Political Correctness and Free Speech

It seems that more and more I hear about how people are being frowned upon for not being "politically correct". Personally, I think this whole thing has gotten out of line.

People tell you to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"

They complain when you call someone a "midget"

Or "oriental"

Or "black"

They don't put on Christmas shows in schools anymore

They don't like the word "gay"

Or "retarded"

Now, I personally, speak however I like...as is my right. And I really don't mind if you don't like it, that's your right. You can speak however you want to, and so can I. I don't understand why people get so tied up in the way other people talk.

How far is this really going to go?

Are we going to have to start calling criminals: morally challenged?
Are we going to have to start saying "displaced homeowner" instead of "homeless"?
Are the dead now: living impaired?

My real problem stems from people trying to legislate "political correctness". It's the gateway to a world of thought restrictions. An example would be any of the laws that give some crimes the status: Hate Crime

If you kill someone, it really doesn't matter if they were gay, straight, male, female, black, white...anything. It all stems from hate SOMEWHERE. How can the penalty be heavier just because you killed someone who has a different skin color than you?

There was a time when I remember someone was trying to make any attack on a cat by a dog a hate crime.

What I really want to know is how others feel about the way political correctness effects our free speech.

Sweet!! A thread I can get in trouble with.

PC is all about hate speach, and peoples interpretations of others' feelings and white guilt.

I call my black friends black. Except for Dave. I call him cocoa on account of his skin being a little lighter. BTW, I'm a white guy. Everyone that knows me knows I'm not a racist. No one cares that I refer to Dave as cocoa colored. I said this in front of someone who didn't know me at a place I had worked. She was appauled at my racial insensitivity. It was almost like "Oh my god!! How dare you tell him he's "colored"?? If we never mention it, maybe he'll feel white like us."

What a load of ****! so I say " I hate to tell you this but, Dave already knows he's black. His girl friend told him after their first date."

Now I'm being accused of being insensitive and sexual her-ass-ment.

Long story short, Dave goes into her office, knowing I was on the edge of a very thin blade, and says to her "You scared someones going to find out a negro works here?"

Wow did he make her "uncomfortable". She starts apologizing and he says" Oh, now your sorry I'm black? I'm proud to be black!!"

Before long she was in tears because she thought he was offended due to her insensitivity. The fact was, we were both rolling on the floor at her stupidity.

We're all the same.... well, not exactly the same from what Dave's girlfriend said, but you get the point. PC crap is for the ones who feel guilty or are ashamed that they think someone is different.

reply to post by exfed


Wow, that was a great story!

That woman got exactly what she needed, a little dose of reality. It's insane how far all of this goes and I agree with you entirely.

Really, why do you need to feel guilty just because someone is different than you?

This country's citizens have been made to suffer intolerable political tolerance. In the socioliberal enviorment we have had to endure there is no room for free thought.Socioliberalism is a one size fits all delusion where we are all supposed to be cookie cutter citizens. Act the same get paid the same and speak the same.

The days of true free speech died in 1968. The burial was when the Home Grown Terrorist Act was signed.Not only what you say,but what you write can (and has in some cases) get you arrested and charged.

Words only hurt those to ignorant to realize that words can't hurt you!
I have had people confront me and question my mothers virtue by way of my parentage.Those are just words...They left no scar or bruise.

Socioliberals need to get a life and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing.

People have been taught (at least in this day and age) that they have a right NOT to be offended. Guess what??? That isn't a right that any of us should expect.

Political correctness has gotten to the point of being ridiculous.

Some men are afraid to say "Good Morning" to a woman at work for fear of getting sued for sexual harassment (and, this actually happened where I work and the idiot woman won).

It has gotten out of hand.

I am an american but wasn't born in the US, and I used to get into trouble a lot of the time for using words like "fetch" when Americans say "collect",l or "uppity" when I am annoyed at someone speaks down to me, or "you people" when I am speaking about any group of people that are annoying me ( not aimed at any racial group). Needless to say I would be attacked from 320 directions at the same time for linguistic faux pas like these.

Ooops I am also not allowed to say I am african-american despite the fact that I was born in africa, and at least 3 generations before me were born in africa, because I am white.


[edit on 31-1-2009 by Mynaeris]

Originally posted by daddyroo45
Words only hurt those to ignorant to realize that words can't hurt you!

That sentence was a little ray of sunshine in my day. Personally, my anger with the PC attitude of things fully blossomed while I was in high school.

I had just moved in the middle of my freshman year and the new school had a slogan for the year. That year it was: Where Everyone Belongs.

Now, this school is NOT where everyone belongs. It likes to enforce the forming of cliques and gives some cliques higher status than others. You're allowed to wear a cross, but you're not allowed to wear anything that shows you believe in any other religion. There was a lot more, but I won't pad this post.

Now, after being harassed a lot by the staff and stuff like that, I wrote a blog entry on myspace about how the slogan "where everyone belongs" didn't really apply.

It was an essay type thing, I didn't swear, I didn't make any kind of attacks. It was on my personal myspace page.

They tried to expel me, didn't work, but they tried.

Originally posted by skeptic1
People have been taught (at least in this day and age) that they have a right NOT to be offended.

I know they have, and that is absolutely ridiculous. Nowhere are you given a right to "not be offended". Why would you be offended by words anyway? A word is a sound.

Plus, I'm all for women's rights, but "sexual harassment" is another bit that's gone WAY too far.

reply to post by TasteTheMagick


I agree with the sexual harassment deal, and it is all part of political correctness....right along with affirmative action.

As far as the "right not to be offended"......no, no one has that right. But, in this day and age, what with sensitivity training, anger management courses, self-help books, etc., etc., people have become hyper-sensitive because they have been told they should be.

