First the Redskins, now the Puritans.
The Harvard Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging at Harvard is calling on students, alumni, and faculty to amend or even completely change the following line from their alma mater song, “Fair Harvard:”
“Till the stock of the Puritans die.”
The Task Force is holding a contest to change the line of the college’s 181-year-old alma mater song because it believes “it’s time for a change.“
According to the co-chair of the Task Force, Dr. Danielle S. Allen, “The Taskforce on Inclusion and Belonging launched this competition to affirm that Harvard’s motto, Veritas, speaks to and on behalf of all members of our community, regardless of background, identity, religious affiliation, or viewpoint.”
The Harvard community has till Sept. 15 to turn in the new ending. The prize is not monetary. Instead, the winner will receive the “Eternal fame and the enduring gratitude of your fellow members of the Harvard community.”
The song is used to both welcome new students and to be played at the graduation ceremony.
At first glance, it is apparent that the politically correct would dislike the Puritans. After all, they constructed a rigid system with fixed gender roles, and hunted females who did not conform to said gender roles as witches. And the Puritans were overtly – even obsessively – religious.
But one should consider that the politically correct (in a bizarre world kind of way) do share a kinship with the Puritans. The best way to show this commonality comes from an enviable quote by H.L. Mencken who wrote: “Puritanism: the haunting fear that somewhere someone is having a good time.”
A better definition for the hyper-humourlessness of the politically correct and their dragnet to purge any politically incorrect expressions cannot be found.
