Political Correctness

[traceur_]

Personally I hate the term "African American", it pisses me off when all black people are called African American.

Look at this guy.

An African American? no, this man is British. Unless you were actually born in Africa and moved to America then you are not an African American mmkay? I'm not called Welsh Australian because my ancestors were Welsh and nor should any black person have "African" in their politically correct title unless they were born in Africa.

 

[El Poncho]

Political correctness? You mean that thing we used to call spastic gay talk?

Frankie Boyle ftw

 

[hypothetical fact]

The moment you decide a word is too offensive to say, is the moment that word becomes offensive.

 

[0thello]

Personally I hate the term "African American", it pisses me off when all black people are called African American.

Look at this guy.

An African American? no, this man is British. Unless you were actually born in Africa and moved to America then you are not an African American mmkay? I'm not called Welsh Australian because my ancestors were Welsh and nor should any black person have "African" in their politically correct title unless they were born in Africa.

Well I'm not sure about that, African/ Afro-British suits me just fine and I'm more or less from the same background as Chiwetel Ejiofor (the guy in your picture). Part of the problem of political correctness is that it leads to false assumptions like the brilliant example you gave.

 

[MusicalFreedom]

let's consider another viewpoint

I consider myself to be a very politically correct person. the problem is that everyone has their own definition of what political correctness actually is. Is it "baa baa rainbow sheep" or does it just stop at not saying the word "******"?

[sub]Afterthought: there's no reason to censor this particular usage of the word '******', as it is used in an informative manner.[/sub]

The backlash against PC is mostly caused by a small number of individuals who wield the power and the visibility to make absurd statements. These absurd statements are then picked up by the media, exaggerated, and fed to a public that is all-too-ready to froth at the mouth. And you know what? The public swallows every god damn mouthfull.

It is nowhere near at the level that people think it is at. Have you ever met a significant number of people who think that "baa baa rainbow sheep" is a good idea? If not, then the issue is not as widespread as the media has you believe.

It's hard to even properly debate political correctness considering how it is not even properly defined. Add to this the fact that it is not a black-and-white issue, middling in the shades of grey, and we get a huge clusterfuck of people saying "oh no I'm not PC at all, but people really shouldn't say '******'".

there is no pc brigade

"political correctness gone mad" is a phrase coined by the media to froth up the lowest common denominator, and froth they certainly do

 

[0thello]

let's consider another viewpoint

I consider myself to be a very politically correct person. the problem is that everyone has their own definition of what political correctness actually is. Is it "baa baa rainbow sheep" or does it just stop at not saying the word "******"?

[sub]Afterthought: there's no reason to censor this particular usage of the word '******', as it is used in an informative manner.[/sub]

The backlash against PC is mostly caused by a small number of individuals who wield the power and the visibility to make absurd statements. These absurd statements are then picked up by the media, exaggerated, and fed to a public that is all-too-ready to froth at the mouth. And you know what? The public swallows every god damn mouthfull.

It is nowhere near at the level that people think it is at. Have you ever met a significant number of people who think that "baa baa rainbow sheep" is a good idea? If not, then the issue is not as widespread as the media has you believe.

It's hard to even properly debate political correctness considering how it is not even properly defined. Add to this the fact that it is not a black-and-white issue, middling in the shades of grey, and we get a huge clusterfuck of people saying "oh no I'm not PC at all, but people really shouldn't say '******'".

there is no pc brigade

"political correctness gone mad" is a phrase coined by the media to froth up the lowest common denominator, and froth they certainly do

Well moral panics like that happen when the same demographic (or people whom are not so much different from each other) are speaking on behalf of both sides of the fence. For example the Resident Evil 5 madness wasn't a discussion between black/African gamers and white/western gamers. It was a discussion almost exclusively between the white/western gamer demographic.

[Hence the fallacious arguments, accusations and false analogies about RE4/ Spaniards and how blacks get away with stuff.]

Very few black/ African gamers actually gave opinions on the subject and if they did it was mostly in favour of the product (after all not many gamers ~regardless of race~ are expert or even novice media critics). N' gai Croal and a couple of news columnists (who were non-gamers) gave their two cents and were berated and beaten back with ferocity because (what could be classed as the "genuine" opposition) were so infinitesimal it was swarmed. Given the levels of sales of RE5 it's safe to say that the "minority" had no impact at all and the internal conversation between white video gamers about RE5 turned RE5 into so much more than just a stupid video game, it became a symbol.

Political correctness works in almost the exact same way, a similar demographic complaining about the methods of an offshoot of that same demographic. Maybe we should be asking the people whom PC is "inflicted" on.

