Political Correctness

[bennyboy]

The person in that link looks a lot like your avatar. Are you she? I ask because if so, I can address the things mentioned in the article directly to you.

[Athene]

The person in that link looks a lot like your avatar.  Are you she?  I ask because if so, I can address the things mentioned in the article directly to you.

No. I thought she made some good points, though.

[paulpablo]

RE: Guys: Would you ever rape and murder a girl? http://atheistforums.org/thread-40039.html

Damn it, I am so sick of atheists being offended at every little thing. Why'd you all attack this man, call him names, and label him a troll just because he suggested it's likely that atheists are potential rapists and murderers? A troll, mind you...a troll! Must everyone have to tip-toe around the sensibilities of overly-sensitive, thin-skinned, professional victims every waking moment of every single day? Come on! This gentlemen should've been free to be able to say whatever the fuck he wanted without interference from people whining that it was inaccurate, unfair or untrue. 

So what are we saying, atheists are a minority, so they're worthy of "special" rights and consideration...like consideration? Ha ha. Sure. Okay. 
This is a prime example of the type of PC bullshit that disgusts me. 







Just kidding:
3 Common Complaints about Political Correctness (That Completely Miss the Point)
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/comp...rrectness/

All three of these examples just make blanket statements that can easily be wrong in certain situations.

1 People are too sensitive.

This is a common complaint against political correctness but why is it always an invalid complaint?
 
Additionally what makes someone too sensitive is a subjective opinion and can be specific to circumstances.

If a Chinese guy gets refused a job and he's told that it's because he's Chinese I don't think he's being too sensitive about complaining about that.

If a white person get's offended by the term people of colour because he believes it excludes and offends him I think that's being too sensitive and if a black guy gets offended by the term people of colour because he believes it makes white people the norm then I think that's also too sensitive.

2 It keeps us from saying what we really mean.

To be honest I don't have anything to say about this one, I don't say political correctness stops me saying what I mean.  I guess it's logical to assume that some bigoted people do use this excuse though.

The last one is my favourite because it's one I've just been talking about recently.

3 too much focus on words distracts from more important issues.

I feel I need to make my previous arguments more clear in relation to this specific statement.  I don't actually think that all words aren't an important issue.
I think that certain words are irrationally seen as offensive for no reason at all.  Some words obviously are inherently offensive.

If someone calls me whitey for example, even in an aggressive way, it's just something that goes completely over my head as far as offending me.  If a non white friend of mine called me that word as a joke I would probably find it hilarious and probably just call him a browny back.

And the same goes for coloured vs people of colour.  If people of colour makes sense to you as an expression then you shouldn't be inherently offended by coloured.  I don't use either term because I just simply use black, or non white or something like that.

And the same goes for negro, I don't understand how a word can be used by black people, be a non offensive word rooted in the word simply meaning black can suddenly just become inherently offensive.

I use the word inherently because words like "blondey" can be offensive but it isn't inherently offensive.

Didn't saying black become offensive and racist at one point but now it's ok again?  I think everyone was walking around saying afrocaribean or afro American for a while til people got tired of it and just went back to black again.

I will go out of my way to not offend people most times so it's not like I plan to try and revive the word negro to be back in common usage again.

It's just I can't imagine if my family went to black neighbourhood in Africa there would be this same type of discussion of "What shall we call them, do they like being called whites? What about the Brits?  How about the people of paleness? The Euros?"

None of the words offend me as a white person but I guess if you slap me across the face while calling me a Brit a few times I'll develop some negative connotations towards the term brit but it isn't the word that's causing the problem.  It's the hand slapping me in the face.
That's just pavlovian conditioning probably.

I would never say that no words should cause offence or harm though.

I'm so tired after typing all that I hope at least some of it wasn't the ramblings of a madman.

[bennyboy]

You're right, I think she summarized the PC position very well; but in doing so, there are some things that are so obvious (to her) that she didn't bother to address them. Here's the unspoken question behind all this: is it wrong to be bigoted or biased against any particular group of people? And if it IS wrong, who should police their behavior, and what should the consequences of the behavior be?

Anyway, she is not actually talking about PC, in my opinion. She's talking about basic social fairness. To me, there's a difference: PC is a kind of social fascism. It doesn't allow for opinion, or for deviation from the proscribed "right" view. It snowballs into an environment in which you literally can't do anything but fawn over every minority group else risk being jumped on.

I'm biased against douchebags. The problem is that some of them are black, handicapped, or gay, or pretend to support black, handicapped or gay people. And many of them aren't interested in equality at all-- they are interested in having something to get pissy about just because it makes them feel important.

[Athene]

Paulpablo,

My post wasn't directed at anyone or any exchange in particular. In short, I wasn't calling you out, or attempting to make a veiled criticism of you for your musings on the the appropriate term(s) for black people. Nor am I suggesting that every criticism made by a member of a minority or minority group is reasonable and justified.

