Political Correctness

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Thoughts? Growing problem in society or non-issue?

I think it's a largely overblown issue. For example, take the "war on Christmas", and the assumption that big box retail is more concerned with virtue signaling than widening the targeted demographics in their marketing to make more holiday money. That's a bit of a silly assumption to make. But that's simply one angle on it, obviously there are many directions this conversation can go.
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when trump wanted to ban travel of virus laden countries, the democrats called trump a racist. then eventually trump's ideas became the global standard. basically, liberals were letting political correctness override people's lives. so yes, being PC can be a major problem. 
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PC is a way for the Democrats to claim that anything the Conservatives do is racist. It is a growing issue that needs to be treated. I get that some things need to be refrained from saying and it isn't polite to say them, but to take everything you say and turn into some form of ISM or PHOBIC is stupid

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@bronskibeat
Thoughts? Growing problem in society or non-issue?

I think it's a largely overblown issue. For example, take the "war on Christmas", and the assumption that big box retail is more concerned with virtue signaling than widening the targeted demographics in their marketing to make more holiday money. That's a bit of a silly assumption to make. But that's simply one angle on it, obviously there are many directions this conversation can go.
When we ask "is political correctness a problem?" we have already answered the question by using the term "political correctness"

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is  "a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.  In public discourse and the media, the term is generally used as a pejorative with an implication that these policies are excessive or unwarranted"

That is, the term "political correctness" generally implies critique, so you've pre-loaded your question with an answer.  I think a less loaded variation might be, "do Americans enjoy less free speech now then [insert time frame, I generally a generational period like 20-30 yrs] and the answer to that is that I think Americans enjoy about the same or more free speech now than 30 years ago.

In a very general sense, most use of the political correctness critique (or in the FOX news doublespeak of the week, cancel culture) is a sort of non-response response to criticisms of offensive speech.  So when people say, "hey, the Washington Redskins in an offensive team name that should change" a commonplace defense is to merely damn political correctness.  Few take the time to investigate the nature and extent of the offense or the cost and consequence of a namechange, most are just satisfied with tossing epithets and declaring victory in place of rational discourse.

Therefore much of the argument around political correctness is just a continuation of political perspective.

A crazy recent example of liberal PC run amok took place in England last month. 
  • On July 22nd, 3 white men deliberately ran over a black 21 year healthcare worker in front of  a Bristol hospital while shouting the racial epithet "nigger."
  • On July 29th, a BBC presenter deliberately repeated the epithet during an interview regarding the event.  She warned her listeners that she was about to speak a racial epithet immediately prior to correctly reporting the use of the word.
    • In response, the BBC received some 20,000 complaints regarding the word's use and a black BBC presenter resigned from his job in protest of the word's use.
    • The BBC stood by its usage for 10 days but finally relented to political pressure and apologized for the use.  The presenter also apologized personally.
To me, this is totally nuts.  Obviously, the offensive use of the word was committed by young racists on July 22.  I don't see how accurately reporting the offense could be seen as offensive or how anybody could persist in claiming offense after the presenter offered fair warning.  I guess the core rationale is that the word should always be censored in every context and never spoken aloud even when carefully contextualized to prevent offense and perhaps that's a question of journalistic integrity worth exploring but I don't think any person can reasonably claim to have been offended by the BBC's usage and I call phony bullshit on all those fake liberals who demanded an apology.

A crazy recent example of conservative PC run amok took place at Lafayette Square in DC on June 1.  A crowd of law abiding US citizens protesting the murder of George Floyd by police were dispersed by soldiers in full battle gear using tear gas, pepper spray, sting grenades, flash-bang grenades, smoke bombs, rubber bullets and batons.  I don't think Trump or his acolytes would accept the critique of political correctness in this case but I don't see how it can be avoided.  Officially, the POTUS is required to tolerate any degree of peaceful criticism of the government and his administration of that government and his misuse of the US military to enforce his political perspective is far less acceptable than the intolerance of ordinary citizens without armies.