 

[garjian]

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noone likes to be told what to do.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Actually, political correctness isnt socially correct. It implies that politics has something to do with correctness

 

[Jorik]

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Ricci%2C_et_al._v._DeStefano%2C_et_al.

Ricci v. DeStefano is a perfect example of Political Correctness run amok. Groups of test takers study for and take a promotion exam. (Designed to be racially unbiased, or to display as little bias as possible) The test scores show NO Black people scoring high enough to qualify for promotion, and only ONE latino. The City throws out the perfectly valid test results and does not promote ANYONE because not enough minorities scored high enough. The white testers who did score high enough, sue to get their promotions, and are denied by the courts. This case is being heard by the SCOTUS, and a decision should be soon.

So you want "proof that minority are being picked over better qualified majority applicants?"

This shows that if the minority candidates aren't good enough, we won't promote ANYONE.

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

http://funnies.paco.to/ridingHood.html Someone had to bring this up.

Oh that is brilliant, a perfect example of the problem with political correctness, and yes I know of people who would take it this far; hippies they are.

The problem with "visually challenged" is that if it became the accepted term, it would seem as bad as saying you're blind and a new term would need to be invented.

Yes, exactly

Political correctness is fine to a certain extent; I think you should try not to offend people wherever possible. It's just the current situation where you have tot be 100% politically correct all the time, and aren't allowed to do anything that carries even the slightest possibility of offending someone that annoys me. However, this only applies to certain groups of people.

Allow me to elaborate. I once heard that a company posted an advert in a local paper asking specifically for black people to apply. Nobody cared. If the same thing had happened asking specifically for white people, there would have been a phenemonal public outcry, going on and on about how the comany was racist. The thing is, asking specifically for black people wasn't any less racist, but nobody reacted anyway.

Likewise, people of ethnic minorities can get away with insulting Caucasians, but if the reverse were to happen, the Caucasian in question would be condemned as a racist. Black people are allowed to call each other the N Word, but if a white person were to do the same they would be (justifiably) furious.

Don't get me wrong; I am in no way a racist. I think racism is disgusting and nobody should be able to get away with it. The point I'm trying to make is that if you're going to say racism is bad, which it is, it should work both ways. Unfortunately, it doesn't, which has led me to develop my First Law of Political Correctness.

You can be as racist as you like, as long as you're not white.

Oh thank you for bringing this up. This is another thing that makes me mad, how anyone can be racist to white people and get away with it, where if a white person did the same they would be in so much trouble.

PC becomes a problem when it takes away our freedom. Sure, wouldn't it be nice for people who don't celebrate Christmas to not have to hear "Merry Christmas" all the time in December? So why not change it to "Happy Holidays?" The problem is that by giving someone the freedom to not listen to someone with freedom of speech, we take away the freedom from that person.

In my opinion, if everyone is equal, regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference, then why do we give advantages to certain people because of their race, religion, or sexual preference? Examples:

Affirmative Action: chances a minority getting the job increased, chances a white male decreased, rather than just hiring who is better for the job.

In Seattle, illegal immigrants are given a free education at the University of Washington. FREE! Why is it that we make hard working American citizens jump through all these hoops to go to the best college in Washington state, when ILLEGAL immigrants get in for FREE?!

Also in Seattle, people want to give free housing to predominately African Americans living in the "projects". Yeah, America is going through a depression, and they want to give gangsters free houses. If you are living in the projects, and all of a sudden you get a free house, are you really going to feel the need to move ahead in life and get out?

Now, we all know that for years there has been white on black corruption in the law. Well in Seattle, 3 African American teens who beat a white man to death got 90 days in juvy. Reverse the roles: 3 white teens killing an African American. Those teens would be locked up for a hell of a lot longer than 90 days! Even if it was just 3 white teens killing a white man, 90 days in juvy would seem insane. So if all races are equal, then why are punishments reduced for certain races? Are white people the only people in the world that can be racist?! This is only one out of 9 black on white attacks in Washington state in which the attackers have got FAR less than what they should have got.

Does someone understand where I am coming from? I don't want white supremacy. I don't want oppression. I just want everyone to be EQUAL!

I completely agree, I have always had a problem with affirmative action because it is racist, first by making it so white people can't get into college as easily even if they are ore qualified, and second it allows the minority to get in without working as hard, perpetuating the stereotype of them being stupid? Are you serious Illegals get free college in Seattle? In LA illegals can get away with crimes because it is a sanctuary city and they are against deporting people.

