I find that disdaining and lamenting the prevalence of "political correctness" in our society is usually just a method that people use to justify ignorant and unimaginative word choice.
I would take a somewhat opposite view. I think that much of the time political correctness is used in an effort to silence people who disagree with a given viewpoint. I think that likewise a significant portion of claims of offense at what someone says are feigned, and that "offense" is brandished like a weapon. People pounce on comments that are likely benign but can be construed as possibly racist/bigoted because they see it as an opportunity to smear their opponents. I think that this generally devalues actual racist/bigoted acts in a "boy who cried wolf" kind of way. I also feel that labeling a person or persons as racist or bigots based on the possibility that it might be true is as offensive as actual racism/bigotry.
I will take the opposite side to your opposite view. I don't like the term "PC." I feel it is used by people who either want to say something they know offends others, as a way to disclaim what they are saying, or have just said something offensive, as a way to say "Hey, I'm not at fault. You're just being PC. You aren't really offended." And yet that is incorrect, because I'm actually offended by what stereotype/slur you have said. So, in addition to being offended, I'm told that my feelings are wrong/fake/contrived.
First of all, you're choosing to be offended by my comments. I used phrases like "much of the time political correctness is used in an effort to silence people" and "a significant portion of claims of offense at what someone says are feigned". Clearly I didn't say "all of the time" or "all of the claims". In fact I was careful enough to use phrases that didn't automatically imply most or even half. Clearly your genuine feelings of offense would leave you outside that significant portion who aren't genuine. Yet you chose to not only take offense but to label my observations as stereotypes and slurs.
I would also disagree with you about the threshold of what constitutes political correctness. You're talking about people who wish to make comments that they know will be perceived as offensive. I'm talking about people being labeled for making comments that could possibly be construed as insensitive even though there are equally plausible ways that the comment could be otherwise seen.
What I'm saying is that the term "politically correct" is not a positive term. It is one that is mostly used to shift the argument, like so:
Person A: [insert offensive statement here}
Person B: Hey, that's offensive!
Person A: Stop being so PC.
In this case, person A is not addressing what he or she said, but is instead questioning the motives of Person B in being offended. Person B could be legitimately offended, but now isn't allowed to be. Often this goes accompanied by some accusation of "choosing to be offended", as if taking offense is now a conscious decision, as opposed to the reaction it normally is.
Sometimes, you can also see it used like this:
Person A: [offensive statement]
Person C: Oh, that's not PC. Person B will come after you now.
Still, we haven't dealt with the nature of the offensive statement, or that it's wrong, only that Person B will nefariously take offense.
Sometimes, it can be used this way:
Person A: I can't say what I'm thinking because it isn't PC, but [insert semi-offensive statement that plainly alludes to something more offensive.]
Now person A gets away with being offensive, while criticizing those who take offense, and at the same time not using the worst language, but only obvious substitutes.
My point is that calling someone "politically correct" doesn't move a conversation forward at all, but merely requires the offended person to show that their offense is real, and not a form of puffery. It shifts responsibility for being offended from the person who uttered the original remarks to the person who heard them. It is also very often used against someone (like me in my prior post) who takes offense about the statement even though it isn't directed at him or her, but at a third party, as if it's wrong to be offended on someone else's behalf. This is why I very much dislike the phrase and don't use it any more.
Topic: Political correctness on CelticsBlog... (Read 75495 times)