Is this the "politically correct" generation

[AzrealMaximillion]

Are we in the western world getting to be too politically correct? In my opinion, yes and no.

We're seeing mainstream films become more and more graphically violent. Sexual innuendo are appearing in more media and being accepted. Video games are more realistically visceral than ever.

On the flipside, a man was just arrested in the U.K. for making rude facebook jokes about specific missing children:[link] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19869710[/link]
More and more stories of people getting fired for what they say, no matter what the context, are appearing. U.S. television is still very much censored compared to Europe's despite the constant preaching about "Freedom of Speech".


2 great examples of the extremes or today's PC society are the South Park episodes "Sarcastiball" and "Raising the Bar" (Watched back to back show a great satirical spectrum)


I think that society is becoming a bit too PC about what is said in a lot of cases, and that the loosening up visual restrictions in media is a hint that people are progressing to not being fazed by too much/not flying into kneejerk outrage. Im most cases anyways.


Recently there was an article(and a thread on the Escapist) about a YouTubeer(hate that word) named KSI being an awkward ass at the Eurogamer con:
[link]http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/9838/article/sexually-assaulting-women-at-gaming-conventions-is-not-ok/[/link]

The article claims that KSI was sexually assaulting women in the video. Which was then ridiculed by one of the women who was claimed by the author as a "victim".

I think that the problem with this political correctness paradigm is that there are too many blanket assumptions and judgments that do not account for individual reactions.

What are your thoughts?

 

[JoJo]

I tend to feel that "political correctness" is a bit of a vague term, used to cover a whole manner of different ideas and actions and so I avoid using it, instead treating each issue independently. Legal restrictions and what is social acceptable to say in public / broadcast on TV are two different things, there should be none of the former and the latter, well that's down to public opinion.

 

[Lilani]

You're bringing up a lot of not very related situations and trying to relate them. The first situation is about a guy who made distressing comments about a missing person. While I don't know the comments so I can't judge whether or not his comments were severe enough to warrant police reaction, I'm pretty sure he would have been detained if he had said things very questionable in public in front of police officers. At that point he's not making a joke, he's making himself a potential suspect in a missing person case (because I would guess those rude comments were something like showing some sort of motivation for wanting the girl gone).

But that's the thing about Facebook--there's no context. People like to pretend when they write stuff on their walls that they're in some sort of a cool friend-only no different from being at their house or a pub, where they can say whatever they want because the only people who hear it are their closest compatriots. But that's simply not the case. It's a public comment, and the fact that it's devoid of context makes it even more dangerous. You may think you're just saying it to your friends, but in reality you're saying it to the whole world, because your friends can show their friends what you said, and they have hard evidence that you said it. It's not like telling somebody telling somebody else "Hey, he said this terrible thing!" and there's a good chance they are lying or paraphrasing. If you said a terrible thing, they have the transcript, and since you were on your computer they don't really know what the context or your frame of mind was. So for all they know, you could be perfectly serious about that terrible thing, and not just joking around with your friends.

If he had simply followed the Facebook rule of thumb of "If you wouldn't say it in a police interview room, you shouldn't put it on your wall" he wouldn't be in this situation right now.

Then there's the KSI thing. The girl he motorboated did consent and didn't seem to mind the attention so the "sexual assault" claim in that particular case is pretty bunk (unless it's someone else that's complaining that wasn't featured in the video), but there are other girls in the video he went up to that clearly did not enjoy the attention. Especially the woman who he asked "Where did your tits go?" They weren't having fun or in on the joke, they were made to feel terribly awkward and clearly wanted it to stop.

So, you've got guy possible showing motivation to kidnap a girl, and a guy going around a convention making women feel uncomfortable with sexually charged statements (otherwise known as "sexual harassment"). Both really stupid, neither really related to political correctness. Those aren't people saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." Those are crimes.

So what you have here isn't evidence that this generation is "politically correct." On the contrary, what you have here is evidence that we've got a generation of people who haven't quite realized the impact of posting private comments in the view of the public, and who haven't realized that seeking out and posting questionable behavior and making it extremely public to people who aren't your friends is going to earn you criticism more severe than what you would get from your friends. In other words, they're stupid because they don't know how to use the Internet.

 

[sextus the crazy]

No, people are getting too thin skinned about criticism so they complain about 'political correctness' when someone criticizes what they do. 'Political correctness' is merely a word thrown around to avoid actual discussion of why someone thinks criticism is not rightly deserved.

This man.

OT: All the examples you gave are ones that are exactly period specific. People censor things they don't like; end of story. If anything we're just more mindful of being sensitive and not racist towards minorities.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

From what I understand, the arrest was done more for his protection, and because he broke decency laws, not for "joking", persay. As for people getting fired for what they say, that is not covered by freedom of speech. Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee that you can say whatever you want without consequence. It just means that the government cannot punish people for what they say, except for extreme circumstances, like hate speech and declaring false emergencies.

