Political correctness, a blessing or an evil?

Been feeling bored tonight, so read quite a few of the threads…and this has got me thinking. Have we got too politically correct (the west that is)?.I appreciate that political correctness and race laws are there to prevent overt racial hatred from extremists amongst other things. I agree there should be laws to prevent racial discrimination. Rightly so, you can’t go around calling people n*ggers, cr*ckers…etc. or even beating people up. But, when it comes to discussing race issues, too much political correctness probably stifles open debate(people scared to say what they really think), because of the fear of being branded racist. Does this not increase resentment between people, rather than heal differences? Some people probably feel like they are walking on eggshells when they speaking to someone of a different race or religion..

Far fetched maybe..but are we getting to this….

Employee asks black guest: Would you like a black coffee?

Manager :NO! You can't say that! It's coffee without milk.

Hope not…

 

As a progressive society we have been ever so steadily veering away from political correctness. Even here in North Florida where I've lived all my life, blacks and whites who believe they are prone to offend each other keep their beliefs pent up for so long that although periodic minor conflicts between them often have drastic consequences they won't strive to sort out their differences in a peaceful manner. A tense situation such as the one you mention rarely if ever happens in real life unless the manager just so happens to be black in which case his remark is unfounded since the property of the direct object in question is taken out of context. If he's white then the remark serves to patronize the black guest so either its a racial inference or a perfectly usable adjective that has been blown out of proportion.

 

Yes, some political correctness was needed, but I feel we've gone too far. We should all feel comfortable talking about race, politics, religion with people of different backgrounds and I think that political correctness has stifled discussions in such a way that even if the discussions occur, they aren't moving peoples' viewpoints toward a better tomorrow. I do think we all feel we have to walk on eggshells.

 

I think that tact and consideration for the feelings of another should direct our choice of words/behavior, whether you call it political correctness or otherwise. It is different than being objective when discussing issues.

 

I do feel we have gone too far with the political correctness. People are almost afraid of voicing honest opinions or questions in fear of being called a hater. Or getting in some other embarassing situation.

I agree with Mosk, we should practice tact. We should also not try to make others agree with us.

But I think it serves no good, to try to force the Boy Scouts of America to accept a girl member. Or to say it discriminates against men for women to get free or discounted drinks on Ladies night at the bar.

We should have a place where being ourselves and having any preference we want should be OK, as long as that preference doesn't interfere with the health and well being of others. I think it would be healthier for everyone.

 

Oh no, don't tell me this actually happened somewhere. I want to see the face of the man who said he felt discriminated against because ladies were getting discounted drinks.

 

Yes there was a discrimination issue and they were trying to outlaw Ladies Night in someplace because it was discrimination. Not that long ago. I heard it on the radio. I don't remember where.

 

Here is an interesting PC story....

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article738220.ece

:smt102

 

Thought Censorship

Personally, i think political correctness is a form of thought control. We are losing our freedom of speech and now thought. Next there will be the thought police as there are in China. As if censorship was not bad enough.

 

Interesting perspective....I kind of agree with it.

 

It depends on how you define "political correctness." Are some people overly sensitive? Sure, there's no denying that. However, whenever I hear a denunciation of "political correctness," its usually a rant coming from some bitter asshole who is upset because he can't shit all over some other group of people en masse in order to feel better about himself without getting called on it.

To me, all of the backlash against "political correctness run amok" is contrived nonsense spun by people who are desperate for something to complain about themselves.

 

Now this is the most sensible post so far on this topic.

 

I absolutely think political correctness can run amok sometimes.

Like the one I mentioned in another post: a woman from Sierra Leone was described to me as being dark haired. When I met her, I was not just a little surprised to find out she wasn't just a "normal" brunette.

When we had first started dating, I had a friend over for a cup of tea. My hb wanted a snack, but we didn't have any. So I told him that he could go find himself a banana if he was hungry. My friend was totally shocked. By the look on her face it was apparent that she found it highly inapropriate to offer a BM a banana. :smt043

Or how about my cousing calling her mum a racist because she said she had met a "nice black gentleman at the store". You see, the colour wasn't relevant to the story, she should have just called him a "nice gentleman".

