Political Correctness Culture

[Jane]

What are your thoughts on PC culture? Thought this would be an interesting topic to make. Now hopefully this goes a lot better than the feminism topic and I will try my best to conduct myself well here.

It goes without saying, do not attack other people for their opinions. This goes both ways too.

Now personally, I agree with the basic idea of PC. Everybody regardless of sexuality, gender, race, mental illness, or socioeconomic status, is equal. But unfortunately, it looks like the extreme side of this goes way, way too far. Now I'm not saying this is true of anyone in particular, but it really grinds my gears when I see people who claim to be inclusive and accepting, yet they shun or hurt other people in the process.

Reverse sexism or racism is never okay. It never will be, and no matter what backwards logic these kinds of people use, it will never make sense. This also goes against the entire principle of PC, so it's very hypocritical.

And speaking as someone who is mentally ill, I've also noticed that the extreme side of these people claim to be speaking for an entire group, and when someone from that group disagrees, they go after them, and either question if they really are part of said group or spread vitriol.

It is not okay to jump to conclusions and attack people because they disagree with you. This has done harm, and a lot of people are probably afraid to talk about these issues or outright lie about them.

Now I know there are people who consider themselves a part of this culture, and they are respectful and don't go too far, and that's great. It's just a shame the culture has this tainted image from these sorts of people.

Bleh. Hopefully I worded this well. 

[kylie]

People are annoyingly insensitive and it's gotten to the point where it does way more harm than good, seriously. Sure, I don't think you should be intentionally offensive and shitty all the time, but calling every little thing racist/sexist/homophobic etc. just diminishes the meaning behind the word. Dictating what people can use what words is unnecessary. Telling people what they can & can't wear because of their race is unnecessary. The fact that the smallest little thing will be labelled a "micro-aggression" is ridiculous. It's ultimately doing more harm than good, and often comes across as ridiculous to the people who are supposed to be offended.

27 minutes ago, Teamwork said:

And speaking as someone who is mentally ill, I've also noticed that the extreme side of these people claim to be speaking for an entire group, and when someone from that group disagrees, they go after them, and either question if they really are part of said group or spread vitriol.

100%. Everybody wants you to think a certain way and it's completely idiotic. These are the people who criminalize free speech and end up doing things like getting Milo banned from Twitter because they... disagreed with him. These are the people who refuse to listen to other peoples points of view and only listen to their own. As a gay person myself, I get tons of shit from people, especially the LGBT community, for not thinking the same things they do. Because apparently original thought gets you lynched now. 

[Sweat]

Political correctness in general is necessary to make sure people aren't hurting others because of superficial bullshit like gender or race, but it goes way too far when political correctness restricts people from simply speaking out an opinion. Whether it's making an offensive joke or simply speaking out your view on some hot-button issue like gay marriage or abortion, political correctness should never turn into censorship. Case in point being Germany's straight-up banning of people showing off the Nazi flag. It's understandable that Germany as a country feels ashamed of their previous actions, but that kind of mindset shouldn't go as far as to restrict someone's simple freedom of speech. I'm sure you're a total asshole if you show off the Nazi flag on your front lawn or something, but why should that get you arrested? Freedom of speech applies to everyone, no exceptions whatsoever.

[Guest hilaryfan80]

Actually, I disagree on the German flag, @Halibut. I think it was completely necessary. The Nazi regime was a very powerful one and the only true way to eradicate it from Germany's culture is to ban it all together. We wouldn't have the same Germany today if the ban hadn't taken place.

I'm generally ok with PC, but honestly sometimes it goes too far. As someone who has studied linguistics, I can tell you that the whole argument to ban the word "retarded" is, well, retarded.  The historical meaning of the word "retarded" means someone with a mental disability, but language is always evolving, so the word now takes on the meaning of someone who did something foolish or stupid. Connecting the modern and historical meanings to imply that the mentally disabled are stupid is, well, a stupid argument. It feels that people are going out of their way to be offended just to make themselves feel more important than others.

I guess what I am saying is that PC is ok, but there are people who are going beyond their reach just to be offended, and that's not ok.

And let me remind everyone that PC isn't always the same in every country. Some countries actually find discriminating against a certain group is acceptable.