Does Being Politically Incorrect Makes You A Bigot?

[Secondhand Revenant]

I wish I could just leave it with that question without adding any context. To avoid having this post getting modded for low content, I'll add some context.

I was noticing that conservatives and liberals were describing Donald Trump's controversial comments differently. People who were for Trump described them as being "politically incorrect" while liberals against Trump were calling them "racist".

So, does being politically incorrect makes you a bigot?

No that's a weird thing to take away from it. It's just that it's easy for people to defend racist comments by just calling them politically incorrect

Ummm, no. I do have a deeper takeaway about the election than that. Like I said, I wanted to ask the question without mentioning Donald Trump or the election. The question concerning the line between being politically incorrect and bigotry was something that interested me. I was curious to see what the responses would be from other people.

Not the elections, I mean such an exchange where one calls it 'politically incorrect' and the other calls it 'racist'. It's more like racist statements tend to be politically incorrect anyways. It's easy enough for people to just deflect with 'You just don't like that it's politically incorrect' when someone says a statement is racist.

 

[Silvanus]

Political correctness is primarily just a manner of speaking or presenting yourself in such a way as to consciously avoid causing offence. There are perfectly understandable reasons for not speaking in a politically correct manner (not least of which is that it's difficult to watch what you say at all times).

Bigotry, on the other hand, is an underlying attitude, and the term indicates something much more extreme-- genuine prejudice or hatred.

Donald Trump's language goes deep into the latter category. It's not that he just doesn't watch what he says; he intentionally accuses entire demographics of unsubstantiated crimes, and uses slurs based on peoples' innate characteristics. That is above and beyond. He is as open about his prejudice and hatred towards various minorities as he can be; he is explicit.

Describing such as mere "political incorrectness" is just a belated tactic to understate how hateful he is being. It's a tactic the tabloids are very well versed in: print slander, and then claim that disagreement is just political correctness.

 

[Phasmal]

I don't know.

I mean, aside from internet dudes trying to be edgy, I've only met two people who described themselves as "politically incorrect".
They were both bigots, using it as an excuse to avoid being challenged on their bigotry, but I can't really judge just from those two.
It's not something I tend to run into in real life. Most people attempt to have basic manners and politeness. It's strange how that can be spun into a negative, but hey.

I think it can run from "I don't make any effort to consider others when speaking" to "I actively am trying to offend people for attention" all the way up to "Hey guess who is a massive racist, spoiler alert: it me".

But I am an evil SJW, so I'm obviously just biased or triggered or whatever the kids are saying these days.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

I don't know.

I mean, aside from internet dudes trying to be edgy, I've only met two people who described themselves as "politically incorrect".
They were both bigots, using it as an excuse to avoid being challenged on their bigotry, but I can't really judge just from those two.
It's not something I tend to run into in real life. Most people attempt to have basic manners and politeness. It's strange how that can be spun into a negative, but hey.

I think it can run from "I don't make any effort to consider others when speaking" to "I actively am trying to offend people for attention" all the way up to "Hey guess who is a massive racist, spoiler alert: it me".

But I am an evil SJW, so I'm obviously just biased or triggered or whatever the kids are saying these days.

It largely depends on your attitude to shock humour. Yahtzee (I accidentaly typed Trump because I am sick of hearing about him all the time) does employ sexist and ableist language to provoke a reaction, however after watching all of his podcasts, I never raised a thought of him being against equality or wellbeing of marginalised demographics.

Shock humour is like acupuncture, if you don't know what you are doing, you will end up hurting people. Shock is about crossing the taboo for a short while, just long enough to make the person laugh.

Edit: No, you arn't an evil SJW. You are a loving, yet condecending parent of this forum.

 

[Phasmal]

It largely depends on your attitude to shock humour. Yahtzee (I accidentaly typed Trump because I am sick of hearing about him all the time) does employ sexist and ableist language to provoke a reaction, however after watching all of his podcasts, I never raised a thought of him being against equality or wellbeing of marginalised demographics.

Shock humour is like acupuncture, if you don't know what you are doing, you will end up hurting people. Shock is about crossing the taboo for a short while, just long enough to make the person laugh.

Edit: No, you arn't an evil SJW. You are a loving, yet condecending parent of this forum.

Cool, condescending parent is usually the tone I'm going for, I'm glad that comes across.

Back on topic- I didn't even think about shock humour in my first post, to be honest.

I think most people aren't skilled enough to pull it off well. I think a simple guideline should be if an actual bigot was listening to you do you think they would think you were making fun of them or agreeing with them? If the latter, ya dun goofed.
And also, I think it's generally a phase most people go through, sort of "Oh look what I can say!" kind of thing that most people grow out of (or, very rarely when they're good at it- make a career of).

