Political Correctness

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

Political Correctness is an obsession of the governments of the western world. Over-zealous committees see everything as potentially offensive, despite the unsurprisingly low or non existant complaints they receiv on the matter. Many say it has gone too far, while others say it has not gone far enough. Some key examples from the United Kingdom are:

-Christmas to be referred to as "Winterval" in Birmingham as it may be considered offensive to non-christians

-"Ba Ba Black Sheep" is to be sung as "Ba Ba Rainbow Sheep"

-Paintings of scantily clad women that have adorned RAF aircraft since WWII are to be removed as they may offend RAF Servicewomen

-The word "Black" being banned from council e-mails after an e-mail  sent from a man to his colleague concerning the movie, "Black Hawk Down" was blocked

-China pigs, and anything with images of pigs on it (inc. Piglet from Whinnie the Pooh) are to be banned from Council work places as they offend certain religions

-Mini christmas trees to be removed from council workplaces for the same reason as the first example

I personally think the whole PC thing is ridiculous, and people are too afraid of offending other people and being sued, so they enforce stupid rules, but in reality, these offend the people they are trying to "protect".

I'd like to get some differing views on this argument, please discuss civilly!

[Pixelrage 34]

This attitude has infested the USA, more than ever in the past 15 years or so. You can't do/say/write anything without offending someone. This is basically what happens when a government caters only to 'special interest' groups - others spring up and want the same treatment, and it goes out of control. It fosters a separatist mentality.

[mentarman 14]

I think this is a straw man of the right.

Governments occassionally do stupid things everywhere for all sorts of reasons. It is easy to pluck some examples and make a case for, well, just about anything.

This is my feeling in the U.S., I have no idea what the situation is in the UK so won't comment on that.

[GingerBlokey 30]

Political Correctness - Its all crap

PC was something made up by the black top press (The Daily Mail, The Daily Express). It is all rubbish.

Everything you have written about is all rubbish, none of that happened. Winterval, for example, was something Birmingham made up to take place in early December which was completey seperate to Xmas. And yes I say Xmas not Christmas but thats because Im Atheist so I dont celebrate the Christian festival but instead I celebrate the British tradition of it. The Daily Express got hold of the Winterval thing, got it all wrong, and made stupid, right-wing, snobs complain about it.

If I was to ever hear one of my friends say something was "Political correctness gone mad" I would have to smack them. It makes me want to kill someone. Its misinformation gone mad. If we want to move on in the UK we need to move towards being more accepting, tolerant and happy.

Thats my opinion being a guardianreader (yes, it is all one word)

I have one thing to say to you http://www.theguardian.co.uk

[JanYpe 17]

I have heard before that the PC problem is largely a creation of shoddy British newspapers, which doesn't seem too unlikely to me. Would you, however, agree that being boundlessly tolerant of everything is a symptom of too much political correctness?

For example: I cannot in good conscience shrug off things like the cultural climate regarding women in Saudi Arabia. Should we really respect this for the sole reason that 'it's just their culture'? If thinking like that results in a label, than so be it. There is such a thing as trying to be too PC.

[GingerBlokey 30]

I don't agree, I say "live and let live". I think it is wrong that women should be treate like that but me being intolerant to the women or the culture is not going to change anything. Eventually everyone will realise that everyone is equal.

Its just a matter of respect. You dont have to agree but you do have to respect and tolerate

[screamingman12 30]

Didn't someone say that a law was to be passed banning the waste of government resources? Well, I think that it would seem to qualify here.

[hamsterTK 93]

Its all a pain in the ass, but I think over time the more ridiculous things fizzle or blow over.

To me, its all about power. Some groups can make ridiculous demands and get their way, while others that are actually facing true discrimination often dont have the means to raise attention to their problem. Therefore, PC will never actually be fair, it will just be a reflection of what activists have the biggest mouths and the richest donors.

