Political Correctness?

Question

What's the problem with PC?

If you are respectful and have good manners, then why worry about being politically correct? I'm not saying that being respectful is the same as being PC, but if you are, then nobody would care about the nuances of your speech. Which would be few if you were.

Or, is targetting Political Correctness a way of avoiding being respectful?

And Good Morning from the East Coast.

Answer 1

my Mom always taught me to respect others

saying Merry Christmas to people who do not celebrate it is disrespectfull

personnally if you are more worried about what present to buy whom than anything else this time of year you really dont know what Christmas is

political correctness really is an attempt to make people aware of how other people feel

walk a mile in another's shoes and then see how you feel

Answer 2

This question of Political Correctness is coming up a lot on Yahoo Answers recently.

What everyone should realize is that being PC is not the same as making an added effort to be polite and thoughtful. Being PC means that you cannot call a spade a spade.

As far as I can determine, Political Correctness only insulates those people who deserve criticism from ever hearing it. Some people need of an attitude adjustment, a reality check, or a good swift kick in the pants, but PC means they have the luxury of being blissfully ignorant of their deficiencies.

Let's say your name is "Sally", and you're always late for work, screw everything up, and leave the mess for someone else. You're not inhumanly lazy and careless. You simply demonstrate a work ethic that "cannot be easily quantified".

Let's say your name is "Rashid". We won't point out the fact that you are surly and rude. We instead will say these attributes are commonplace in your culture, and we must embrace this delightful diversity.

In my opinion, PC behavior is just an impediment to the kind of honest communication people need to really communicate. It has nothing to do with hurling insults.

What PC behavior really is, is a barrier to communication. I once worked with a very lazy black woman (who socially I was friends with; she was a very nice person (!), just very lazy at work). When the subject of her work ethic was broached, there were gasps of horror at the suggestion we confront her about her laziness. Oh nooo.... came the cries. You can't do that! Why, it will seem like we're... racist!

Yeah, so you can't call a minority lazy. Great.

Does that also mean that a Jewish person can't be greedy because that plays into the stereotype?

SEE WHAT I MEAN? Those are the pitfalls of PC behavior. It has nothing to do with behaving badly towards others. It has everything to do with using such ridiculous euphemisms (or avoiding the subject altogether) that real, honest communication is impossible.

One positive thing could come out of Political Correctness. For example, why is it so easy to dismissively hurl invectives and irresponsible accusations against President Bush? Answer: because he's a white man. (And by the way, every white male President can just as easily be obscenely insulted by a world that sees nothing wrong with heaping abuse on white males. It's a huge double-standard.)

Now, imagine that Condaleezza Rice were President. There is no way that Americans or foreigners could so easily denigrate her without a second thought. It may be "cool and hip" to blithely say vicious things about a white man, but try to say the same things about a black female and you'll be crucified by the PC Police.

Hence, the image of our country would gain immesurably in stature because people couldn't just have the knee-jerk reaction of saying any irresponsible, vile thing that popped into their head. Can you really imagine someone saying, "Condi is Hitler"? No way.

Answer 3

PC has gone too far, in my opinion. It has gotten to the point where PC is no longer polite and offends other people. I don't use the word "African American" because I think they should just call themselves "American". I don't see why calling people "Oriental" is not PC if they are from the Orient. The rules just don't make sense anymore. I think it was meant for good, but just got out of hand.

I agree with the one guy. I don't tell people "Merry Christmas" if I know they aren't Christian. I don't get why some people say, "I'm going to say 'Merry Christmas' no matter what because I celebrate Christmas!" I bet they would get offended if somebody told them, "Happy Ramadan!"

Answer 4

Political correctness is a way of eliminating double standards when it comes to dealing with the general public. I say that because you can be the nicest and respectful person in the world and make a statement where one person will think nothing about it someone else will be offended.

Answer 5

One can never go wrong by being polite. Politeness is the essence of respect. PC, on the other hand, is the opposite of respect. PC is about control.

Answer 6

I have no problem with "being PC." I was raised to actually respect and value other people. I agree with your assessment. Being polite and respectful takes care of it because you won't say offensive or derogatory things anyway, out of decency towards your fellow man. To those who say it's about control--it is--it's about self-control, so try practicing some... Yes, we have freedom of speech, but why waste it being hateful or ignorant?

Answer 7

You nailed it! There a big difference between saying something that someone may find offensive and intending to be offensive. People have gotten by for hundreds of years discussing many a thing that some could find offensive. They would simply say 'no offense intended' afterward and the potentially offended would say 'no offense taken'. In other words that he understood you were not trying to be offensive. Intention is what is important not the word or words themselves.

Merry Christmas!

Answer 8

The problem is when a town in Maryland won't let a Santa ride on a volunteer fire truck (in the town's "winter holiday" parade) because Santa is a religious symbol and the volunteer fire company receives SOME of it's funds from the town, it shows that political correctness has nothing to do with respect. . Santa is not a religious symbol and the people that didn't want him on the fire truck were just trying to make other people as miserable as them. (The great thing is that 800 people showed up at the parade in Santa costumes, I think they let him ride the fire truck the next year).

Answer 9

Continue being respectful and displaying good manners. Don't worry about the PC crowd. Nothing you do will ever please them. They're nothing but a bunch of faded over-the-hill has-been ex-60s radicals whose time has come and gone, and no one takes them seriously anymore. They cluck like a wounded rooster every so often just to see if anyone listens.

And, Good Morning to you too, from somewhere else down the East Coast.

Answer 10

PC and being polite no longer are connected, in my opinion. There is a difference between making sure you say please and thank you versus saying "person" instead of man or woman. PC has gotten waaaay out of hand, where politeness never will.

Answer 11

Here is my problem with it. If statistics say certain groups do certain things (or engage is certain behaviors), if they are negative and they are associated with some groups, it's ok to talk about them openly, but if they are negative and associated with some other groups, it's not acceptable to discuss them openly. How can you solve problems if you can't even discuss them openly and honestly?