Why am I getting less PC (speak) the older I get?

Question

is anyone else going through this?

How'd you handle it?

Answer 1

My guess (though this is in part from reading your responses elsewhere, so it's not a generalization about how people are as they grow older) is that perhaps you've seen the world around you, known people, seen how ideologies always oversimplify things, seen that saying the "right" thing doesn't always translate into doing right by people, recognized that there are more important things than walking on egg shells to appease people who may be looking for something to be offended about, and decided that an honest opinion from a place of sincere thought and honest goodwill is worth a lot more than pre-packaged BS.

Someone else, I might suspect was just getting crabby and intolerant in their "old age", but you don't strike me that way.


Ralf, the original quote is from Georges Clemenceau:
"Any man who is not a socialist at age 20 has no heart. Any man who is still a socialist at age 40 has no head."

Answer 2

Maybe it's because, as others have said, you worry less about what others think. But I think part of it is because our culture has become much less 'civil' than it was a few generations ago. If you take a look at the media of today compared to that of, say, 1970, you can see the direction things have gone.

We used to have Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Harry Reasoner and others reporting real news. Radio news was actually news, done by journalists. There were some 'fringe' media types such as Garner Ted Armstrong and Dan Smoot but generally even THEY were civil.

Then along came Rush Limbaugh. Due to his success, there were soon a sh*tload of imitators, many even more vicious than Limbaugh. This has led us to Ann Coulter, who calls widows of 9/11 'whores' for not supporting Bush. We have Hannity, Glenn Beck, O'Reilly and countless others who are more than happy to spout hate at the drop of a dollar. Or look at the way certain segments of society (black and white) bandy about the words 'b*tch' and 'ho.' Is it any wonder we don't feel like we have to be polite anymore?

The 'PC' movement has gone a little overboard sometimes, I'd say. But the anti-PC movement has gone a lot farther. Even George Wallace and Strom Thurmond wouldn't have said 'nappy headed hoes' (in public, at least).

Answer 3

What I have noticed is what is forbidden by polite society keeps changing, so my standards are not in sync with current social norms. I find much of what is said objectionable, and much of what is objected to I do not have a problem with. It is now OK to bash the French, Muslim , smokers and fat people, but dumb blond and mother in-law jokes.are gone. Even motherhood has lost its place as saintly and what is admired is professional women. I can remember when my parents had the same problem. They used what I considered ethic slurs in normal conversations, but were appalled by four letter words.

Answer 4

You mean politically correct? Probably because you're seeing that sometimes being nice and friendly and compassionate and caring doesn't work all the time. It's nice to do so if the other person holds you in the same respect, but if you try to not insult them, and they trample all over you, it can't last.

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying: "A man who is not a liberal at age 20 has no heart. A man who is not a conservative at age 40 has no brain".

Answer 5

You reach a point were you do care what others think! I call it the "no more B/S" stage,and i like it. What i have to watch is some one does something terrible and i can't understand it If they are a different race I tell myself "ho that what they do" to try and understand their behavioral It's the easy way out!

Answer 6

As you get older you become more confident in expressing your true self as opposed to trying to be sweet and not hurt anyone's feelings. It's better to tell the truth and be honest, I think.

Answer 7

I'm actually becoming more pc. I've noticed I'm much more patient and tolerant. I've really realized, as I get older and experience loss more often, that when we're on our deathbeds, all that will matter in this world is tolerance and acceptance. Nothing else but peace will matter in the end. Peace with others and peace with ourselves.