I was simply illustrating how easy it can be to dismiss legitimate concerns/matters of importance by arbitrarily relegating them to The Hall of Politically Correct Bullshit.

---

RE: Guys: Would you ever rape and murder a girl? http://atheistforums.org/thread-40039.html

Damn it, I am so sick of atheists being offended at every little thing. Why'd you all attack this man, call him names, and label him a troll just because he suggested it's likely that atheists are potential rapists and murderers? A troll, mind you...a troll! Must everyone have to tip-toe around the sensibilities of overly-sensitive, thin-skinned, professional victims every waking moment of every single day? Come on! This gentlemen should've been free to be able to say whatever the fuck he wanted without interference from people whining that it was inaccurate, unfair or untrue. 

So what are we saying, atheists are a minority, so they're worthy of "special" rights and consideration...like consideration? Ha ha. Sure. Okay. 
This is a prime example of the type of PC bullshit that disgusts me.

---

[God of Mr. Hanky]

Political Correctness is something that is hated by some, seemingly deserving of praise in the eyes of others. I will make an outline for the Philosophical Question.
1. Political Correctness Majorly slows society down. Without it, there wouldn't be giant outrage and practically censorship of some of the Four Horsemen Atheists/Particular Scientists and similar on the other side of the political spectrum. 
2. Political Correctness slows down society, but it is necessary to us as a species. Without it we would quickly go into Anarchy or Facism or etc. 

So, my question is this. 
Would you rather live in a world where evolution made a different turn, not creating political correctness a function of the brain? Or would you rather continue to live in this world? Why for either?

I don't want to be mean, and I fear a mean streak is coming on now, but I know for sure I'd rather live in a world without so many surveys crafted to elicit only bad responses.

Political correctness is for those of political motivation, and SJWs are out to protect nobody, only to promote their own ambition to make a name for themselves. Americans didn't stop using the "N" word to be politically correct, we stopped using it when we realized that it's cruel. So just be considerate with the language which you use, and try to avoid any group names which you consider to be unjust or hurtful. Also, stop pointing the finger at others on their choice of language, because you are never, ever going to bring other people over to your side on what's right by doing that! If you don't like being addressed with the title "Asshole", then you really, really shouldn't be doing that.

[Bob Kelso]

I reside in the camp of "Don't be a dick without reason."

I'm also so ready for all the special little snowflakes, the radical crazed feminists, and the SJW's to fuck off somewhere. Preferably back into the depths of Tumblr's asshole.

[Neo-Scholastic]

They lurk behind resumes. Well have to be careful about who we hire. Fortunately the Internet never forgets.

[Heat]

Political Correctness is just an excuse that can be used by both sides.

People call others out for being Politically Correct when they try to keep the conversation civil, people will call people expressing their opinion in a blunt format and imply that they aren't being Politically Correct enough because of the negative connotations and bluntness associated with what they said.

It's all just a jumbled mess of excuses to call somebody out for doing something you don't approve of. And it's all bullshit. I've been called out for being politically correct simply for acting in the least bit more "moral" than the other person, to which I literally had to look up the definition of politically correct subsequently because I couldn't understand how it applied to me. That's when I realized how little weight the two words held. How about call it what it is, stop hiding under "Politically Correct" as a scapegoat for calling someone either a dickhead, or a self-righteous prick.

I'm not afraid to be called politically correct, and neither should anyone else. It's an excuse to avoid telling the person what you really think, for both spectrum's. People act like because someone chooses to give an opinion that down casts their negative opinion on an already troublesome subject by just a fraction, that all the sudden they are campaigning to shut down their right to freedom of speech, "What? You want to tell me you disagree with me saying all Muslims are the same? Fuck you. What are you, trying to be politically correct?". 

That's a bit of an exaggerated example but the point is, who the fuck cares. It's just an empty phrase used to avoid sharing your actual thoughts. It's this anxiousness and trembling suspicion that anyone disagreeing with the extremity of someone's opinion is impeding on their freedom of speech, or was sitting in their room scared at night feeling obligated like an army sergeant to fulfill their duty of not expressing their opinion in the ut-most extremity and blunt format.

Move the fuck on, tell them what you really think, don't chuck this empty label that doesn't even remotely apply at them like it's a perfect dead-on-description.

[J.S.C.]

I actually think that opposition to political correctness is becoming a dangerous force in this country.

Let me clarify what I mean by that before it's misconstrued. Clearly, if someone limits what they say to the point where they say practically nothing at all, that is a bad thing. But it should also be a given that terms like "illegal alien" are unseemly -- knowing full well that the term "undocumented immigrant" would not hamper the ideas you are trying the communicate in any way. But people like Donald Trump are harping off of the fact that politeness often frustrates those with bigoted mindsets by limiting what is socially acceptable to say, even to the point where "Merry Christmas" ends up being an extremely politicized phrase.