I'll be the first to admit there are times when even I'll mumble to myself, "Wait, that's causing an uproar on Twitter? Why? What's offensive about that?" However, for the most part, I see political correctness as a good thing.
The definition of the term is: "the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against."
So why do so many, on both sides of the political spectrum, particularly on the right, often complain about political correctness?
One thing that likely frustrates many about political correctness is the fact it constantly changes. What was considered unoffensive 5 years ago may be seen as offensive today. The PC-world can often times feel like venturing to a family get-together over the holidays, featuring many relatives whom you haven't seen in a while. You're kind of feeling out of the loop, not sure about the inner-family dramas you've missed out on in recent months, and are feeling tentative on speaking too openly, afraid you could potentially offend someone. I get it. In both scenarios, we simply have to speak, listen, learn, and adjust. Political correctness may go too far at times, but it's a constant learning process, and at the end of the day, the #1 rule in the PC-world is "Thou shalt not be a dick in public."
So, what's the problem? Well, a big reason why the PC-world is ever evolving is the fact this country is becoming progressively more diverse. With this increase in diversity has come an increase in education about these growing demographics, and with that, a growing awareness of common stereotypes regarding them. Also, due to this increase in diversity, there's been a greater focus on equal rights under the law for each and every demographic. This is a big reason why the most ardent objectors of political correctness tend to be straight white Christian males. For a long period of time, even now to a certain extent, this demographic has had more rights than all others. So now, as we continually try to level the playing field for all groups of people, they're now feeling as though their rights are slowly being stripped from them. However, that's not the case. Providing women, blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, or homosexuals equal rights doesn't strip straight white Christian males of theirs; it simply guarantees one group doesn't have more rights than another. That's kind of what equality means. So most of these ardent PC-objectors aren't complaining about political correctness because they necessarily dislike a certain group of people; they just don't like the thought that others are being viewed on an equal playing field as them. It's change. The tide is slowly shifting from "white privilege" to no privilege, meaning equality, and it's driving the anti-PC crowd crazy.
It all comes down to kindness, decency, and respect. We may unintentionally offend a person or a group of people at times, but of what point is it to intentionally do such a thing? Also, if someone is troubled by a lack of offensive language he or she can publicly use at the expense of a particular demographic without being judged, does that say more about political correctness or the actual person? I'm going to go with the latter...
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=political+correctness+definition
The definition of the term is: "the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against."
So why do so many, on both sides of the political spectrum, particularly on the right, often complain about political correctness?
One thing that likely frustrates many about political correctness is the fact it constantly changes. What was considered unoffensive 5 years ago may be seen as offensive today. The PC-world can often times feel like venturing to a family get-together over the holidays, featuring many relatives whom you haven't seen in a while. You're kind of feeling out of the loop, not sure about the inner-family dramas you've missed out on in recent months, and are feeling tentative on speaking too openly, afraid you could potentially offend someone. I get it. In both scenarios, we simply have to speak, listen, learn, and adjust. Political correctness may go too far at times, but it's a constant learning process, and at the end of the day, the #1 rule in the PC-world is "Thou shalt not be a dick in public."
So, what's the problem? Well, a big reason why the PC-world is ever evolving is the fact this country is becoming progressively more diverse. With this increase in diversity has come an increase in education about these growing demographics, and with that, a growing awareness of common stereotypes regarding them. Also, due to this increase in diversity, there's been a greater focus on equal rights under the law for each and every demographic. This is a big reason why the most ardent objectors of political correctness tend to be straight white Christian males. For a long period of time, even now to a certain extent, this demographic has had more rights than all others. So now, as we continually try to level the playing field for all groups of people, they're now feeling as though their rights are slowly being stripped from them. However, that's not the case. Providing women, blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, or homosexuals equal rights doesn't strip straight white Christian males of theirs; it simply guarantees one group doesn't have more rights than another. That's kind of what equality means. So most of these ardent PC-objectors aren't complaining about political correctness because they necessarily dislike a certain group of people; they just don't like the thought that others are being viewed on an equal playing field as them. It's change. The tide is slowly shifting from "white privilege" to no privilege, meaning equality, and it's driving the anti-PC crowd crazy.
It all comes down to kindness, decency, and respect. We may unintentionally offend a person or a group of people at times, but of what point is it to intentionally do such a thing? Also, if someone is troubled by a lack of offensive language he or she can publicly use at the expense of a particular demographic without being judged, does that say more about political correctness or the actual person? I'm going to go with the latter...
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=political+correctness+definition
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