Because "political correctness" is a moving target. The term itself is relative. "Being politically correct" is a fancy way of saying "trying extra hard not to be rude, vulgar or offensive, beyond...
Because "political correctness" is a moving target. The term itself is relative.
"Being politically correct" is a fancy way of saying "trying extra hard not to be rude, vulgar or offensive, beyond what I, the speaker, might consider rude/vulgar/offensive". WIth that definition in mind it's easy to see why people are against it: Political correctness represents what's "beyond the line" of what they themselves consider to be enough.
With that said, some of America's culture does take the trend of political correctness far beyond the global average and I think there's good reasons not to like it. American culture is extremely full of itself; a lot of people in the US who are "pro" political correctness like to think they have it all figured out, what's correct and not correct to say and do, and forget that context that applies to the US (such as the racial divide, history of slavery, what happened to native americans, etc) does not apply everywhere on the globe.
Some of the most self-centered people I know are not racists (well, I cut those people out of my life anyway), but rather are the kind to say what my european country they never set foot in should or shouldn't do with whatever discrimination problems it has, which are wholly different to the US's problems (I'm now reminded of some drama about how the Witcher series, set in poland, has "no people of color"). The same kind of people who will call a French black person "african american" and not immediately understand why that's not correct. That is the kind of blind "political correctness" some people think about when they're asked "So, are you in favour of it?"
There is also the bad look that some people lean into of using "political correctness" as a guise to promote ideological purity. That's not particularly comfortable to point out when it's...
There is also the bad look that some people lean into of using "political correctness" as a guise to promote ideological purity. That's not particularly comfortable to point out when it's happening, because the discussion is almost always about standards of politeness, but I think it happens just enough for people to think it is a problem to be wary of. We don't have the greatest de-escalation training in the US to deal with those sorts of conversations, so I can see why many would prefer not to engage in it at all.
My suspicion is that people don't like feeling that other people are playing 'gotcha' with them, and aren't especially fatigued about avoiding being an asshole to people. Most people I talk to,...
My suspicion is that people don't like feeling that other people are playing 'gotcha' with them, and aren't especially fatigued about avoiding being an asshole to people. Most people I talk to, even Trump supporters, aren't generally itching to be an asshole to me.
I think a lot about "political correctness" turns around the paternalistic way the discussion is often handled. Left-leaning people have a huge vulnerability when it comes to sounding paternalistic, in the sense that we always seem to sound like we're about to say how much wiser someone would be if they were just educated, or if they just would let the government handle some policy or issue. People generally don't need to be protected from others' ignorance and rudeness. The world's rude enough, but it doesn't need people pretending to know better running about telling others about all the ways they could potentially be offending people. Potential offense is a curiosity, and one potentially worth exploring, but not at any social cost.
On the other side of this paternalistic banter about politeness, I'm sure many of us have long been over religious people coming to us to tell us how our souls could be saved. That holier-than-thou archetype who just has to pause to interrupt the middle of your Smash match to let you know that jesus loves you and is watching everything you do, including your playing this violent game and hurting all these innocent cute characters, I mean what sort of godless monster do you have to be to hit a PIKACHU.
I digress.
Political correctness is one of those phrases that is hard-coded to be about the right's refusal to play by the left's terms of politeness, a feeling that is often mutually shared. For those moderates in the middle, who are likely to decide the next presidential campaign it must be said, it's likely that they find themselves caught between two different standards of politeness without a very clear roadmap on how to proceed. I can understand being fatigued about that.
52% of 1075 Americans out of 325,000,000 is meaningless. It's too small a majority to matter, especially in a republic where the rights and needs of the minority are just as important as those of...
52% of 1075 Americans out of 325,000,000 is meaningless. It's too small a majority to matter, especially in a republic where the rights and needs of the minority are just as important as those of the majority.
Every scrap of effort spent talking about words and political correctness is a scrap of effort that could, and morally probably should have been spent on actioning real, actual change for people....
Every scrap of effort spent talking about words and political correctness is a scrap of effort that could, and morally probably should have been spent on actioning real, actual change for people. That is where I can only stand back and laugh at the sort of battles people pitch about the way people should speak and act. You have people being actively excluded from life, but someone yelled at someone on the internet for saying the word 'retarded' and they think they're helping.
I very much follow the 'let's fix the big stuff before we worry about the little stuff' philosophy. Pareto in all things.
I'm not American and don't care about the whole PC debate but I just wanted to comment on 'let's fix the big stuff before we worry about the little stuff'. I find that this line is often used to...
I'm not American and don't care about the whole PC debate but I just wanted to comment on 'let's fix the big stuff before we worry about the little stuff'. I find that this line is often used to put down the people who make an effort for little improvements because they are not targeting hard huge improvements. It's infinitely easier to convince a friend to bring reusable bags around than it is to stop a multi billion dollar company building another coal mine in Australia. With that logic I should just give up everything I do because I'm not prepared to fly across the country with a group of people to protest.
I very much think working on little improvements is worth while if it means working on improvements at all. That said I don't think the PC debate is even an improvement and is like you said a waste of time that could be spend focusing on something worthwhile.
The whole idea of political correctness is supposed to be a method of avoiding offense or disadvantage to certain groups in society. I think the issue is that a lot of people take it as a reason...