I do think the whole fuss over "PC" is very much an internet problem. Most people don't think of things like that in real life. They just try not to upset people, and if they do, they generally change the behaviour, rather than going mental about censoring themselves. Personally, I don't think "is this PC/un-PC to say?" ever.

 

[RaikuFA]

I do think the whole fuss over "PC" is very much an internet problem. Most people don't think of things like that in real life. They just try not to upset people, and if they do, they generally change the behaviour, rather than going mental about censoring themselves. Personally, I don't think "is this PC/un-PC to say?" ever.

I think it's a mix of the internet (particularly social media) and college campuses. The main people I see acting like jackasses are college aged kids. Still too young to know the consequences of their actions.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I want to thank everyone who have posted. I would have done it sooner, but I was blown away by how many people responded in the first 24 hours.

The reason I don't like to give my opinion in the OP is to avoid ninja-ing someone else's opinion on the subject. Like this one...

Yes.

Give me one argument that is "politically incorrect" and not "racist/sexist/whatever". I will find hint of discrimination.

People in recent years having throwing out accusations of bigotry for any slight verbal or written misstep regarding political correctness. It become such a casual thing to do that these terms have become meaningless. Someone could be politically incorrect. For example, a white person saying the word "nigga", without being racist. That white person could be quoting a rap lyric. Yet, someone would still complain that the white person is still racist for saying that word regardless of context.

It was heartening to see people say that doing something bigoted makes you a bigot. However, most of the people saying that are the ones who usually guilty of throwing around accusation of bigotry too casually.

My take: Being politically incorrect doesn't make you a bigot. Context matters. We need to stop trying to police other people's language. If you personally find what someone said offensive, then express it. Stop trying to censor other people, because someone somewhere might find what that person said to be offensive.

 

[Thaluikhain]

My take: Being politically incorrect doesn't make you a bigot. Context matters. We need to stop trying to police other people's language. If you personally find what someone said offensive, then express it. Stop trying to censor other people, because someone somewhere might find what that person said to be offensive.

As repeated ad nauseam, calling someone out on something they've said is not censorship.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

I don't know.

I mean, aside from internet dudes trying to be edgy, I've only met two people who described themselves as "politically incorrect".
They were both bigots, using it as an excuse to avoid being challenged on their bigotry, but I can't really judge just from those two.
It's not something I tend to run into in real life. Most people attempt to have basic manners and politeness. It's strange how that can be spun into a negative, but hey.

I think it can run from "I don't make any effort to consider others when speaking" to "I actively am trying to offend people for attention" all the way up to "Hey guess who is a massive racist, spoiler alert: it me".

But I am an evil SJW, so I'm obviously just biased or triggered or whatever the kids are saying these days.

Well, if you've ever seen Borat, you've got an idea of what it looks like to make politically incorrect humour.

It's really common amongst comedians. Comedians tread this fine line between saying something that is outrageously funny and saying something that gets people outraged. Most commentary over political (in)correctness happens in the context of someone making a joke that didn't go down as well as it should have.

Trump is not politically incorrect. Being politically incorrect just means that you don't veil your criticism in polite language. Trump doesn't veil his criticism in anything because what he says isn't actually criticism; it's just a font of irrational non-sequiturs designed to push people's buttons and get people paying attention to him.

 

[Phasmal]

Well, if you've ever seen Borat, you've got an idea of what it looks like to make politically incorrect humour.

It's really common amongst comedians. Comedians tread this fine line between saying something that is outrageously funny and saying something that gets people outraged. Most commentary over political (in)correctness happens in the context of someone making a joke that didn't go down as well as it should have.

Trump is not politically incorrect. Being politically incorrect just means that you don't veil your criticism in polite language. Trump doesn't veil his criticism in anything because what he says isn't actually criticism; it's just a font of irrational non-sequiturs designed to push people's buttons and get people paying attention to him.

Jeez. I haven't thought of Borat in forever. I went to see it with a friend when it came out. My friend thought it was a date. That's not relevant for the conversation I just think it's funny (because, y'know, that's romantic). I kinda got bored of the film halfway through.

That's why I said in my other post that I wasn't really talking about politically incorrect humour, because it's not really my thing. (Personally I find it too predictable. What are they gonna say? The most offensive thing they can. Yawn. That's just my opinion though.)

Recently my only real life experience with people talking about PC culture is a few elderly relatives exploding at mostly fake news about how millennials need everything to be PC.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Well, if you've ever seen Borat, you've got an idea of what it looks like to make politically incorrect humour.