Dr.Franklin
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massive problem
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@thett3
opinions?
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@bronskibeat
IT is not a problem, how people react can be.  We've become a hyper sensitive society.  I've proved as much.  In a f.b. post I made the comment something like, typical libtards, knowing full well they would confirm my thoughts.  This wasn't directed at any one person, but many took offense.  I can only assume they thought it applied to them otherwise they would have ignored or reacted in a different way, it was pretty funny actually.  The response is what I expected it to be.  This isn't any different than p.c. which is just another form or way to be offended.  You choose to be offended if you think about it, it's a totally irrational and emotional reaction.  You could call me whatever you like and it wouldn't bother me because I don't know you and your opinion about me doesn't mean anything to me.  That's how people should be, but aren't.
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@Dr.Franklin
P.C. is a massive problem only if you think that it is.
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@zedvictor4
its a massive problem
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@oromagi
I agree with your thoughts on it. I think you offer a good example of a perhaps unnecessary addressing of perceived racism. There could be a much bigger conversation about the "n word," and when it's appropriate to use, but I'll save that for another thread.

I think I take issue with the tendency from certain members of the right  to throw "Political Correctness" around any time a member of the left takes a positive stance on issues regarding minority/marginalized demographics. The term has been abused as I've see it frequently used where it does not apply. It gets used to automatically discount those accused of being "too PC" as being insincere/over-sensitive, thus relieving the accuser of having to engage in any real dialogue surrounding particular issues. Intellectual laziness.


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@Dr.Franklin
Yep....Because you think that it is.

There is always correctness.

Some correctness is good.....but some correctness is better than other correctness...and vice versa, depending upon your point of view.
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@zedvictor4
no it is bad
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There is no correct or incorrect political ideologies. There are only good ones and evil ones. If this one, executed correctly, will literally make people suffer, it is an evil one. If it theoretically works but it didn't, then it could be good. Theoretically socialism is of good sides but leaders either turn it to blended capitalism or turn it to totalitarianism.
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@Dr.Franklin
Yep I was agreeing that you think that some P.C. is bad.

But you will undeniably also think that some P.C. is good.

Typically you will tend only to complain about the things that do not suit your way of thinking.

14 days later

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As I understand it, political correctness only happens in the U.S. and Europe. I think if it does seep into the third world, it would remain localized for sons of rich generals and kings. In my opinion, it is an overblown issue. I don't pay much attention to it, since it only accounts for meager fraction of the world's literature.

In short: P.C. is a waste of time.
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@MarkWebberFan
In essence P.C. is good because it attempts to improve society and social equality. Opposition occurs when you try and encourage people to ditch well established ideas or methodology.

P.C. is very much a generational evolution of social behaviour and function, and is therefore probably an inevitable outcome of general species evolution.  

As individuals, how we are influenced by or react to P.C. is largely down to age and/or conditioning.

You probably don't pay much attention to it because you are currently happy to go along with it, which is probably reflective of you as a person and the social environment in which you live.... Though  as you get older you may find that P.C. does start to affect established ideas.....

P.C. doesn't really impinge upon my lifestyle or social environment either. Though I do like to keep my eye on the ball, even if just to to be able to make social comment.

Also, I think that on the whole, equality,  fairness and tolerance are quite virtuous.
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@zedvictor4
I am subjected to the values of collective sportsmanship, not one that arises out of conflict. I think it is a waste of time to cite P.C. as your argument for your ultimate goal of fairness. It matters little if the end-goal is achieved, because the source material is a waste of time. Granted, I think it's good to see the statues of slavers and evil colonialists being torn down but  I'm not slogging through medium's overly-saturated "Defund the police" articles or right-wing wizards on Youtube. I think the third world has no benefit other than the occasional amusement of tuning in to CNN to see what happens. Polemical ideas from the west never inspires change in the third world because I think the east perceive themselves as superior whenever polemical ideas circulate in the west. I think that's not inspiring change; that's promoting vile tribalistic tradition (one that is exemplified by  lunatic third-world dictators such as Kim Jong-Un).
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@MarkWebberFan
I was just offering my appraisal of P.C.

My ultimate goal is to have lived a reasonably long and healthy life and have an easy death. Hopefully I will have been treated fairly in the meantime, just as I will have endeavoured to treat people fairly.

And collective sportsmanship has no doubt been affected by P.C. but you probably don't even notice the effect.

And the cultural differences between "East" and "West" are what they are, because of how they became.

And Kim Jong-Un is a product of one said culture and probably not a lunatic in the true sense of the word.

P.C. is in fact, something and nothing....It's just a reference to social evolution....And you seem to be somewhat more concerned about it than I am.

7 days later

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@TheDredPriateRoberts
I am a lot more worried about cancel culture than political correctness.

When you lose your job for speaking out against Marxism, there is something fundamentally wrong.

