Political Correctness Destroying Minority Opportunity on Outsourced

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The crew from "Outsourced." It used to be a pretty good little show.

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One of the few sitcoms I watch (because it is on HULU, I don't own a TV) has been "Outsourced." The program is about a young man from the states whose call center management job has been outsourced to India. Much of the show's early humor centered on the culture clash between prudish, hierarchical east Indians and debauched, informal, post-modern America. The show has been somewhat of a hit, but its about to go down the tubes. The reason: Political correctness.

The show has gotten flak for making fun of east Indian culture. Inevitably, the word "racist" has been bandied about. It wasn't true. Like a lot of good humor shows, they made fun of everyone. As a conservative, I actually felt more sympathetic at the portrayal of the east Indian culture and off-put by the amoral view of Western culture.

Unfortunately, the writers of the show seem to have caved to the pressure. The upper-caste assistant manager has been transformed into a sympathetic character. The east Indians are now making inappropriate jokes, just like the Americans. Now that they have toned down this essential element, all they have left are junior-high level dirty jokes. Who is going to suffer the most for this, even more than the audience? It is the careers of the actors of east Indian descent.

I listened to a blog talk radio interview of some of these actors. They were so happy to land a job where east Indian characters had more than just supporting roles. Roles for east Indians were rare, one of the cast was joking that he and another of the cast were always competing for the same roles, but now they both could work at the same time. I am glad for them, but I am afraid it is not going to last. PC destroys art, and hurts the careers of those that it purports to help.