: Stop Negative Thought Patterns By Changing Your Brain Chemistry

I, Mammal: How to Make Peace With the Animal Urge for Social Power

Anxiety: What Turns It On. What Turns It Off.

Dedicated to

the wonderful readers

who discuss big ideas with me

without defaulting to ideology

Introduction

What do I mean by Political Correctness?

You spin facts to make the good guys look good and the bad guys look bad. You fear being ridiculed, shunned, and excommunicated if you dont. You often see facts that conflict with politically correct assertions, but you try not to think about them so you dont get yourself into trouble.

1. My Moment of Insight (1994)

I suddenly noticed my political correctness when I caught myself lying to my students about a simple matter of fact for fear of sounding right-wing. I always told myself it served the greater good, but now I saw that it served me. It protected me from politically correct rebuke. Once I realized that, I had a choice. You have a choice too.

2. Family Politics (1953-71)

Early experience builds the neural pathways that tell us whom to trust and how to survive. Young mammals survive by transferring their attachment from parents to a herd. Here are the experiences that taught me how to survive as I looked for my herd. Its the straight story not filtered through PC expectations.

3. A Good Education (1971-5)

This is not a sex, drugs and rock-and-roll story. My teachers were the most reliable people in my life, so I embraced their world view. It didnt quite ring true to me, but like every young mammal, I sought respect and observed how its gotten.

4. Saving the World (1975-83)

I went to Africa with the United Nations and discovered that it was a mafia. I was pressured to make the good guys look good and the bad guys look bad regardless of the facts. I knew how to do that thanks to my good education, but I did not want to be in a mafia. I kept looking for a new herd.

5. Shaping the Next Generation (1983-94)

Political correctness had trained me to defer to my children and my students, but I started to see the harm done by this submission. I was not meeting their needs; I was meeting my own need to avoid conflict.

6. My Secret Shame

I did the right thing according to political correctness even when I knew it was wrong. I protected myself from ridicule, shunning and attack, until finally my mom genes kicked in. In my quest for an alternative, I studied the mammal brain,

and learned that political correctness is biological.

7. Why its always high school in your brain

The superhighways of your brain build from the experience of your myelin years before age eight and during puberty. Adolescence builds the myelinated pathways that stimulate our happy and unhappy chemicals. No one consciously relies on teen wisdom, but the brain relies on the neural pathways it has. Political correctness stimulates happy chemicals because it fits adolescent pathways so well.

8. The mammalian urge for social support

Mammals seek safety in numbers because the brain rewards it with the oxytocin. Common enemies bind a group of mammals despite internal conflict. Political correctness bonds people by pointing at common enemies. It offers a way to enjoy the feeling of social support without the messy complications of one-to-one bonds. No one consciously thinks of political correctness as following the herd, but the mammal brain makes it feel good without need for conscious thought.

9. The mammalian urge to seek resources

Our ancestors didnt know where their next meal was coming from, so they had to scan constantly for resources. The joy of dopamine is released when you approach a reward. But the brain habituates quickly to the rewards it has. It saves the dopamine for new and improved. Thats why were always foraging for new rewards. Political correctness promises new rewards and shames you for seeking rewards in other ways. This leaves you dependent on political correctness for the good feeling of dopamine.

10. The natural urge for social dominance

The mammal brain rewards you with the good feeling of serotonin when you gain the one-up position. We dont admit to this natural urge for social importance in ourselves, though we easily see it in others. Serotonin is quickly metabolized, so we seek the one-up position again and again. Thats risky, so we appreciate a fast, easy path to social dominance. Political correctness puts you in the one-up position by asserting your moral superiority and generating new ways to condemn others. But you have to submit to the gatekeepers of political correctness before you can command that submission from others.

11. The natural urge to avoid pain

The mammal brain releases cortisol when you see a threat or obstacle. Cortisol makes you feel like your survival is threatened, which motivates action to relieve it. Cortisol is triggered by disappointment, so you can feel threatened a lot even if you dont consciously think that. Political correctness stimulates threatened feelings and then promises to relieve them.

12. The natural urge to leave a legacy

Natural selection built a brain that rewards you for promoting the survival of your unique individual essence. Happy chemicals flow when you take steps toward building a legacy, and mortality fears are relieved. Thats hard to do, so the illusion of saving the world is very attractive. Political correctness continually activates the good feeling of saving the world.

Once I understood the needs of my mammal brain, I could meet them without political correctness. I managed to escape quietly without angry confrontations. I do not want war with the politically correct because most of my loved ones are among them. I do not want another embattled mindset after working so hard to shed the last one. I simply want to manage my own brain instead of yielding it to the gatekeepers of political correctness. I will not apologize for that, and if theres a price to pay, I find a benefit to offset the cost.

13. Valuing authenticity

The risks of escaping political correctness come easily to mind, so its important to be equally attuned to the benefits. Authenticity releases the physical distress caused by squelching your true self. Self-squelching is part of being a social animal, but each moment of authenticity is a valuable release of tension.

14. How to be a good person without political correctness

Its hard to feel like a good person when youre surrounded by messages that condemn you as evil. I learned to define good for myself instead of submitting to the politically correct definition. Then I systematically cleared my airspace of those accusatory messages. I cant control the world, but I can control access to my eyes and ears.

15. How to make a living without political correctness

The workplace requires strict submission to political correctness. This leaves you in a double bind: stress if you conform and stress if you dont conform. My strategies for surviving the politically correct workplace are to: live frugally, develop two hard skills, and treat everyone with respect.