Political Correctness -What Do You Think

Political correctness seems to be taken over the western world!

i would would like to know who started it and where is it going to end.

im personally fed up with ppl preaching at me telling me wot i can and cant do or say...obviusly im old enough to remember the days before this phenomenom took hold.

what does everyone else think? especailly those who have grown up with it all their lives?

 

I grew up thinking and being taught that the politically correct views were really the only views, and that everyone who thought differently was somehow deranged or dangerous or both. Only recently did I find that what is politically correct is not necessarily the only right way, and that it can in fact be a corset on people's thoughts and opinions. Few actually manage to think outside this "box".

The downside is that what is politically incorrect may also be factually or morally incorrect, so that it really is unacceptable to think in some directions.

 

Roel wrote:

I applaude your candor and honesty. I truly believe(perhaps naively) that logic and reason will prevail over political correctness just as it prevails over bias and intolerance and other forms of ignorance. Narrow mindedness be it from the left or right of the political spectrum results in attempts to enforce this view on others. Regulating expressions of dissent
is the first step to regulating thought which leads to the worst form of tyranny imaginable.

It can hardly be disputed however that most PC is imposed by those on the Left.

 

I can't stand the term let alone the practice.Nuff said.

 

Political correctness offends me. Most of the time, it offends me more so than the content it tries to protect me from.

 

I've been confronted to it more than once....
:angry:

To some degree, the Political Corectness phenomena reminds me of how a totalitarian state works.
Everyone gets forced to accept the notions of political corectness as truth,disagreing with it is seen as some form of blasphemy....
This is how it used to be in red Russia, or brown Germany.

The "Official truth" does not accept contradictory opinions and freedom of speech.
But unless free speech is allowed, clear thinking is denied.

Unfortunately the greatest part of the political spectrum nowadays stands behind political corectness, and everyone disagreing is regared as a fool, a radical, a dangerous man....

A democracy that feels confident and self-assured should view political corectness as a disgrace, but unfortunately this seems not to be the case in western society nowadays....

 

Good old Grieg, never lets an opportunity slip to jab at the political Left!

Political correctness is defined by the dominant group's morals and values. What is considered politically correct therefore changes over time but it always has to do with what is thought to be right and good. Currently since the Left upholds an ideal of equality whereas the Right advocates egoism, the Left has the greatest claim on moral correctness and therefore also on political correctness. I find it hard to condemn political correctness in its entirety because of its close link with the dominant morals of any society it operates in.

This is not to say that the values and morals of dominant groups are right or true, or that we should all agree with the same set of morals. They are however a force to be reckoned with when you're trying to make others see beyond politcal correctness. It is not a doctrine, people really believe in it.

A funny example of political correctness is the forum's reaction to the site posted by Panzerman (maddox.xmission.com). The maker of this site offends people by having a set of morals that doesn't agree with what is politically correct, and forcing it upon the visitor of the site with quite the momentum necessary to force a common person to think 'outside' political correctness.

 

Roel wrote:

And you lend credence to my statement by admitting that it is more of a Leftist thing than a Rightist thing. I don't know why one would want to have "the greatest claim" on either "moral correctness" or political correctness.

I don't find it hard to condemn it at all. It is an abomination and the natural enemy of reason. Imagine Voltaire, Galileo, Locke or Adam Smith banned so that our Marxist vision of the world isn't contradicted?

 

Political Correctness ( PC ) is a threath to the democracy and can prove to be one of the most dangerous mindsets in our time. The foundation of the PC mindset is indeed well-meaning, but it will in practise ( as it does ) create new injustice, and, as I will get back to, do little to mend the injustice it was created to combat.

It is a danger to the democracy because it limits free thought and blocks public debate on certain issues. The PC politician/debatant can silence his/hers opponent by labeling the opponent or the opponents statement as 'racist', 'right-winged' or by using other labels which are more country specific. A consequence of this is that people become afraid to speak their opinion, and indeed even become afraid to present facts to the public if these facts gives a negative view on a specific minority.