And, yes, a word is a word.....but a lot of people have been "programmed" to be hyper-sensitive to everything from words to allergens to images to appearances to glances. Everything these days is over analyzed and over dramatized.

reply to post by skeptic1


Oh definitely. I almost want to say it's been done purposefully to keep us at odds with one another. Kind of like: if you keep them divided they'll never unite against you.

I've seen the same kind of logic work on a small scale.

reply to post by Mynaeris


People can be so stupid about some things. I've seen white people with white African parents get a tongue lashing for calling themselves "african-american". The funniest is when someone from the states calls a black person from England "african-american". I personally refuse to use the term african-american anyway cause it's pushed so hard for people to use, but i'll call black people black. I don't let anyone correct me if what i say is "not politically correct", I don't care, i'll speak how i want, even if it gets me shot. Rather die myself than live in fear and pretending to be someone I'm not. I do respect peoples ways, and I don't like to make anyone feel offended or uncomfortable so I do the best I can, but I'm not going to walk on egg shells either.

reply to post by Mynaeris


Well not allowing you to be called African American isn't very politicaly correct is it? I mean that phrase should denote from where your lineage hails. Being African American doesn't just allow for one skin tone does it?

I guess that to be politically correct about it all you would be considered a"pigmentaly challenged African American" We'll just call you whitey.

See how absurd these PC ideas can become?

reply to post by itinerantseeker


They say it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

I still find the way Americans respond to me asking someone to "fetch" me from somewhere in total horror? And they are frequently totally offended despite the fact that I obviously have an accent and "American" is not my first language, though English is.

"fetch1   /fɛtʃ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [fech] Show IPA Pronunciation

–verb (used with object) 1. to go and bring back; return with; get: to go up a hill to fetch a pail of water.
2. to cause to come; bring: to fetch a doctor.
3. to sell for or bring (a price, financial return, etc.): The horse fetched $50 more than it cost.
4. Informal. to charm; captivate: Her beauty fetched the coldest hearts.
5. to take (a breath).
6. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.).
7. to deal or deliver (a stroke, blow, etc.).
8. to perform or execute (a movement, step, leap, etc.).
9. Chiefly Nautical and British Dialect. to reach; arrive at: to fetch port.
10. Hunting. (of a dog) to retrieve (game).
–verb (used without object) 11. to go and bring things.
12. Chiefly Nautical. to move or maneuver.
13. Hunting. to retrieve game (often used as a command to a dog).
14. to go by an indirect route; circle (often fol. by around or about): We fetched around through the outer suburbs.
–noun 15. the act of fetching.
16. the distance of fetching: a long fetch.
17. Oceanography. a. an area where ocean waves are being generated by the wind.
b. the length of such an area.

18. the reach or stretch of a thing.
19. a trick; dodge.
—Verb phrases20. fetch about, Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to come onto a new tack.
21. fetch up, a. Informal. to arrive or stop.
b. Older Use. to raise (children); bring up: She had to fetch up her younger sisters.
c. Nautical. (of a vessel) to come to a halt, as by lowering an anchor or running aground; bring up.

—Idiom22. fetch and carry, to perform menial tasks. "

reply to post by Mynaeris


Oh that's ridiculous...I've used the word "fetch"...and not when I'm talking to a dog either. People can be so dumb sometimes, it's almost scary.

itinerantseeker:

There was something on the news a while back that your post reminded me of. There was some event in France and there were two black guys involved. The woman on the news was too embarrassed to call them black and so she called them "African-American"...they were from France.

reply to post by exfed


just so I understand...

you were laughing at the fact that a woman was in tears - because she was personally concerned about offending someone

you were laughing at her stupidity

because she didn't see the situation the same way you did

and because she (whether correctly or incorrectly) chooses to err on the side of caution - because she actually doesn't want to offend someone

since life is subjective - our thoughts, opinions, beliefs - everything is subjective - ridiculing the ridiculousness of the current trends in political correctness - is just more of the same

what about intent then?

it's good at least to see you have a sense of humor - even if it is at the expense of others

What about intent?

What is the problem if you find someone elses stressful situation funny? Does it really matter? Is it really going to cause a problem if I find someone elses stupidity funny?

I'm not going to baby someone just because they might be embarrassed.

if you could please explain what any of this has to do with either free speech or political correctness - maybe we could have an actual conversation

if you want me to tell you what I think of your "right" to not have to baby other people - and to be able to treat them however you see fit - that's another kind of subject entirely

you decide

reply to post by Spiramirabilis


I agree with you.I believe that to embrace everyones inner child to protect them from the cold stark realities of life should be everyones goal.
A delicate flower should never be threatened by to much light,should it?
I dont see how the African British,the African Swedish or the African Mexican people have endured the hardship.

Please pardon my sardonistic nature.I am just amazed by how thin skinned,self victimized and self absorbed people have become.
IF it is true that "you are what you eat".The BS that we've been feed is beginning to exit through every pour of our skins. Deny ignorance,words are just words,The only power they have is what you give them.

Originally posted by Spiramirabilis
if you could please explain what any of this has to do with either free speech or political correctness - maybe we could have an actual conversation

You are the one that came in here complaining about someone finding a funny situation funny. If you want to talk about political correctness or free speech, please respond to a comment that actually applies.

Political correctness is fine, if you want to be politically correct. Even if speaking in a politically correct manner makes you sound ridiculous. That's your choice and it's only my opinion that you sound ridiculous.

However; there should be no legislation requiring everyone to speak politically correct. There should be no laws limiting what words I say in public. There should be no such thing so ridiculous as a "hate crime".

then - you see political correctness (we'll use the term - without having agreed yet on what it actually means) as nothing more than coddling?

seems a little simple