320 Years of History
Gold Member
far more nefarious aims underpin most folks' use of PC terms and tactics.Political correctness is in no sense politeness or respect for others. It is a demand that others will be required to use specific terms, language, and express things in a specific way or the 'sinner' will be punished. It is a demand that others must agree with and express a specific point of view or the 'sinner' will be punished.
Why are there demands that people express things in a certain way? Why some language and not other language? At heart, it is an attempt not to offend. What 'punishment' are you talking about? What is it you would like to say that isn't allowed and what punishment have you suffered because of it?
It seems to me you should look into the Trump/protester thing a little more. The protesters are in the wrong, but some of Trump's minions, led by Trump himself, are making the rallies a place ripe for arguments and fisticuffs. There are plenty of examples. A few posters here are even suggesting bringing their guns. Sure, if a protester swings first, punch back. However, no one's seen that inside, yet. The protesters are being VERY obnoxious, 'cruisin' for a bruisin,' as they say, but they are being careful not to take the first swing. Outside, I believe that might be another matter.
Red:
I think you are being far too kind in your assessment. I believe far more nefarious aims underpin most folks' use of PC terms and tactics.
How so? I looked at the studies you linked, and they seem to talk about how PC affects honest discourse. I don't disagree. But "nefarious" aims? How was the original aim of discouraging racist speech (for example) evil or immoral?
Just for the sake of being brief, let me answer that by asking you to go straight to the conclusion (it's only two paragraphs long) of the first paper. Read it, and as you do so, consider how speakers who, in the interest of saving face, preserving their reputation, use the "rules and customs" of PC communication to obfuscate the full nature and extent of their beliefs or intents. In that regard, I see all the "dos and don'ts" about what is and is not PC as being similar to the "...For Dummies" series of books:
- Racial Tolerance for Dummies --> how to speak so nobody will ever suspect you can't stand [insert whatever ethnic identity group you want]
- Disabilities for Dummies --> guidance for how to use PC to seem respectful of people with physical and mental handicaps
So you see, my disdain for PC is that gives boors, cads, prevaricators, bigots, and all manners of other folks, folks who in fact are among the lowest forms of humanity, a set of instructions so the rest of us have a harder time figuring out when we are dealing with an emotional coward having serious character flaws and/or a spectacular degree of commitment to being willfully ignorant.
I believe, however, that it is essential to choose one's words carefully....not so as not to appear as a boor, racist, etc., not to preserve or craft a reputation, but rather to accurately communicate one's denotative and connotative meaning and intent(s). So long as one genuinely is a person of fine and humble bearing, communicating honestly, all by itself, allows others to know exactly what one feels, what one means, whether one has empathy, sympathy, or hatred, and so forth in one's heart and mind. None of us is perfect, but so long as we each perfectly "own our sh*t," there is no need for us to ever be PC.
I like it just fine that the man who owns the general store in my paternal family's Mississippi ancestral hamlet unabashedly refers to black folks using the "n-word." The first time he did that before me, I told him what I thought of it and walked out. That was the last time either of us said a word to the other. The fact that he "owns his sh*t" is the only nice thing I have to say about him, and that I think is decent about the man.
More to the point of this discussion, his eschewing PC tells me he's not the kind of person from whom I want so much as the time of day. It allows me to know that I will have to drive to next town to shop. It tells me I don't care that I don't know whether he is alive or dead. It tells me that he feels the same way about me, that we are both just fine with that, and we both need to recognize that, as far as the other is concerned, there is nothing we have in common other than being two human beings on planet Earth. Were I to see him lying injured on the side of the road, I'd call him an ambulance, and I would not run over him, but that's the limit of care I'd give him and the limit of what I'd expect from him. I certainly wouldn't stop to see what else he might need or to drag his sorry ass farther over to the edge of the road.