Political correctness?

Jimbo san · Post by **Jimbo san** » Fri May 24, 2002 6:29 pm

Seriously, what do you all think of Political Correctness?
I think (and this is just my view) that political correctness has become ridiculous in our society. The sheer amount of things you cannot, do or say lest you offend some overly touchy person has brought many nations to their knees. LAW SUITS are fought over political correctness now, for god's sake. Will it ever stop? Or will we one day be forbidden from opening our mouths lest we offend someone?

Yossarian · Post by **Yossarian** » Fri May 24, 2002 7:04 pm

You're right when you say that PC is going over the top. In fact, PC might work against its own goal. I'm a bleedin' heart liberal pinko wuss myself, but I hate the mental censorship that PC-language implies. No, wait, I don't hate PC-related language-control. It makes me furious. I think "Well, we might call him "differently enabled", but everybody fucking sees he's a cripple!". Mostly, the PC-expressions are so artificial that they keep the connotations of the originial expressions. If I say "differently enabled" I could mean everything from "crippled" or "retarded" to "human vegetable fit to be gassed". Or they are utter bullshit, like "herstory".

I think the basic idea of PC is sound - to pay attention to parts of language that are openly offensive to minorities and imply defectiveness. But it went to far...

So I say, yes, PC is basically a good thing, but when it is the subject of court cases somebody lost it.

And PC can make it also quite difficult to spot the real assholes.

Jimbo san · Post by **Jimbo san** » Fri May 24, 2002 7:22 pm

True, PC is as far as i can see it a redundant way of being polite, taken to extremes.
To quote a source from '96:
"hopefully Political Correctness will soon dissapear up one of it's own orifices, of its own choice."
What a shame that never happened.

NachoMonkey · Post by **NachoMonkey** » Fri May 24, 2002 7:37 pm

:twisted: I think this can be best quoted from a song i heard a while ago

"The other day i was walking my Siberian-American Huskies,and you know how canines are,they like to sniff everying including other dogs butts and this guy walked up to me and said "man get your dogs ass, out of that other dogs nose" and i replied "how dare you call them dogs, their Siberian-American Huskies, thats like calling an African-American a Black, or thats like calling a Mexican-American a Mexican, or worse let its like calling a Homosexual a Stupid swell guy..... it pissed me off so bad that i dyed my hair blue, got a nose-ring and moved to san fransisco..."

Viktor · Post by **Viktor** » Fri May 24, 2002 8:55 pm

It's all absolute bollocks!!

Say what you mean and what you think/feel all the time - at least then people will see your true colours rather than hiding behind all that PC BS....

People are now so affraid of breaking these 'PC' rules that they daren't express their own opinions any more!

F**k 'em and the PC horse they rode in on.... If I think someone's a c**t, I'll tell them so to their face!

Saint_Proverbius · Post by **Saint_Proverbius** » Fri May 24, 2002 9:08 pm

I think of Political Correctness as the first step towards NewSpeak in 1984, where all negative speech was wiped out.

Rico · Post by **Rico** » Fri May 24, 2002 9:47 pm

Unforetunately, political correctness does seem to have become a prerequisite in contemporary society...it is needed, otherwise a lot of people start bitching about something or another.

Miracleasd · Post by **Miracleasd** » Fri May 24, 2002 10:33 pm

my position is simple. i am not a politician therefore i will not be bound to political correctness. doesnt mean i dont have common decency and courtesy but the english language should not be held to ransom by politicians. most irritating thing i remeber is it suddenly became non-PC to describe someone as black and that instead you should describe them as coloured. that was later overturned and it was deemed non-PC to describe someone as coloured so they should instead be described as afro-carribean (sp).

all i care for is what the language is intended to imply. if it is meant as a derogatory remark it is wrong. if it is meant purely in a descriptive term and is not openly offensive go for it.

of course if you are out to offend anything goes

Headroom · Post by **Headroom** » Fri May 24, 2002 10:55 pm

Orwell has warned

political correctness = euphemism = newspeak = doublethink

double plus ungood

Jimbo san · Post by **Jimbo san** » Fri May 24, 2002 10:58 pm

"doubleplusungood ref. unpersons."

_____________________________

I wonder if a whole topic could be devoted to newspeak?

War Bringer · Post by **War Bringer** » Fri May 24, 2002 11:10 pm

no comment on the topic...