PC will in other words 'hide', if not by intention so at least as a consequence, certain facts and social phenomena which do not fit into the PC mindset. In doing this they will not only create unjustice to those not covered by the PC mindset, but over time also against the very same they pretend to protect. The latter will happen because myths and prejudice will increase amongst the common man/woman because the PC mindset will not allow a public debate based on a free flow of opinions, and because certain solutions to specific problems are out of the question if they don't fit into the PC mindset.

 

It seems to me that if you take common sense, and look at the exact opposite of common sense, what you have is political correctness.
I truly believe that it is the beginning of the end of society & morals as we know it today. You can laugh at me now for saying that. But let's just wait 30 - 40 years, and see if I'm not proven correct.

 

Skua wrote:

Well said indeed! I wish I had said that

 

I can't really say what I think of "PC". That would not be the "PC" thing to do and I would really hate to offend half a billion people with my crude, redneck opinions. So, here is the edited version of what I think of it:
*^%$$&^ )&^%^%# (&*^$#$$%&^) (&%^$$&( )*^$@#$ (*^$# crap! :evil:

 

I think that JCalhouns previous post is very one sided. He only comments upon the positive & good facets of PC! Not at all upon the bad and negative!!!!

 

i very much agree with what has been written here.

ppl who are champions of pc are are rigid in their views and holier than thou in their attitude...they have the simple iam right you are wrong and im not even going to enter into a discussion with you because none of your views are valid or worthwhile.

the Headmaster at my childrens primary school is a classic example of this. he installs all this wonderful idea of non competitive sport, non acheivement based assesments of abilty and schoolwork..he takes in pupils that have been expelled from other schools regardless of how disruptive they are to the other children..because they are misunderstood and have a right to an education even at the determent to others in the class.


When you confront him that you are not happy with the situation he retorts that you have a bad non constructive attitude and refuses to enter into any discusion as to why he thinks his methods are correct.

my kids often tell me things that they have been taught that i know to be factualy wrong, yet when i correct them, they tell me i am wrong because mr/miss x says so!

the next person who preaches pc at me will go through the nearest window! :angry:

 

Well yeah, I merely tried to explain why this is so. However it seems from over here that in the US it's the other way around, that over there the Right determines what is politically correct and that it doesn't seem overly preferrable to the "Leftist" form of PC. Then again, judging by the recent elections the right is the dominant group in the US (especially since by European standards the Democrats are still quite a bit Rightist).

Whether you'd want to have a claim on moral correctness depends on whether you agree with the morals on which it is based. These morals are overwhelmingly similar in the Western world.

Marxist view of the world? Now that's interesting, what PC group holds Marxist views of the world? As far as I know most people now reject these views as flawed, save for small groups. After all, his theory on the development of human history, while groundbreaking at the time (note that economic history simply did not exist before Marx), is now seen as generalizing and often just wrong.

By the way, what does the scientist Galileo have to do with the Enlightenment thinkers?

 

Roel wrote:

I can think of no examples of Right wing PC in the US whereas Left wing PC is rampant. Ban's on "hate speech"..shouting down or otherwise silencing speakers whose opinions you disagree with..refusing to grant tenure to faculty that don't toe the Leftist party line..all these things and more have been occurring inthe US. Perhaps you can provide some examples of the Right wing PC you allude to?

Nearly all modern Leftist politial philosophy can be traced back Marx/Engles/ Lenin this despite the overt repudiation by many Leftists of these out of favor thinkers. They repudiate them by name but not the ideals and philosophy that they esposed.

You are an intelligent man. Don't think in a linear fashion only Surely you can see the connection between Galileo, who was forced to recant his beliefs, which were based on observation, reason and logic, by those whose beliefs, based on dogma and a slavish devotion to the so called divine word of God, were threatened? His words were silenced by threat of torture and death. People who hold a dogmatic view, whether based on religious writings or philosophical teachings, feel threatened by men with ideas, men who allow reason rather than dogma to dictate their thinking. It's a very dangerous idea, to permit men to think as they choose, is it not?

