Things I Don't Get

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^ Excellent post, Princess Viola.

This is political correctness in a nutshell.

I don't get why the so many of the people who complain about political correctness/"wokeness" are also often among the most easily offended.

It's like only some people's toes matter, if you're not one of them not only do your toes not matter, you're the as*hole for saying 'excuse me, I'd appreciate you not standing on my toes'.

A portion of society be like: Shut up about your toes, you'll make people like me feel guilty if we have to acknowledge your toes.

Also, no I will not remove my feet from your toes because doing so would acknowledge that harmful contact was made.

Also, you're destroying society by pointing out that your toes were stepped on, or implying that I did it or *stomp* that I've done it repeatedly and intention*stomp*ally. What, do you want a society where toes can never be stepped on? Do you want kids to grow up feeling guilty because of the toes their ancestors stepped on? Why do you hate the children!? WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!

I do get sensitive to personal attacks, but not things in general. For example I have to use a sign at work that says "Men At Work" on, even though I'm a woman. I could get all political and have a hissy fit and claim the company is sexist and that I should feel valued as a woman in today's world, but...I don't. It's just not important to me.
However, I get sensitive to someone bullying me, because, well, it's personal and I have social anxiety and RSD. Not if they are making jokes about my gender or skin colour though. Just if it's related to me as a person, not a group I belong to.

There's a difference between personal respect and political correctness. Yes I'm probably a snowflake then when it comes to being too sensitive but I still don't give in to political correctness crap.
You can even make a joke about me being in a relationship with a 60-year-old if you like.

Honestly, I share the RSD and social anxiety with you; I was bullied a lot and part of my sensitivity towards queer issues, racism and similar has to do with how they're effectively examples of bullying within a group. I didn't like being devalued on the basis of who I was/am, seeking to reduce that for others is very important to me.

To be fair, you're not really the sort of person I'm describing but I've worked with a lot of these sorts of people over the years. It often boils down to them wanting to be the bully, while also not being recognized as the bully, while also not wanting to have to be on the receiving end of the same sort of treatment. That's a big part of why they direct their malice towards othered peoples, they perceive those people as less likely to have social allies. Their victim is perceived as lacking power socially and therefore being defenceless.

Sometimes it's expressed when these sorts of people are corrected on misinformation. Other times it's when they fail to find solidarity over othering members of a minority (complaining about people not having their personal conversations in English in the workplace is one of their triggers around here).

Often it'll be expressed when something is updated, take your sign for example: if the next sign said 'People Working' or something similar, there's gonna be somebody who throws a hissy fit over political correctness when it's really just how language has evolved. That (strawman) is who I had in mind.

I hate working next to those sorts of people and I hate the assumption that I'm going to agree with them and comfort them, especially when it's a repeat experience. It's especially frustrating when it's men who constantly talk about 'alpha males' or 'these kids are just too sensitive and delicate, blah blah woke blah blah back in my day' because consistently they're the ones who are most likely to take a rejection of their ideas, ideals and values as personal and something that requires becoming belligerent about.

I'm pretty used to dealing with being disagreed with, it's not something that an extreme emotional response will change so I don't understand why these self-proclaimed 'real men' are so prone to being so fragile when challenged by some blue-haired woke snowflake (insert more insults here).

I don't get why the 'free speech absolutists' seem to only want it for themselves.
I don't get why the people who are constantly decrying society becoming too fragile and sensitive are so fragile and sensitive when society or individuals disagree with them.
I don't get why to 'be a real man' I have to proclaim myself as tough, develop bad coping mechanisms for negative emotions and be incredibly insecure about maintaining that facade.
I don't get why we only pretend to take bullying seriously when it's between children but really don't take it seriously at all.

I also don't get why it's so much easier to identify that one has internalized harmful attitudes and understandings than it is to eliminate them.

i dont get why i feel so incredibly drawn to cats but practically repulsed by humans

I think the reason political correctness has arisen is because people don't seem to know how to be polite anymore. They just blurt out insults, thinking they're just 'telling it like it is' when they're actually being rude in various ways. So it's okay for someone else to point out they are being rude.

e.g. If Fred calls a new colleague the N word, it's fine for Mike to say 'hang on, that's rude, you can't call them that.' Is that Mike being 'too PC' or just being considerate of the new colleague's feelings?

'Political Correctness' is quite a silly name for it. It should just be called 'being considerate and respectful of other people.' The trouble is, the media has got hold of the term PC and turned it into an insult, which it isn't. We all need to get along with each other, we don't need to be labelled and mocked as being 'too considerate and respectful.'

I think people these days think they can blurt out everything that goes through their minds but that's not the way to get along with each other. Just because you CAN say something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

^I agree with this. Personally, i would err on the side of caution when talking about sensitive subjects. Maybe bc i am a very sensitive person and get hurt easily, i want people to respect that. And if i want to be treated that way, its only natural that other people want the same.

(Although maybe its bc where i live, the political correctness trend hasn't reached yet and people are sometimes borderline insulting in how they treat minorities.)

It's all about context. In this context, yes it is rude of Fred to call someone else the N-word because he's doing it deliberately to be insulting. There is no need for it. A personal insult is a personal insult.

But when it comes to having to tiptoe around carefully and change non-insulting words to evenly please all 8 billion people on this planet, that's when it's too PC. Watch the video I posted, it's not very long, and it will give you an idea of political correctness Vs respect.

That's the thing though isn't it. When are we going to be speaking to 8 billion people? We're not, ever. We just need to think about the people we interact with and try to be respectful and courteous, which obviously you are. If we're kind and well meaning people, we should be able to work out how to do that. It's just those people who aren't kind and well meaning who need to be guided as to how to treat others politely.

That video, argh. I've worked in all male environments like that, I had to be very careful who I interacted with and whether I was alone with them or not.

Yes, I'm learning not to be so blunt and like a bull in a china shop when talking to people, especially women. They don't appreciate my bluntness, men tend not to mind so much.

You are very respectful, so I'll respect you back. I respect everyone to begin with, even if I may not be impartial on some political views, if people are still respectful then I'll like them and continue to be respectful back.

Self righteous babblers.
I.e religious zealots
Who are so insecure they need to cling to Jesus.
Sorry if this offends anyone
But I've had enough of people who abuse others in the name of religion.

I don’t get why you’re over there and I’m over here when we just need to have tea, cuddle cats, and curse about the world.

^I don't get that either.

You'll have to change your clothes first, stinkypuss.

cheesecake factory ^