However, that line is getting blurry, as the arrest you mentioned shows. I just hope that the line doesn't get erased as being outdated.

Also, US television is censored to prevent corrupting the kids. Actually, censorship is only required for publicly owned stations, since they are held accountable by the FCC, and the censorship requirement from the FCC is only in effect until "watershed" ("safe harbor" in the US, or "adult time" in Venezuela, which begins at 10 PM and ends at 6 AM.

 

[Melon Hunter]

I think that the problem with this political correctness paradigm is that there are too many blanket assumptions and judgments that do not account for individual reactions.

I could really say the same thing about your post. A few cherry-picked examples cannot be used to condemn an entire generation as 'politically correct'. It's worth remembering that society was far more restricted in the past, particularly in the media. It was once acceptable, even expected, to be openly racist or homophobic, and a great taboo to speak up in favour of civil rights of repressed parts of society. While bigotry still exists, I think that we have become a lot better at treating people fairly and without prejudice.

While there are and probably always will be cases where political correctness goes too far, bear in mind these cases do not outweigh the benefit of thinking carefully about what you say of others. In the case of the man arrested for Facebook jokes, look at the situation behind it. The town of Machynlleth, where the missing girl he joked about came from, is an incredibly tight-knit community. People have been out in droves searching for her. When a Sky News reporter accidentally let slip that the search had become a murder inquiry in an interview, the people she was interviewing broke down in tears on live television. It's likely the judge was so heavy-handed because this guy did a whole lot more damage than merely 'causing offense'. Was it 'right' to do so? Not necessarily, but it's up to the judge to interpret the law and sentence his or her own way I would hope that it is at least understandable why he handed this sentence down.

All in all, I don't think that this generation can be described as politically correct. Certainly, there's more care placed in not using racial slurs/stereotypes etc. than at previous points in history, but for the most part this is intended as a benevolent thing. Sure, there are instances where things have been censored or people punished for questionably 'offensive' acts, but I believe these are few and far enough between to be safely discounted as misunderstandings, rather than actual attempts to suppress opposing viewpoints.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

No, people are getting too thin skinned about criticism so they complain about 'political correctness' when someone criticizes what they do. 'Political correctness' is merely a word thrown around to avoid actual discussion of why someone thinks criticism is not rightly deserved.

"Political correctness" is often used by asses who want to continue being asses without anyone calling them out on it. Its a great shield to make you look like the good guy no matter what hateful stuff you spout. If you claim people calling you out on douchebaggery are being politically correct and trying to enforce things on you suddenly youre the one defending the right to speech and look like the good guy. Its a funny concept and to be honest it really has little reason to be.

 

[Fappy]

No, people are getting too thin skinned about criticism so they complain about 'political correctness' when someone criticizes what they do. 'Political correctness' is merely a word thrown around to avoid actual discussion of why someone thinks criticism is not rightly deserved.

"Political correctness" is often used by asses who want to continue being asses without anyone calling them out on it. Its a great shield to make you look like the good guy no matter what hateful stuff you spout. If you claim people calling you out on douchebaggery are being politically correct and trying to enforce things on you suddenly youre the one defending the right to speech and look like the good guy. Its a funny concept and to be honest it really has little reason to be.

Yup, that more or less further describes my view on it. I utterly despise the phrase. If there's a problem and someone has a real argument against it then can use that instead of throwing around the phrase 'politically correct'.

I think the only time it can be used legitimately is when someone is transparently conforming to a belief simply because it's the norm or they'd be ostracized otherwise. Basically doing something for the sake of not pissing off the masses. However, unless it can be proven, throwing around the term "politically correct" is a pretty weak argument, as you said.

 

[DementedSheep]

No, people are getting too thin skinned about criticism so they complain about 'political correctness' when someone criticizes what they do. 'Political correctness' is merely a word thrown around to avoid actual discussion of why someone thinks criticism is not rightly deserved.

"Political correctness" is often used by asses who want to continue being asses without anyone calling them out on it. Its a great shield to make you look like the good guy no matter what hateful stuff you spout. If you claim people calling you out on douchebaggery are being politically correct and trying to enforce things on you suddenly youre the one defending the right to speech and look like the good guy. Its a funny concept and to be honest it really has little reason to be.

pretty much this^
'Oh you don?t like me being a sexist/racist/homophobic/impropriate/asshole? Political correctness! You're just sheep and I should be able to say and do whatever I want without consequence!'
I don?t think it?s this generation either. People got in trouble for saying things against society values before. It?s just now thanks to social networking people, particularly people who are suppose to be being professional are saying stupid things where everyone can see it.
Some people seem to like think they are "edgy" and delude themselves into thinking that deep down the people who criticizing them really do believe what they are saying but just won?t admit because of being PC.

 

[Phasmal]

This is the generation of people crying `Political correctness!` to try and silence others who dare question them for being a dick.
The only times I've been accused of being politically correct is when someone was trying to not-so-subtly bash a certain race/gender/orientation and expected me to agree with them but then got all precious when I didn't.