Opinion of political correctness

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

HP, but most people who rail against it are more interested in being allowed to use the N word without condemnation then they are in actual "freedom of speech."

That being said, there is a good deal of PC zealots out there and we have a thread for that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Obviously the people who complain about 'political correctness' are worse than what they're complaining about, but this thread does give me an opportunity to share the hilarious fact that when a class I'm taking watched Son of Man, a South African Jesus movie with an all-black cast, a few weeks ago, one student, a middle-aged white guy who goes to the ultra-liberal Andover Newton Theological School and is taking this class through the Boston Theological Institute, couldn't bring himself to say 'black' and kept describing the South African, Xhosa-speaking cast first as 'African-American' and then as 'of color'.

lol. But no mention of cultural appropriation.

I mean, there was some discussion (from other, more knowledgeable people) of the problems with the fact that a white South African director made a movie with an entirely black cast that thus bracketed out South Africa's racial history in its implied commentary on the relevance of Jesus' ministry (the movie's theology is strongly Lucan), but mercifully nobody used that particular rubric for understanding what the concern was.

[Pyro]

Many of those who complain about "political correctness" just want to say racist/sexist/bigoted things without having to deal with the fact that such is no longer socially acceptable. This isn't true of every opponent of political correctness, but it's true of enough people to be noticeable.

[RI]

Let's stop the strawman-ing, okay? Yes, there are lots of PC-opponents who just dislike having to not be racist/sexist a-holes, but there are very legitimate reasons to oppose political correctness.

It's about the weaponization of being offended, the creeping expansion of political ideas framed as anathema to civil discourse, the idea that an accidental turn of phrase could socially blacklist a person, the idea that an argument of merit can be derailed by incidental connotation, the divorce of intent from form in communication, etc. It's about finding ways to exclude people and make yourself feel better about it in the process. It's about how political discourse has devolved into points-scoring and self-aggrandizement over actual dialogue and attempts to find common ground (something greatly heightened by the internet and social media). It's about the dichotomization of life into a zero-sum game regardless of topic: victims vs. predators, the privileged vs. the oppressed. It's about selfishness and the slow death of American empathy.

[Bigby]

HP, it's a tool used to force certain opinions into becoming the de facto mandated opinions that one should hold or else.

[RINO Tom]

Generally terrible but obviously better than its counterpart (not sure why any rational person would feel that one must be a bigot or overly politically correct).

[youngohioan216]

It depends on the circumstances. Likewise, it is important to remember that political correctness can come from the left, right, and center.

What would be an example of centrist political correctness?

[President Johnson]

Too much pc is horrible. But you should never in isult a group of people as whole.

[jaichind]

Totally reject PC.  Let one hundred flowers bloom.  Anyone or any group being offended is not a reason to stop someone from expressing how he or she feel.  You can always choose not to listen.

[RightBehind]

It has a place in our society. While some people get offended too easily and over trivial things, we ought to condemn certain statements or viewpoints.