Political Correctness

[Fooloso4]

I just came across the following and decided to post it here. Although it is not about PC it nicely illustrates assumptions underlying many of these arguments:

The most entertaining episode in the civil war [over healthcare] happened after Charles C. W. Cooke tweeted, “I’ve yet to read a single positive analysis of the House’s Obamacare bill.” A conservative replied: “try going 2 a conservative source? Open up your reading habits 2 include those w/ whom u would naturally dismiss.”
To which Cooke replied, accurately, “I’m the editor of National Review Online.”

[LuckyR]

Not all that is PC is labelled such. Conservatives have their own PC sacred cows that they routinely overlook. There are many circles where one dare not criticise the military or police, nor mention climate change, nor dare one give support to abortion, euthanasia or the relaxing of prohibition. Failure to use the right's language and to abide by the right's PC demands delivers an even more shrill righteous fury than when "the PC" complain about misogynist and homophobic slurs.

It's important to keep in mind that complaints about "political correctness" are not driven merely by verbal objections to someone else's use of words. They are driven by actions, usually by the State, to impose, by force, the lefty view of the world upon people who don't share it. For example:

* Forcing merchants who disapprove of gay marriage to cater to it (such as the florist in Washington State fined for refusing to supply flowers for a gay wedding);
* Forcing pharmacists who disapprove of abortion to sell "morning after" pills (another Washington State case);
* Forcing employers who disapprove of homosexuality to hire homosexuals;
* Forcing businesses to permit "transgendered" males to use women's restrooms;
* Forcing employers to hire criminals because refusing to do so has "disproportionate impact" on minorities;
* Expelling or otherwise punishing high school or college students for wearing "offensive" attire or using "offensive" terms ("offensive" to some "protected group").

Etc., etc.

Mere objections to speech, like the speech itself, are protected by the First Amendment. But when the objections and the doctrines upon which they rest are forced upon others by law admonitions become oppression.

It is not an accident that all of the examples are in a regulatory/business/contractual context. That is the bailiwick of governmental regulations and laws. Thus disagreements with the law should not be taken to the Court of PC (which is a court of public opinion), it should be adjudicated in AN ACTUAL COURT.

[Scottie]

I think political correctness is a term invented by people who want to do stupid stuff like say the n word in public. I've heard people invoke Lenny Bruce to make their point. I usually tell them that Lenny Bruce wasn't a racist. That usually stops it right there.

I think that this sort of person is entitled to their opinion. We can't police ideas and, even if we could, I don't believe any good would come of it.

I offer the fashionably irascible people an experiment. The idea is that anyone who has any real guts and wants to say things like that in public should go to neighborhoods where 'those people' live and say it in public. Say it to everyone you meet. Say it loud. Say it proud. Be sure to document the results. I never seem to get any takers.

-- Updated March 30th, 2017, 10:11 pm to add the following --

...kind of like David Hume admitting that he still uses the door to leave a room.

[Sy Borg]

Apparently it's now politically incorrect for the US government to even mention climate change.

[PaulNZ]

The term "political correctness" to me has become synonymous with using particular language to hide or soften a particular view that is at least perceived by the speaker or writer as being offensive to a particualr group in society to whom the statement relates or at least could be associated with.