It's sure ugly when political correctness turns deadly. How did military officials at Fort Hood, Texas, aware of Nidal Hasan since his days at Walter Reed hospital, explain to the families of the dead this senseless loss? What did they say exactly?

Our intelligence revealed that Hasan had connections to an extremist mosque and that he was trying desperately to get in touch with Al-Qaeda, but we thought it might be insensitive to Muslims and our cherished ideals of diversity if we further investigated these irregularities?

Most commonsense Americans will continue to ask questions, but don't require Obama, military brass or the mainstream media to conclude that Hasan is a terrorist and committed an act of terror. Most of us don't take stock in the defense that Hasan's actions are those of a sick and troubled individual who snapped. They know that already. Common sense tells them that executing innocent people in the name of any religion is nuts.

There's nothing mutually exclusive about being a terrorist and being insane at the same time. That is unless you actually put faith in the tripe of political correctness.

Commonsense Americans don't need congressional hearings and feel comfortable saying right now that we let a home-grown, America-hating, Muslim radical go haywire down at Fort Hood. That political correctness has now bound even our military to the point where it won't ask the tough questions or investigate possible terror threats on its own bases, for fear of - what, ACLU lawsuits?

You see, commonsense Americans have long known about the dangers of PC societies. What they may have forgotten is just how deadly they can turn. That's because the aim of political correctness is to shut people up. It's about stifling opinion, anger and passion.

Take Evan Thomas of Newsweek magazine. He said, "I cringe that he (Hasan) is a Muslim. I mean, because it inflames all the fears. I think he's probably just a nutcase. But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going."

These comments are so consumed by PC mush that one doesn't want to lend them any more attention than is necessary, but they are useful indicators of how insidiously dangerous political correctness can be.

The families of the dead soldiers know full well that if this nutcase had been labeled by authorities as a potentially lethal American Muslim terrorist, and removed from Walter Reed, those 13 innocent soldiers at Fort Hood might still be alive today. Commonsense Americans recognize there are good and bad apples in every bunch. We throw away the wormy ones and keep the good ones.

Second, if every American, Muslim, black, white, whatever isn't furious about what happened down at Fort Hood, then it's time we all joined the right wing. Where does one go with commentary like this? Where's the logic? It's like entering the Twilight Zone and there's no exit.

That's because political correctness calcifies brain matter. It worships the alleged gray area between good and evil. It upholds moral relativity by withholding judgment on the guilty. It swaps truth for fear, reason for lies. It disguises insanity as sanity. It turns the world on its ear.

When we are too afraid to speak our minds for fear of societal or government scorn, when we are cowed into silence for fear of lawsuits or offending someone's "diverse sensibilities," we become like the Soma-swallowing zombies in George Orwell's "Brave New World." We become plump guinea pigs for overzealous, power-hungry governments and other radicals who would use our semiconscious state to take control.

It's time to find our way back from the Twilight Zone. It's time to start turning the tables on the politically correct and regain our footing and this nation's sanity. It's time to remember that anger can be also be healthy, especially when it evolves out of decency, honor and integrity. Let's let common sense make a comeback.

Let's reverse the trend of silencing reason. Let's not be scared to call it like we see it. Let's tell the truth.

Our military officials should never find themselves at a -parent's door, trying to explain the unexplainable. It just isn't possible.

Geoff Cutler is owner of Cutler Tree LLC in Southern Pines and is a regular contributor to The Pilot and PineStraw magazine. Contact him at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.