Rico wrote:...prerequisite in contemporary society...

big words. hehehe, it's nice to have rico back... :mrgreen:

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Fri May 24, 2002 11:59 pm

Political correctness I definatelly don't like. However I really like politeness which despite being a different thing, is close enough. Its something that's frequently getting mistaken in forums.

People think their fighting PC by badmouthing everyone and saying things like: I don't believe you just said that you F***ing m***n! How dare you going against my teachings? _ _ _(Enter name of product or just about everything you hate here) is crap and they should kill it/him/her! Just because I say so! And to give you proof of that, here's my {Biased} opinion and points against it! You're not free to have your own opinion, and further more if you don't change your mind and follow my beliefs/opinions your a complete idiot! Case closed!
-----Nice to "hear" constantly in a forum you're going just to exchange opinions isn't it?----

Jimbo san · Post by **Jimbo san** » Sat May 25, 2002 1:29 am

Like i said earlier, I think PC is a version of politeness taken to a ridiculous extreme. Nothing wrong with politeness.

War Bringer · Post by **War Bringer** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:14 am

Political correctness is mainstream brainwash.

Those who dare to be different, are taken by the government whilst they slumber...

And Bush is an idiot.

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:30 am

I can tell you that political correctness is getting out of control, having served in the U.S Army for eight years I can safely say it should be done away with.

When doing maneuvers at Ft. Benning GA I was acting squad leader and over the comm I reported my position to the radio officer on the other side, I said "Me and my men are at [insert coordinates here], over", this was all fine and dandy, but when I got back to camp I was told I had to use the word "people" instead of men so that I was sensitive to females serving in the military at the time.

It's corrosive to the military and civilian life, and should by all means be done away with! :twisted:

Megatron · Post by **Megatron** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:30 am

I think its utter fucking bullshit and is so full of loopholes.

TYake for instance the word 'racism'. It's used to say someone is being predujice against something [I think, but who gives a fuck?] but it contains the word 'race' menaing that a person is a different race of people from the race of person abusing them.

In england theyre employing more women fire-fighters because they are'nt enough, but the fighters theyre employing dont actually pass the test.

whatever. I can't be bothered

toughlilgecko · Post by **toughlilgecko** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:47 am

Rico wrote:Unforetunately, political correctness does seem to have become a prerequisite in contemporary society...it is needed, otherwise a lot of people start bitching about something or another.

Ooh! OOH! You said "bitch"! Now you're gonna get it! Wait, I said "bitch" too! Now I'm in trouble! Ahh! I said it again! NOOOO...

Seriously though, some people are taking this sort of thing WAY too seriously. The best way to deal with them is to give them the "you just sprouted another head" look, shake your head and say, "get a life!". This works on all forms of obnoxious social based lifeforms, not just PCs.

HappySuitcase Man · Post by **HappySuitcase Man** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:59 am

It's bullshit. I have nothing against refraining from using racial slurs and the like, but when it reaches further, it crosses into thought control. Let's say that you want to discuss whether the Vietnam "Conflict" was a violation of international law. Well, if you argue that it was, you just fucked yourself up the ass, because you're degrading the actions of a crapload of soldiers. It's next to impossible to discuss the main issues of the war, now. If you get people riled up enough, you'll be due for "sensitivity training." Sounds positively Orwellian.

Try speaking what's really on your mind, one day. Like, out in public. If you don't conform to the very narrow tunnel of Political Correctness, you could be called a racist, sexist, commie, nazi, etc.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sat May 25, 2002 7:26 am

HappySuitcase Man wrote:Try speaking what's really on your mind, one day. Like, out in public. If you don't conform to the very narrow tunnel of Political Correctness, you could be called a racist, sexist, commie, nazi, etc.

i could relate to that.
it's absurd what you get called sometimes. the exact opposite of what you are, really.
people = cattle. dumb cattle, too.

Saint_Proverbius · Post by **Saint_Proverbius** » Sat May 25, 2002 11:03 am

Pyro wrote: In england theyre employing more women fire-fighters because they are'nt enough, but the fighters theyre employing dont actually pass the test.

whatever. I can't be bothered

Yeah, they do that here in the U.S. in certain areas too. There's two sets of standards for fire-fighters here. One for men and one for women, because they're different physically. That seems fair, given that men's bodies and women's bodies react to work differently, right?

So the question is, do they use men for one type of fire situation and women for the other? I don't think so.

Duck and Cover

Political correctness?

What do you think of Political Correctness?

Political correctness?