what do you think about politics and political correctness?

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I think he's accepting the world as it is, but just not the mind viruses that are hosted by many people in the world.

Ideas are not concrete and they evolve. That you can have actions that are kind and considerate of others one day, and those same actions become unacceptable or offensive the next day, is the result of evolving ideas. This is the problem with political correctness. It expects punishment for not hosting the most current mind viruses.

I think that political correctness really means that one would rather have someone lie than to say what is on their mind.

IMHO a world sans "little white lies" would be untenable. sorta like a world sans manners. little white lies [a part of manners] is the lubricant that keeps our world from grinding to a halt.

I fully agree with you, but I think that political correctness often requires much more than white lies.

ok, sometimes it is BIG white lies but that is still better than black lies of any size in that the motivation is to avoid unnecessary un-pleasantries wherever possible. IOW, IMHO political correctness at its most noble is just trying to put a smiley face on less than pleasant things, in a mostly innocuous manner.

What do you all mean by "political correctness"? To me, political correctness means not calling people slurs, not expressing prejudiced beliefs about groups of people, and not making jokes about slavery, the Holocaust, rape, and other atrocities that mainly affect/affected specific oppressed group(s) of people.

I agree. Some may call me a SJW or whatever term people use nowadays, but I agree with this 100%.

Is there anything that can't possibly offend anyone anywhere?

People just need to learn to live with the idea that someone else may not agree with them.

When people start using slurs and inappropriate words to talk about someone different, that is when I take offense the most.

The comedy stuff, I don't pay attention to 99% of it (no interest in it to be honest) but there are some things that shouldn't be made fun of.

For an example of really stupid political correctness, look at the case of the Washington Redskins and other sports teams with similar names. Because of a very small number of people intent on being offended by the name, they are now having to change their name and have lost their trademarks on the team name.

I couldn't edit my other comment, but I wanted to add:

And it's also more complicated than a difference of opinion. Political correctness is about those who are in power not expressing things that make those who aren't in power feel terrorized. It's about recognizing a power differential between groups of people, and that the words of the powerful can make the not-powerful afraid for their safety and unable to function in society due to fear, hopelessness, a sense of being demeaned, and other psychological damage that they don't have the influence and resources to counter.

The powerful, with disproportionate access to the media to disseminate their ideas, with popular opinion on their side, with being seen as the default sort of person and worthy of respect, with the law on their sides and able to abuse the less powerful with little or no repercussions, with the money and property that allow them to control the economic destiny of the less powerful — all these things cause their "opinions" to carry more weight, and to be more likely to carry over into actions, so that the situation is far more dire than a mere difference of opinion.

It's not about two people of equal standing calling each other an as*hole or other generic insult or simply disagreeing; it's about one person who benefits from the power structure wielding that societal privilege to bear on a second person in a way that relates to the second person's membership in an oppressed group.

Political correctness is basically a society-wide anti-bullying campaign.

Last edited by starkid on 21 Dec 2014, 2:13 am, edited 2 times in total.

It is acceptable that peoples ideals, values and perspectives fluctuate and that they may represent these fluctuation differently as they evolve. What is not acceptable is the idea that you must express your opinions, as they evolve, in ways that are deliberately inconsiderate, rude and disrespectful. That has nothing to do with evolving concepts. That is just a personality that doesn't care. Refusing to reflect on their own personality changes, and indifference to other peoples feelings, intentionally, regardless of life phases, SHOULD be, intolerable and unacceptable. Instead, this behavior is encouraged, gleefully, by those who seek personal gain at any cost.

My mistake for asking the question, I should know better.

Politics are supposed to be a way to help people and represent their interests, but it doesn't usually work out that way. Most of us are just out for ourselves, and running for public office doesn't magically change that tendency in a person. Those who really want to help others don't do it through politics. They do it through volunteer and social work that puts them in direct contact with others.

While politics are at least hypothetically useful, political correctness doesn't even have that going for it. The conceit of avoiding offense and righting wrongs through language falls apart instantly. Nobody is offended by words. People are offended by ideas. And the same words don't represent the same ideas to everyone. PC advocates assume that if we change the way we refer to certain individuals or groups, the way we think about them will also change and this will lead to a healthier and more open society. But the connection isn't there. People still think the same way, no matter what terminology they use. Political correctness does nothing to stop discrimination, and creates a less healthy, less open society where everyone from a perceived 'majority' walks around on eggshells, afraid of offending everybody else and therefore unable to address the very social issues they are concerned about. And if you can't address a problem, you can't solve it either.

People who think they're making any positive difference in society by implementing speech codes or protesting the name of Washington's football team are kidding themselves.

Last edited by Evil_Chuck on 21 Dec 2014, 3:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

The funniest/stupidest case of political correctness that I've heard of was from England where a job advertisement for reliable and hard working individuals was not allowed because it might offend the unreliable and lazy.

"ableism." the employers are free to seek such "reliable and hard-working" folk but they can't say as much.