I absolutely agree that we need some political corectness, but sometimes it's just borderline stupidity.

 

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No doubt, you will get idiots and bitter people who will denounce political correctness to shit on other people. Okay, now we agree on that. Btw I am not one of them.

There are also people who are just ‘sensible’ and can see when things are getting ridiculous. In Britain, we had a situation where the government was considering moving Christian symbols from Christmas celebrations because it might offend other religions. Well, as a mild Christian, I thought this was silly (slight understatement). And as Britain, is essentially a ‘Christian’ country, it made the idea even more ridiculous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4540538.stm

In such situations, I don’t think anyone wants to shit on anyone. They are just exercising common sense.

Also political correctness also affects people at the bottom, people who can’t necessarily shit on other people. Now people’s lives are being put at risk because of political correctness. Read about these social workers in the UK…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1720893.stm

Contrived nonsense, no: first example proves its not. People looking for something to complain about..well maybe sometimes

 

Yeah, that's the sad part about political over-correctness.

People, including social services, are so concerned about understanding and respecting other peoples culture, that they don't interfere when they aught to.

In Sweden there was a case a few years ago, where a young man killed his father after years and years of abuse. His former schools knew about the abuse, the social services knew about the abuse, the imam at the local mosque knew about the abuse, and no one ever had the guts or will to interfere.

And that's in a country where ANY form of physical punishment is illegal.

The same thing is still going on in the whole of Scandinavia BTW. In Norway, Denmark and Sweden all physical punishment is illegal. Yet children of immigrants can go through years of severe abuse because social services fear being called racists if they do something about it.

 

Exactly..this is when being too PC helps no one...

 

It was not my intention to imply that you are, and I apologize if I gave you that impression.

As I wrote earlier, this discussion is contingent upon the definition of the term "political correctness" which, in my experience, can be extremely malleable. Here in the US, people who incessantly bemoan the pervasiveness of "political correctness" are often guilty of the type of behavior that they criticize others for engaging in i.e. being too quick to take offense or going to great lengths to root out some sort of perceived injustice. When the topic of what is or isn't "P.C." is broached, hardly anything meaningful is ever said.


But hey, that's just my take.

 

I think we have gone too far in pc so it is now an evil instead of a blessing. People who speak their minds are usually labelled as haters, racist, etc. For example, on some of these posts members stated why they preferred a BM and were told it was wrong to prefer a BM because of that. So what. That`s her opinion which may not necessary be the opinion of other members. Pc stifles changes in attitudes or behaviour because we will all end up saying what we think the other person wants to hear even though it may not be the truth.

 

Those who are saying stuff like "It's PC gone mad" when it comes to racial slurs, are missing an important point : The slurs are not the real issue. The issue is that these slurs take place against a backdrop of systemic and institutional racism. And that backdrop--of housing and job discrimination, racial profiling, unequal health care access, and a media that regularly presents blacks in the worst possible light makes verbal slights, even if relatively minor, take on a magnitude well beyond the moment of that they happened.

That many whites won't be able to understand this simple point is testimony to nothing so much as your own sense of entitlement. In other words, you are not used to anyone telling you that you can't do something, or shouldn't, and as such take great offense when your own freedom, including the freedom to offend, is constrained.

BLACK PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS HAD TO WATCH WHAT WE SAY.

To me, this backlash against political corretness is just the desire of whites to maintain a certain form of white privilege : The privilege of saying whatever you want, whenever you want, and feeling as though your right to lecture others on their behavior should logically take precedence over controlling your own. As with all racism, it is power and position that gives a racial slur its ability to injure. This is why slurs against whites like cracker or honky seem more juvenile than truly offensive. When a group of people has little or no power over you, they don't get to define the terms of your existence, they can't limit your opportunities, and you needn't worry much about the use of a slur to describe you, since, in all likelihood, the slur is as far as it's going to go. What are we going to do next : deny you a bank loan ?

 

I believe that there is no such thing as political correctness. There is doing onto others as you would have done onto you. There is good behavior and bad behavior. And then there is this term "political correctness" which was designed to make good behavior look like something bad. If you take the buzzwords out, it's clear what's right and what's wrong.







Also I believe UKBlack's a creepazoid who loves rape. That too.