 

[Berethond]

I think Political correctness is a stupid idea. I mean there are certain things that are good,like I don't think anyone should say the N word. Also, we should call things by their proper names but we shouldn't be forced to say for instance visually challenged rather than blind. What are your thoughts and if you agree which PC terms annoy you the most?

Having to call racist, sexist, homophobic, stupid, religiously intolerant, incompetent people by terms like "conservative"

So I'm racist, sexist, homophobic, stupid, religiously intolerant, and incompetent because I don't like taxes?

 

[letsnoobtehpwns]

Ever read the book Fahrenheit 451? Yeah, that's what political correctness is going to led us to.

Also, I'm not racist! I hate everyone equally! Why can't people understand that?!

 

[punkrocker27]

political correctness goes against my free speech

 

[punkrocker27]

and cheeze pavillion, it's unrealistic to say the education system doesn't encourage everyone. how can you measure something like that?

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

I think Political correctness is a stupid idea. I mean there are certain things that are good,like I don't think anyone should say the N word. Also, we should call things by their proper names but we shouldn't be forced to say for instance visually challenged rather than blind. What are your thoughts and if you agree which PC terms annoy you the most?

Having to call racist, sexist, homophobic, stupid, religiously intolerant, incompetent people by terms like "conservative"

So I'm racist, sexist, homophobic, stupid, religiously intolerant, and incompetent because I don't like taxes?

Pay no attention to him, cheesepavilion is just a troll,I have a good comeback but that would just feed the trolling.

 

[Alex_P]

Everybody's who's making a post a minute to this thread has already been in a discussion just like this several times before. You're retreading the same talking points over and over again. Slow it down. Think a little bit. Go read something for five minutes. Then post something that isn't a carbon-copy of every other damn "political correctness" thread. Otherwise I'm just going to close this one because it's devoid of actual content.

-- Alex

 

[TyphoidMary]

If people would stop reacting so strongly to "offensive terms" I have a feeling they'd go the way of the dodo. Words get their power not from the user, but from the guy that freaks out at being called by the N word, or being called a cracker (which, while a racist term, really doesn't bother anyone), or something.
That being said, it's still wrong to call someone by a racist, sexist, or otherwise derogatory term.

 

[Skeleon]

I always thought the term African-American was a bit stupid. Wouldn't it be better to say Zimbabwean-American oder Sudanese-American? You don't call people European-Americans, do you?

 

[punkrocker27]

Personally I hate the term "African American", it pisses me off when all black people are called African American.

Look at this guy.

An African American? no, this man is British. Unless you were actually born in Africa and moved to America then you are not an African American mmkay? I'm not called Welsh Australian because my ancestors were Welsh and nor should any black person have "African" in their politically correct title unless they were born in Africa.

Well I'm not sure about that, African/ Afro-British suits me just fine and I'm more or less from the same background as Chiwetel Ejiofor (the guy in your picture). Part of the problem of political correctness is that it leads to false assumptions like the brilliant example you gave.

if you personally hate that term you should also dislike "caucasian" since all blacks can trace their heritage back to africa AND STILL RETAIN the culture of whatever individual place they're from, but not all whites are from the caucasus

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

Snip

Hi I would like to thank you for illustrating my point rather well, that any old bigoted trash can be spewed out with only the need to say political correctness to make your argument correct.

We start off with the normal war on Christmas crap, you know for their being a war on Christmas it has a surprising habit of being exactly the same thing every year. It is just tabloid drivel pumped out to make people angry with phony stories and other such nonsense.

Oh and what is this affirmative action here is a new argument I wonder if it has any evidence behind it or is it just a bunch of everyone knows stuff. Do we have any proof that minority are being picked over better qualified majority applicants? Or hell if two people similarity qualified go for the same job why shouldn't we hire the minority candidate over you?

Poor people getting free education to help them get on in life and pull them selves out of the gutter? Say it isn't so, how could this happen. Also I would like some more information on this as I find it hard to believe there is not more to it than what you are saying.

Ok next we go onto black people being gangsters? Or are you pointed out that more black people are poor so make up a bigger proportion of the social housing system? I am more than a little confused. Also black people are being let off easier for crimes than whites? Is this a joke? No really is this a joke?

That and yes I get where you are coming from I just don't like it.

Now as a side note any one else out there not like the term African American? Personally while I don't think it is an offencive one it is making two assumptions about a person that might not be right. Not all black people are from Africa and they are certainly not all American, also given how long some families have been in American are they really any thing but just Americans?

I do think calling someone African-American or Asian-American or whatever is problematic beacause you never say white-American or European-American, people of minority group are identified by their dash. Why not just call them Americans, or wherever they are from, that would truly make it better as calling them African-American still seems focused on their race.