Political Correctness: For Better or For Worse? The average person can see political correctness every day: Whether it's a headline from BuzzFeed, or an article relating to gender or identity politics, it is clear that political correctness has infected the United States', and the world's, culture like the Bubonic plague infected Europe. Political correctness should be used for describing political situations accurately, and correctly, and being generally correct, such as calling a man "him" or a woman "her". Now, it is being used to avoid offense. An innocent and admirable trait, but why should anyone have to avoid offending someone with words? Political correctness is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as being terms to describe language policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. PC is used in everyday life: From calling people by their preferred pronouns, which can go into the “Pronoun Game”, where you can be criticized for using the wrong pronoun, whether it is on purpose or on accident; From using racially correct words and terminology, which, if ignored, can be misconstrued as being racist or racially/culturally insensitive; From avoiding anything that can be viewed as being insensitive, racist, offensive, or otherwise seen negatively. …show more content…
Political Correctness can be good for practicing tolerance for other people’s beliefs, or another culture and their way of
If this were the case, freedom of expression could not exist at all because someone is always going to be offended by what another person says. Possessing freedom of expression means being tolerant and accepting of others who have differing opinions, or even offensive ones. This might not always be easy, but is what one has to deal with in order to voice their own voice and opinions. Accepting and tolerating others does not mean that one has to agree with them. Every individual is given the liberty to exercise their right to free speech.
In the editorial “Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt examine the political correctness on college campuses and how it may be hurting students’ mental health. They explain by allowing campuses to discuss words, ideas, and subjects that can cause discomfort or give offense can provide positive attributes like helping students to produce better arguments and more productive discussions over differences. Does Lukianoff and Haidt provide sufficient evidence about how college campuses should raise attention about the need to balance freedom of speech to help students in their future and education to lead the reader to agree with their argument? The answer is yes,
...wrong with people thinking that using the "correct" terminology will ensure that you will not anger someone with your speech. She is the type of person that others feel the need to protect, but she doesn't want their help. Mairs is perfectly capable of telling you exactly what speech is offensive to her, and it may not be what you are thinking of. If people would actually take the time to talk to each other, then maybe we could truly understand what people want and need. We shouldn't always assume that we know what is best for other people if we are not in that same position ourselves.
How much we valuse the right of free speech is out to its severest test when the speaker is someone we disagree with most. Speech that deeply offends our morality or is hostile to our way of life promises the same constitutional protection as other speech because the right of free speech is indivisible: When one of us is denied this right, all of us are denied. Where racist, sexist and homphobic speech is concerned, I believe that more speech - not less - is the best revenge. This is particualrly true at universities, whose mission is to facilitate learning through open debate and study, and to enlighten. Speech codes are not the way to go on campuses, where all views are entitled to be heard, explored, supported or refuted. Besides, when hate is out in the open, people can see the problem. They can organize effectively to encounter bad attitudes, possibly to change them, and imitate togetherness against the forces of intolerance.
Rankin, Aidan. “The repressive openness of political correctness.” Contemporary Review 282.1644 (2003): 33+. Literature resource Center. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.
As Americans we need to be compassionate and understanding towards them. Political correctness is necessary in this changing and progressive world that we live in. We do have the first amendment; however, that only really affects the government’s interactions with people in regards to free speech. People’s interactions with one another are not affected by the First Amendment. Furthermore, it is better in Europe because people cannot get offended by what others say about them. America needs to be more progressive and censor ourselves so that no one is offended by our
There was no political correctness in this movie, creating an environment that has great impact. The ugliest character, Officer Ryan, is abusive on the beat and is hard to work with, but still his coworkers have his back. At home he cares for his aging father, and in an attempt to secure better healthcare benefits, he verbally abuses an African American social worker, who has him escorted out. At movie’s end it is the social worker we see in a fender bender spouting racial slurs at the Middle Eastern person who hit
...2009) political correctness build an inclusive society in which people from diverse backgrounds are offered equal opportunities. Another article that defend political correctness talk about the people who are against this movement don’t want to be polite or civil to the people different from them, the important thing to this people is to do what they want when they want even though they used hurtful word they don’t care(angry black woman 2007). This article end by saying political correctness is very important to the language and we need to fight for it so let’s make sure people use it. Allan Goldstein has the same opinion as the two authors before he said that ” political correctness is a small price to pay for keeping the peace between large groups of outraged people” he means people don’t like political correctness but we need it so the people can live peacely.
Within the spectrum of debate, no matter your political affiliation, the discussion can become heated but beneficial to society. There is a vast majority of emotional baggage that could come with specific topics such as White Supremacy and Radical Feminism. Though, with this type of discussion, an increase of censorship and political correctness seem to be on the rise–making these varieties of arguments difficult. Censorship is the suppression of speech, and political correctness merely described the avoidance of different forms of expression, go hand and hand to the difficulty of free discussion–especially on college campuses. Besides engaging in a debate with diverse individuals, students fear that they cannot speak their views without public
Firstly, political correctness is founded upon the assumption that discrimination and prejudice exists within society. Of course the goal of being politically correct is so that it affects communication in a positive way. It’s to prevent arguments and people from getting offended. What we are not trying to achieve is some sort of polite utopia – it would be a dull and dreary place to live.
People can stop talking to someone who they consider offensive, they can walk away. Words don’t hurt people, despite the current popular opinion. Free speech should not be limited by anything it should just be free. Some people will say horrible things, but when they say such things to other people, people will think that they are horrible, and not listen to them anymore. Laws against saying certain thing don’t protect anyone, all they do is hide the true nature of people, until it is too late to do
Words are very powerful, and sometimes the words we use offend people. Freedom of speech is highly valued but what happens when your freedom becomes hurtful or disrespectful to someone else? There are so many different kinds of people and different things that offend each person. In this day where we are more inclined to say whatever we want, we see more and more offense being taken to the words that get said. It's hard to understand why certain words can be insulting to someone when it may not seem that way to you. We have to ask ourselves, why do we care what other people say and should we censer everything that goes into the public just so people don't get offended?
Living in a diverse world should be something a person should be proud of. Getting to know a person’s culture and their beliefs should be a wonderful ability. Respecting one another is important, even though a lot of people still disregard that, which should discontinue. We should all start to learn how to make this world a better place,
Cultural sensitivity occurs when people recognize and are aware that each country or various ethnic groups of people have their own set of experiences, beliefs, values, and language that affect their perceptions toward life. Addressing Cultural sensitivity permits people to comprehend that there are differences between cultures. Furthermore, having awareness in the differences between cultures permits a culturally competent person to communicate effectively with others that are outside of one’s realm. Some of the differences of Cultural sensitivity can be discovered while traveling outside of the country, such as through Cross-cultural sensitivity experiences. Likewise, a culture has its own norms and beliefs to how one should dress; how one should greet others, such as by referring to a significant individual by his or her first name or surname (comprehending which name should be stated first in foreign names); and/or what foods are permitted to eat or forbidden to eat or understanding what may offend a person (e.g. not accepting a home cooked meal). There are norms, taboos, cultural cues, and cultural etiquette standards that are significant to learning about one’s culture before exploring another country or while working with people who are from your country but who are part of another racial group. It takes time and patience to build a high level of Cultural sensitivity. Educating oneself with a culture’s psychology and its norms is significant toward achieving an increasing awareness toward Cultural sensitivity.
Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from culture differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. We are dealing with systemic problems in education, economic, government, religion and culture differences.