Being Politically Correct

If everyone was PC, women would not have the right to vote today as it would not have been very PC to talk about it. Very little would change if everyone was PC as you'd just stick to the set of thoughts that are accepted in the current society.

Being PC is not the same thing as being conservative. Gays petition for homosexual rights and they are very PC about it. MLK's Civil rights movement did not use hateful slurs against whites either.

Political Correctness was forged in the fires of Mount Doom so people would have something to bitch about. I have black friends who think its more racist to call someone African-American than Black. So no, Im not politicaly correct.

@chan


@hime

Side note. Nobody has provided an argument as why certain words should be used over other words. I believe that makes a statement about the PC argument in general. There isn't a point to avoid certain words other than to try and not hurt someones feelings.

I also like to extend a thanks to koyori for reiterating the point about PC culture.

[font=Verdana][color=green]I'm going to clear some things up regarding libel and slander.

For starters, they are effectively the same thing, however there is one major difference; slander is unreported - and therefore must be proven - and libel has records of said defamatory comments. This, therefore, brings people to the wrong conclusion that slander is spoken and libel is written. Sure, that is a fair generalisation but a wrong one nonetheless. An example that go against this norm could be speaking on a TV show, using defamatory comments against someone else. Legally, that is libel, but it's spoken.

Why I am talking so much about libel and slander, you ask? Well, there's a very interesting example of when slander is actually libel due to PCness that might provoke some further discussion; under the Slander of Women Act (something like that, also in the 1890's too I believe) any slanderous comment against a women about adultery is automatically affirmed as libel. No proof is needed. That is very interesting; why don't men have similar protection? Seeing the age of the legislation, that too is very interesting; in the height of women being dominated by men. What do other think about this?

However, I might want to suggest to Fiery Penguin that he keeps the personal attacks to both the Neko's down; it only lowers the validity of your argument in my - and possibly others - eyes.

When i was a kid(way back in the 80's) before anyone even thought of the term PC, i was taught about foul language, a.k.a. swearing. this was something that made no sense to me at all. why is the word poo better than shit, or ass worse than butt? to me, that and PC are the same thing.

i can sort of understand in the case of hate speach, but then again, people need to grow the fuck up and get over themselves. they're only words. it only hurts if you let it.

1) DUH, I know what that means. Just mentioning that slanderous/libelous speech is not protected under the First Amendment either.

2) Do you work in science/academia? Did you have anything published? I used to be a part of that community, and I have gone through the peer review process. Believe me, it's NOT a popularity contest. If your work is shoddy, it will get brutally ripped apart to tiny little shreds by reviewers, even if it espouses the "popular" view. Of course, opposing viewpoints are looked at more skeptically, but if said opposing hypothesis can explain the data better than the current hypothesis, it will eventually fall into favor (see heliocentric vs geocentric models--it took a while, but the correct model prevailed). But here's the thing--all the other hypotheses that try to explain global warming fall short, which is why they aren't in favor.

And climategate, really? Climategate was pretty much a controversy manufactured by parties who did not know what the fuck they were talking about. Many of the critics were not even trained in climatology or the related sciences, and many of the scientists' positions on AGW were misrepresented. But quite honestly, this is fodder for another thread and I can go on an on about how this shit works.

3) I think we agree on this point, like I said. Individuals and property owners can do whatever the fuck they want in their own presence/property/whatever. If Jacob doesn't like scat guro loli, he is well within his rights not to like it and ban whoever posts it on his site. If I don't like hearing people being called nigger, I am well within my rights to tell the other person talking to shut the fuck up. Is that PC? Does that squelch your free speech?

All public personal interactions constitute some kind of stifling of speech. That's just life, and it would be nice if we were all polite to each other. That's pretty much what PC is about.

4) You know what, that is exactly right-we avoid certain words because they have meanings that are hurtful or inaccurate (in fact this inaccurate terminology is where PC started, really). It's called being polite. But no one is FORCING you to be polite and not to use those words. At all. To you, there may be no point, and that's fine, but others do not think that way. Yes, some people need to grow up and not be so affected, but some people need to grow up and learn not to be fucking asshats.

A final point: people use “politically correct” as a slur term in order to invalidate opposition to their own ideology. This is hypocritical because it is essentially just another kind of political correctness masquerading as “criticism" of political correctness.

@SamRavster. I see only one statement that can be deemed a personal attack. Regardless, I have a reputation and a history here. Love me or hate me those who know me respect my arguments, even if they vehemently disagree.

I think Nekohime is a yellow pancake face, that is trying to manipulate politics towards her nigger-loving liberal viewpoint, so that we racist rednecks become the minority in our own country.

This is what I think of political correctness. :)

Fox News is that way ------------>

[font=Verdana][color=green]I have only one thing to say to you in regards to the entirety of your post; you haven't retracted your original attacking post. That is just highly unprofessional, and having "a reputation and a history" doesn't excuse you of acting unprofessional. I don't care for your history, so don't use that as a defence.

There's also a couple other remarks in your post that kinda aggravate the peace that should be kept, but I'll leave you to find them.