 

For example, in the US it is completely politically acceptable to be in favour of the war in Iraq, or of gun ownership, or such right-wing points of agenda. These two matters are completely PI over here as far as I know. At least where I live this is true...

To me this is also one of the cases where what is politically correct is also factually correct.

Most of Leftist PC is about environmentalism, racism, multiculturalism and other such 20th Century issues on which the early Socialist theorists had little to say. Also, most modern Leftist (as in Social Democrats, not Communists, for the last freaking time) adhere more to the thoughs of Bernstein and the moderate Socialist thinkers who argued that, judging the success of Unionism in Britain, improved conditions for the laboring class could also be achieved through the existing political system.

How dare you say such things!

I still fail to see the connection really, since Galileo was obviously and openly silenced by the Church whereas Locke, Smith and Voltaire were widely read and popular in their own age. They were not the renewers themselves, they were figures in a whole movement or culture of rationalism.

 

Roel wrote:

I'm not sure we are speaking of the same thing. PC refers to compulsion to restrain certain" politically incorrect" expressions or beliefs not to the freedom to express oneself. Quite the contrary. While it is acceptable to express a favorable attitude to the war in Iraq or to gun control in the US it is also acceptable to express the contrary view.
An example of political correctness would be for example if one wished to deliver a lecture on a college campus on the classic seminal film Birth of a Nation relating to the early development of cinematic techniques. The film was very influential in that respect however as it was made in 1915 the subject matter is racist. If the faculty of the University or black students attempted to ban any showing or lecture related to the film that would be "politically correct" as the term is used however it would also be a constraint on personal and academic freedom.
A good example of PC run amok would be the protests which resulted in discontinuing the use of the terms "slave" and "master" when referring to computer disc drives as though there was come connection to human slavery or the protests which ensued after a journalist used the word niggardly which if you didn't know already has nothing whatsoever to do with the slang word for negro.

The basis hasn't changed IMO. Dialectic Materialism has not been abandoned but merely retooled for a modern era. I know that Socialists like to try and distance themselves from Communists as much as possible but the common roots are not so easily disentangled as they stretch back to Plato.

The point wasn't that Galileo was like the others mentioned. Once again, the point was about thought control...dogma over reason. Galileo was compelled to publically recant what he believed to be true and embrace that which he did not believe on pain of death. The ultimate in PC (or RC- religiously correct ) furthermore despite the actions by the Church , Galileo's teachings were not successfully suppressed. As to the others my comments was "imagine if they were banned" i.e if political correctness should prevail.

 

We are still talking about the same thing. I was just considering how some opinions are made impossible by political correctness. There are certain subjects on which one opinion is so dominant that people will mistrust you for even considering the opposite, and that I also consider PC/PI acting up. There is a difference definitely between what is accepted as an opinion over here and in the US. On the other hand, the kind of situations you describe are fortunately still rare at least in my country... They're just sad, basically.

 

Roel;
Not being here in the USA, you just can't see what the PC crap is all about. Gun owners take a constant beating in the ultra-liberal media, those who supported Pres. Bush and the war are constantly reminded that we are about as useful as stale chewing gum, anyone who says anything that could potentially offend somebody else is labelled as a social barbarian, and anybody who believes in God and is open about it is branded as zealots trying to crush the non-belivers.

Our education system is suffering the most as the pc educators are teaching revised history (leaving out wars, race struggles, and other "offensive" parts), lowering expectations on students so they have a better chance of passing, and mostly the same garbage cheeky-monkey wrote of.

If our Democrats are what you would consider rightist, I'll be happy to stay here.

The most politically incorrect thing in the world is a Christian, white, heterosexual, gun owning, animal hunting, hard working, tax paying man!