Many of us have seen the viral video doing the rounds on Facebook. Released just a week ago and so far accruing over 14 million views, comedian John Cleese stars in a “why I detest political correctness” explainer.

Political correctness is an age old debate. Screams of “political correctness gone mad” are all too familiar. People want “freedom of speech”. People want to say whatever they want without fear of the repercussions.

Cleese’s video is just another example of a victim blaming narrative. In his eyes, people who are offended by words need to just accept it. And if people are angry, they can’t say just stop that.

I wholeheartedly reject this view.

According to Cleese, anyone who is offended by systematic oppression is just oh, far too weak. He presents a series of damning statements;

“The idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is one I absolutely do not subscribe to.”

Here’s the thing though; if you dismiss political correctness, then you dismiss trigger warnings. Trigger warnings exist to protect people who have faced a traumatic experience from being reminded of that traumatic experience. Reminders can trigger disturbing feelings or memories. They are necessary for articles, videos or any content which may contain for example, rape, mental illness, self-harm, suicide, sexual abuse… the list goes on.

This isn’t about “uncomfortable emotion” such as disappointment or everyday sadness. This is about serious feelings of distress.

“If people can’t control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people’s behaviour.”

Because being offended is all about your inability to take care of your emotions. You should just accept and never challenge. Of course, you have no right to tell someone when you are offended because it’s your fault that you’re offended in the first place. Because oh, that’s life.

This is exactly the victim blame at its core. The idea that we shouldn’t call our problematic behaviour is not only incredibly patronising. It’s oppressive.

“W hen you’re around super-sensitive people you cannot relax and be spontaneous because you have no idea what’s going to upset them next.”

Let’s be real here. Cleese is may also be referring to those with mental illnesses. He even references psychology and renowned psychiatrist John Skinner.

Never mind, they’re just too sensitive. It’s their fault they’re offended. Conversations exist for the speaker’s pleasure, it’s certainly not a two-way street where the thoughts and feelings of the recipient matter too. Remember, the speaker has the right to say whatever they want.

Of course, Cleese isn’t going to tarnish his saga with explicit mental health stigma. That really would outrage the masses. But the thing is, the stigma is still there. It’s implicit.

“Political correctness has gone from being a good idea, which is let’s not be mean particularly to people who cannot look after themselves very well.”

People who are not able to look after themselves? Wow. Cleese again reinforces the idea that people who are offended are just too incapable of handling their emotion. They are weak, even child-like. They are wrong to call out seriously problematic views.

I think Cleese knew exactly what he was saying when he worded this. He tries to backtrack, claiming he’s all for the concept of political correctness, but really he isn’t. He fails miserably. Once again, his stigma is implicit.

This video isn’t just irritatingly problematic. It makes me really, really (and I mean really) angry.

I would even go as far to say that this video itself needs a trigger warning. Yes, there’s a heck lot of irony there.

Before you tell me that I’m being ridiculous, listen up.

Victim blaming narratives prevail in our society. Not just in narratives about rape and sexual assault. Victim blaming and the use of blaming language exists in our everyday conversations with our friends and families, and sometimes even our doctors and counsellors.

People with mental illnesses, or any persons in marginalised groups, experience blaming language ALL THE TIME. The feelings that Cleese imposes on such groups are not all that unfamiliar. Victim blaming narratives tells us that we are wrong. Our anger and frustration is not justified. It is merely an overreaction. It puts you in a box where you cannot escape because your emotion is just far too much for anyone to handle. In their most extreme form, these exact sorts of feelings lead to suicide and self-harm. So often we are told that our oppression is not valid, so often we are made to feel that our oppression is not real. We are implicitly told to just accept it.

But of course, Cleese gets away with that because he is merely just speaking his mind.

But what is the opposite of victim blaming? Validation. Validation that oppression, discrimination and marginalisation and genuine offense is not the fault of the individual but rather the fault of the perpetrator. Yes, people accidentally say offensive things, we can’t all help that. But what we can do is reassure people that they have the right to be offended. Validation is something which I will continually preach to those around me. It is important beyond belief. Deny the right to be offended and you get into seriously dangerous territory. People stop speaking out, people stop challenging, people accept things the way they are, people stop creating change in the world.

We need to start validating people’s trauma. We need to stop using blaming language. We need to stop telling people what they can and cannot be offended by. We need to stop making people feel like their offense isn’t really a big deal.

People tend to conflate freedom of speech and political correctness. But here’s the thing.

PC culture isn’t about your freedom of speech, it’s about our right to be offended.