Fpod has asked the question: "Why should I use one word and not another?" so I figured I would start off with that. It's simple: because different words have different meanings based on their connotations and histories. Dropping N-bombs is considered offensive by many people because the word was heavily used in the past to denigrated blacks. On blacks vs. African-Americans: one emphasizes the color of someone's skin and the other emphasizes ethnic heritage and current nationality. They are different. Because skin color differences have been at the center of contentious issues in the past, some people don't like that kind of reference. On the other hand, not all people who would be described as black racially would describe their heritage as African, so that term might be seen by some as inaccurate. Additionally, you can't be African-American if you aren't American, so you couldn't refer to anyone from France by this term.

The point is that words have different meanings, so word choice does make a difference on some level.

As for PC, I think it represents a shift in power from the groups and people we think of as our traditional bigots(the KKK for example) to the groups they attacked. Because immigrant groups, women, racial groups, etc. had to fight so hard to get the rights and recognition they have today, many of them are scared that things could turn around or have learned so well to see oppression behind every rock that it colors their vision. Thus, they turned the oppression back on their oppressors. Unfortunately, I think this became so thorough and effective that it also catches all kinds of things that really don't deserve to be oppressed. For example, Larry Summers's infamous talk. PC has reached the point where it influences things like the direction of scientific research and who our elected leaders are.

It's probably, at this point, a mix of misguided and insidious as well. While some people may just be really sensitive, you have people like Al Sharpton that purposely try and stir up racial tension through exaggerated displays of umbrage because it gives them personal power and influence. The entrenchment of PC within culture and the media especially allows these people to do this successfully, which is unfortunate. In reality, Al Sharpton is very often NOT helping the black community but merely exploiting and perpetuating the past tensions and mistrust between races for his own personal gain.

PC itself is not censorship, but it causes people to engage in censorship. As Fpod has noted, scientific studies have been published or rejected based on their results rather than their science. While it may not be the norm, it does happen, especially in contentious and touchy fields like intelligence research. Politicians have their words taken out of context and parsed for "hateful" speech which may or may not be present.

Thank you lion, you framed my thoughts better than I could have. Also thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

Also It's nice to know that you are well.



Fine, fine. I retract my statement of disappointment of Neko-chan. It was unprofessional, and uncalled for.

Well said. I'd like to sticky this on another forum I visit, but I doubt the average attention span would take the time to read it.

There's politically correct, and then there's just courtesy.

For example, I think being reasonable PC entails not using ethnic slurs, racism or stereotypes.

when im with others that i dont know or even with coworkers i try to be politically correct. this is because i have no reason for people to hate me anymore than they already do. i expect other to at least not throw there biases and other extreme opinions on me because i know that i have many opinions that are far from politically correct but i do not go around spouting them.

As a black man i really don't care whether you call me black or African-Amarican. I am proud about the color of my skin so i don't care if you mention it. As long as you don't call me a negro or the N word.

and now you are PC.

In the words of Frankie Boyle "Political correctness has changed everything. People forget that political correctness used to be called spastic gay talk"

If certain groups of people want to be treated equally and do't want to be called derogatory names then fair enough. But if you don't mean any offense by what you say and it isn't an offensive term (for instance using someones skin colour to describe them rather then something like "african american") then why shouldn't they be able to say it? Being PC about holidays is one of the worst things in the world though, people who hate certain holidays and don't want to see anything about them at public function (e.g. school plays or similar) are just wastes of space. if its the "Human sacrifice and blood drinking festival" I could understand, but most of the stuff is harmless. Don't call groups insulting names, or expect them to live up to sterotypes. Past that I don't like being PC.

But I give my sincerest apologies if I have inadvertently caused any offence in this post... :D

There are some words that one just doesn't use. 'Nigger' has such overwhelming negative historical and cultural connotation that using it is just being rude and deliberately offensive. 'Cunt', while okay in England, is a very, very harsh word over here, and only reserved for the most extreme feminazi bitches.

Well, I'm not in general very PC. I see alot of it as BS. Especially here in America, where we are predominantly Christian. We don't want to offend anybody else, so it's 'The Holiday Season'. Nos. It's CHRISTMAS! I'm an atheist, I think Jesus was a delusional carpenter. And I still call it and celebrate Christmas on a yearly basis. Or that school that made that kid take the American Flag off his bike because it might offend the foreign students. This made me facepalm so hard I fell out of my chair. An American school telling an American child that he can't put an American flag on his bike just because it might make some aliens feel alienated?

Pc is good to an extent. Respecting women and minorities appropriately. But it just gets taken way too far.

[font=verdana][color=green]Tbh, England doesn't take swearing seriously at all. We very relaxed when it comes to swearing, which is great.

But yes, it's that exact scenario that really winds me up. I mean, I have seen so many times in the papers about St George's Day being banned in pubs, or even flags being prevented from flying, whilst the Chinese New Year is a go. I mean, I'm not being racist but (one of my favourite sentences)when the people who moved to our Motherland get offended by our customs and such, and as a result they get stopped, it's just not on.

I mean, it's just ludicrous.