95 days later

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People have lost jobs for stupid and unfair reasons since the beginning of time. 
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Define "political correctness."
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I think pc has always exists in the US, (there's some shit you just shouldn't say) but maybe it's more extreme now. Idk

129 days later

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@MarkWebberFan
As I understand it, political correctness only happens in the U.S. and Europe. I think if it does seep into the third world, it would remain localized for sons of rich generals and kings. In my opinion, it is an overblown issue. I don't pay much attention to it, since it only accounts for meager fraction of the world's literature.
Oh dear, another conservative-politics lie.

Try to say things against the norms in your nation of Indonesia, then you will see what brutal PC culture is. The only difference is that what's non-PC is Indonesia may actually be the good stuff to say more often than in the 'western world'.
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The reaction of the media to their truncated version of CDC’s announcement last week re:  masks  ought to teach all needed to be known of P.C. It is agenda-driven. What CDC actually announced, and what media reported; two distinct stories. P.C. Is what media says it is, not necessarily what is.
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@RationalMadman

Try to say things against the norms in your nation of Indonesia, then you will see what brutal PC culture is.
Well, I'm very confident that I have been subjected to such "brutal PC culture" but I'm not comfortable airing my personal issues out in a public forum. A while ago, I told one DART user in a PM about some details, but I feel that's enough.

The only difference is that what's non-PC is Indonesia may actually be the good stuff to say more often than in the 'western world'.
As an ESL speaker, I have no idea what you're talking about. I want you to cite examples. What exactly do you mean by the "good stuff"?

That said, I'm assuming you're trying to draw a comparison with how the east and west perceives PC culture. I think I'm not universalizing PC in my early post because I genuinely think that the East and West differ significantly in terms of their fundamental values.  For example, a country like singapore has no common ground with the rest of the western world. I can say that there's a huge number of western-born expats but the vast majority of them (much to my disappointment) are forced to think in "assimilated" terms, if that makes sense. I think that social integration between the west and east is impossible. For this reason, any PC that happens in the west is usually laughed at unless you're the son of a general who lives off by regularly enrolling himself into over-priced american colleges. I believe that the east has stagnated precisely because of this fundamental difference. IMHO, If the east wishes to emulate the west, it would have to fully assimilate its values.
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@MarkWebberFan
For example, a country like singapore has no common ground with the rest of the western world. 
Actually Singapore is one of the closest Asian nations to Western culture, only Japan and South Korea are closer I would say.

That aside, PC is political correctness and Asia and the Middle East enforce it with ferocity, that is for sure. 

Say something politically incorrect for their conformed opinions and views and you're done, fired overnight and branded a worthless scumbag, even your own family will turn on you at times.

You think I don't know? I do know. The only things that change are what are and aren't politically correct, there is political correctness everywhere but don't for a single second think the western world is most ridiculous with it, they are in fact the most merciful with it at present.

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@MarkWebberFan
@RM

Glad MarkW mentioned Singapore, because your slur of con-pol-lies speaks to the typical western - and specifically American - misconception of east-west dichotomy by which your slur is so exemplary, is telling.

 I have logged so much time in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, not to mention China, to feel like an expat without ever being one, I understand exactly what MarkW is saying, and you do not get it. Or, if you do, or did, something is amiss evidenced by your commentary.
And that is regardless of your politics, so stuff your accusation of lies. I could say the same, but It appears to me to be simple indoctrination, much of which is by personal choice.

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@RationalMadman
I don't think i agree. I think what irks me the most is your statement in which you said that Singapore is similar to western culture or however you framed it. The RSF press freedom index routinely places Singapore close to North Korea. You don't think that the rising case of authoritarianism throughout asia as a symptom of asian collectivism? Further, I wish to know where is this "western culture" you speak of in the East. I'm willing to bet that your target sample is just the same as any other person who travelled to asia. These "western-minded" expats and their "western-minded" asians are identical as with any other "traditional" asian; they're essentially passive and naturally compliant to authoritarian symbols. On a personal note, I had half expected western expats in Singapore to group up and form a cabal of unassimilated migrants but they seem content with a status quo that severely restricts freedom. Again, I think integration is not possible for both parties. Assimilation is perhaps the only prevalent and realistic path.
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@fauxlaw
 I have logged so much time in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, not to mention China, to feel like an expat without ever being one, I understand exactly what MarkW is saying, and you do not get it. Or, if you do, or did, something is amiss evidenced by your commentary.
I agree with your sentiment.
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@MarkWebberFan
Lol, Singapore isn't close to NK unless you're being racist about it.

Indonesia is much closer to NK than Singapore is, The authoritarianism isn't in the same league at all.