Anyways, a woman my mom knows works for a company that writes standardized tests for public schools. They have very strict guidelines for questions. For example, math problems cannot refer to credit cards, because that would be offensive to poor people somehow...

As for christmas, I never understood what the big deal is, and im not religious either. Isnt what we do for christmas(tree,santa,turkey) based of old cultural or pagan traditions and pretty much secular in a modern sense? But I suppose some people don't get this, and like they say, passion is inversly proportional to the amount of real information available

[SystemUK 0]

A bit of offence can be good. It keeps peoples heads out of the clouds!!

Not too much, though, obviously.

[coolotter88 2]

black people are black people, there is nothing derogatory about that word until it is used derogatorily...okay, well everything can be used derogatorily. I can say "eww, simtropolisites (or simtropolisians...what ARE we called anyway?)" or I can say "Woot, simtropolisites rule!"

all adjectives can be used negatively, you can't ban them all, wouldn't english be so boring if we didn't have adjectives?

[DanWalker8 3]

African-American, European-American, I think these terms were created to divide, not to unite. I see americans, not hyphens (sp?) On another note - It is my right as an American to piss you off Thats my perspective on PC

80 years ago the KKK paraded down D.C. streets, hoods and all. Lets not pretend we are saints.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Being politically correct won't help anything in the long run.  It is a means of giving in to every squeaky wheel.  Society should not lay down before the minority.

Freedom is founded on the will of the majority.  Political correctness is an attempt to affect no one.  I am offended.

[defcon pilot 0]

Political correctness is a load of hooey. It's for stupid politicians who can't stand to have their fragile worldviews broken. Shouldn't have put them out in the first place, guys.

[coolotter88 2]

freedom may be founded on the will of the majority but we have to respect minority right.

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Exessive political correctness often suffers from the same kind of absurdities that comes from legislating inane common sense.

However, there are places it does make sense. Consider the standardized tests mentioned earlier. At one time, those who analyse such tests noted that students of Latino descent had an usually disproportionate rate of wrong answers for a particular test question. If I remember correctly, the question was meant to test abilities to make analogies of the type "apples are to red as lemons are to _____." The answer should be "yellow," yet many Latino and bilingual students were incorrectly answering "green." Research found that because "lim

[coolotter88 2]

what was the SAT regatta analogy that left black people out? could someone help explain that to me?

[Duke87 1,070]

I hate political correctness.

For one thing, I can never get how simple words can offend people. You know, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but..."

As such, I never use the politically correct term for anything, even if someone complains. Because seriously, if simple words can offend you enough that you make a big stink about it, you're way too thin skinned. The problem is not the words I'm using, it's you whining about it. Society doesn't need to change to fit the petty issues of some minority, the minority needs to simply accept things as they are and deal with it. And besides, there are far more important things to worry about than what words we use for things. So what if "eskimo" means "man eater". Does it really matter at the end of the day if people use that term? Absolutely not. It changes nothing about what the eskimos/inuits are, and it's not like we're interfering with them living their lives in any way by calling them that. I know that the term was originally derogatory, but people simply don't use it that way anymore. Language evolves. It's just a common noun, now.

The same issue arises with the Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas issue. Because honestly, how does "Merry Christmas" automatically get offensive if you're not Christian? Yes, we know there are other holidays and other religions out there, but that doesn't change the fact that in December, it's Christmas season, and thus there's nothing inappropriate about wishing someone well during it. While we're at it, why don't we just ban people from saying "god bless you" when someone sneezes? Not everyone believes the god in question! It's offensive to the rest of them! Please. Unbunch your panties, stop biitching about it, and get on with your life, okay?

[Goldfish4209 9]

I could care less about political correctness. If I'm in charge, I'm doing things my way until someone gets offended, then I'll compromise, but I'm not calling christmas "celebration of winter festive spirits" or whatever. I don't care. People have a right to express opinions. If your neighbor doesn't like gays, you don't have a right to say he can't dislike gays. If your boss is racist against you, too bad. Get another boss. I'd put up with this anyday.