The whole idea of political correctness is supposed to be a method of avoiding offense or disadvantage to certain groups in society. I think the issue is that a lot of people take it as a reason to be able to hate on others. What they fail to realize is that sometimes people literally do not know any better. There are certainly people out there spurting hate speech but I have seen people get ostracized for saying one thing that they didn't realize would be offensive to anyone. I'm all for keeping things on an even playing field but people gotta realize not everyone has the education / background to understand what is okay and what is not.
Because "political correctness" is a moving target. The term itself is relative.
"Being politically correct" is a fancy way of saying "trying extra hard not to be rude, vulgar or offensive, beyond what I, the speaker, might consider rude/vulgar/offensive". WIth that definition in mind it's easy to see why people are against it: Political correctness represents what's "beyond the line" of what they themselves consider to be enough.
With that said, some of America's culture does take the trend of political correctness far beyond the global average and I think there's good reasons not to like it. American culture is extremely full of itself; a lot of people in the US who are "pro" political correctness like to think they have it all figured out, what's correct and not correct to say and do, and forget that context that applies to the US (such as the racial divide, history of slavery, what happened to native americans, etc) does not apply everywhere on the globe.
Some of the most self-centered people I know are not racists (well, I cut those people out of my life anyway), but rather are the kind to say what my european country they never set foot in should or shouldn't do with whatever discrimination problems it has, which are wholly different to the US's problems (I'm now reminded of some drama about how the Witcher series, set in poland, has "no people of color"). The same kind of people who will call a French black person "african american" and not immediately understand why that's not correct. That is the kind of blind "political correctness" some people think about when they're asked "So, are you in favour of it?"
There is also the bad look that some people lean into of using "political correctness" as a guise to promote ideological purity. That's not particularly comfortable to point out when it's happening, because the discussion is almost always about standards of politeness, but I think it happens just enough for people to think it is a problem to be wary of. We don't have the greatest de-escalation training in the US to deal with those sorts of conversations, so I can see why many would prefer not to engage in it at all.
My suspicion is that people don't like feeling that other people are playing 'gotcha' with them, and aren't especially fatigued about avoiding being an asshole to people. Most people I talk to, even Trump supporters, aren't generally itching to be an asshole to me.
I think a lot about "political correctness" turns around the paternalistic way the discussion is often handled. Left-leaning people have a huge vulnerability when it comes to sounding paternalistic, in the sense that we always seem to sound like we're about to say how much wiser someone would be if they were just educated, or if they just would let the government handle some policy or issue. People generally don't need to be protected from others' ignorance and rudeness. The world's rude enough, but it doesn't need people pretending to know better running about telling others about all the ways they could potentially be offending people. Potential offense is a curiosity, and one potentially worth exploring, but not at any social cost.
On the other side of this paternalistic banter about politeness, I'm sure many of us have long been over religious people coming to us to tell us how our souls could be saved. That holier-than-thou archetype who just has to pause to interrupt the middle of your Smash match to let you know that jesus loves you and is watching everything you do, including your playing this violent game and hurting all these innocent cute characters, I mean what sort of godless monster do you have to be to hit a PIKACHU.
I digress.
Political correctness is one of those phrases that is hard-coded to be about the right's refusal to play by the left's terms of politeness, a feeling that is often mutually shared. For those moderates in the middle, who are likely to decide the next presidential campaign it must be said, it's likely that they find themselves caught between two different standards of politeness without a very clear roadmap on how to proceed. I can understand being fatigued about that.
52% of 1075 Americans out of 325,000,000 is meaningless. It's too small a majority to matter, especially in a republic where the rights and needs of the minority are just as important as those of the majority.
Yup, you're right (and normally people who claim small sample size invalidates the results are actually wrong, so you've bucked a trend here).
Every scrap of effort spent talking about words and political correctness is a scrap of effort that could, and morally probably should have been spent on actioning real, actual change for people. That is where I can only stand back and laugh at the sort of battles people pitch about the way people should speak and act. You have people being actively excluded from life, but someone yelled at someone on the internet for saying the word 'retarded' and they think they're helping.
I very much follow the 'let's fix the big stuff before we worry about the little stuff' philosophy. Pareto in all things.
I'm not American and don't care about the whole PC debate but I just wanted to comment on 'let's fix the big stuff before we worry about the little stuff'. I find that this line is often used to put down the people who make an effort for little improvements because they are not targeting hard huge improvements. It's infinitely easier to convince a friend to bring reusable bags around than it is to stop a multi billion dollar company building another coal mine in Australia. With that logic I should just give up everything I do because I'm not prepared to fly across the country with a group of people to protest.
I very much think working on little improvements is worth while if it means working on improvements at all. That said I don't think the PC debate is even an improvement and is like you said a waste of time that could be spend focusing on something worthwhile.
But resting on laurels and pacifying with a token are things which have crippled activism for centuries.
I thought some of these stats were pretty interesting, particularly about suburban men and women disagreeing about this topic so much.
My rural community definitely is against it, but 2k weird mountain folk in the Rockies probably don't matter all that much.
The whole idea of political correctness is supposed to be a method of avoiding offense or disadvantage to certain groups in society. I think the issue is that a lot of people take it as a reason to be able to hate on others. What they fail to realize is that sometimes people literally do not know any better. There are certainly people out there spurting hate speech but I have seen people get ostracized for saying one thing that they didn't realize would be offensive to anyone. I'm all for keeping things on an even playing field but people gotta realize not everyone has the education / background to understand what is okay and what is not.