It's really common amongst comedians. Comedians tread this fine line between saying something that is outrageously funny and saying something that gets people outraged. Most commentary over political (in)correctness happens in the context of someone making a joke that didn't go down as well as it should have.

Trump is not politically incorrect. Being politically incorrect just means that you don't veil your criticism in polite language. Trump doesn't veil his criticism in anything because what he says isn't actually criticism; it's just a font of irrational non-sequiturs designed to push people's buttons and get people paying attention to him.

In all fairness, Borat did seem rather racist to me, considering that I do know quite a few Kazakhs IRL. The film portrayed the culture as a bunch of inbred reactionaries, removed from reality. Maybe it's just me, but it did rub me the wrong way.

 

[balladbird]

Maybe I missed the point of it, since I saw it so long ago, but wasn't the point of the Borat character to show people at their worst? Like, those were real people reacting to the character, and he seemed to be trying to see how hard it was to get them to agree with terrible things? I saw a Your Movie Sucks review that explored it a while back, though I'm so far removed from the movie I couldn't say anything for sure.

 

[KissingSunlight]

Maybe I missed the point of it, since I saw it so long ago, but wasn't the point of the Borat character to show people at their worst? Like, those were real people reacting to the character, and he seemed to be trying to see how hard it was to get them to agree with terrible things? I saw a Your Movie Sucks review that explored it a while back, though I'm so far removed from the movie I couldn't say anything for sure.

A lot of people thought that the real person who were nodding in agreement with Borat were racist. However, anyone who have been in the real world knows that a person will nod or say "yeah" just to get rid of a person that they don't want to deal with. That was my impression when I saw those scenes.

I really hated how overhyped that movie was. Especially from people who was using that movie as proof that Americans were racist.

 

[KissingSunlight]

My take: Being politically incorrect doesn't make you a bigot. Context matters. We need to stop trying to police other people's language. If you personally find what someone said offensive, then express it. Stop trying to censor other people, because someone somewhere might find what that person said to be offensive.

As repeated ad nauseam, calling someone out on something they've said is not censorship.

However, they are trying to censor what people are saying and doing. Whether they succeed or not censoring the person is irrelevant. People should stop being moral busybodies who try to control what everyone is saying and doing.

 

[Saelune]

My take: Being politically incorrect doesn't make you a bigot. Context matters. We need to stop trying to police other people's language. If you personally find what someone said offensive, then express it. Stop trying to censor other people, because someone somewhere might find what that person said to be offensive.

As repeated ad nauseam, calling someone out on something they've said is not censorship.

However, they are trying to censor what people are saying and doing. Whether they succeed or not censoring the person is irrelevant. People should stop being moral busybodies who try to control what everyone is saying and doing.

You mean like Christianity? They literally have programs designed for that, called Missionaries. (And most watch-dog groups)

I think the progressive side gets alot of hate for supposedly doing this when really alot of it is response to groups doing it out of hate. The ones telling us who we can and cannot marry, or which bathrooms we can use, and all that.

 

[Thaluikhain]

My take: Being politically incorrect doesn't make you a bigot. Context matters. We need to stop trying to police other people's language. If you personally find what someone said offensive, then express it. Stop trying to censor other people, because someone somewhere might find what that person said to be offensive.

As repeated ad nauseam, calling someone out on something they've said is not censorship.

However, they are trying to censor what people are saying and doing. Whether they succeed or not censoring the person is irrelevant. People should stop being moral busybodies who try to control what everyone is saying and doing.

So, it's censorship when someone criticises someone, but not when you criticise them for criticising them?

 

[RebornKusabi]

I feel like it's context.

South Park and The Simpsons can make anti-PC jokes and it'll fly just fine (to a large majority of the population) but when the now-current president makes rape threats towards and about Megan Kelly or shits on retards, border jumpers or blacks (hopefully YOU get the joke) and says "I'm just telling it like it is" or "that was a 'joke'", it isn't funny because it's too real.

Even as a straight white male who votes more right than left (before this election), there is a certain point I can tolerate people in power putting down people under them. It isn't funny to use rape as a threat or punch line when you're (now) the most powerful person in the United States. It IS funny when The Simpsons or South Park uses it, because the context is fictional and is (usually) handled with more of a charm.

 

[Bluemanzee]

Cultural appropriation = white people sporting dreads, or adopting various other attributes of non-white cultures; the argument is that it deprives those less advantaged groups of their uniqueness and absorbed into the dominant white culture.

Apparently you have no knowledge of history if you think a hairstyle that people of ALL races have sported since the dawn of humanity could be culturally appropriated by a specific race.