Political Correctness

In this article the research I collected explains the use of political correctness at a University. The purpose of political correctness is to avoid or take extreme measures to desist any action or expression that may exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. It is clear that majority of the people in this article are not satisfied by the way issues were handled at the University. The author presented relevant information to answer the question; “Is political correctness an enemy of free speech?”. Some government officials that were brought into this situation, agreed with political correctness and what it means. While doing this research I learned that political correctness in not only this, but also is a tool used to control people's speech so that no one feels offended. I believe political correctness is barricade for anyone who wants a power of choice. Moreover, this article is useful for an analysis on limitations for societies in

Principal attacks microaggressions with macroaggressions by bullying those who are not politically correct and call the transgender Caitlyn Jenner anything else than “Stunning and Brave” . Although it shows that these microaggressions are a serious issue and that we should be politically correct, that is not entirely the point the show is demonstrating, but it is demonstrating how ridiculous these microaggressions are and how easily we get riled up over trivial things. In South Park’s episode Sponsored Content, it shows P.C. Principal being outraged, because the school’s newspaper used the word “retarded” for the school’s cafeteria lunch policy. This microaggression riles up P.C. Principal to the extent that like again he wants to face it with macroaggressions or as P.C. Principal put it “Who is in charge of this school paper, cause I’m about to break their legs” Again, this demonstrates that being sensitive to these microaggressions are ridiculous, because it ends up a bigger controversy than it already is.

Political correctness according to the merriam webster dictionary is: agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people. Being politically correct is something that is encouraged by many in order to avoid offensive terms that may result in violence, protest, etc. So if the chalk writings only said “Vote Trump” or “Trump 2016” there would be fewer issues surrounding the messages if

The “Politically Correct” movement’s purpose is to bring historically condescending terms, offensive music and art, and controversial educational content to an end and replace them with more positive and less-offending references. Offensive and demoralizing efforts are wrong, but the censorship and deletion of words and phrases that do not contain the intention to demoralize are taking political correctness too far. Politically correct (or “PC”) antics have created a social decline that is growing worse with each generation, specifically regarding areas of art, education, language, and our right to freedom of speech; the degradation they have brought to the American psyche has even led to

On November 9, it was announced that Donald Trump would be president. This essay isn’t entirely about Donald Trump, but rather about one of the reasons why he was elected: he’s not afraid to “tell it like it is” rather than worry about being politically correct. One of the complaints from the millions of people who voted for Trump is that America is too politically correct, almost to the point that it infringes on free speech. Whether this is true or not is debatable.

Within college classes, the teachers and students have the ability to talk more about controversial topics that are not allowed within the high school classes. Parents understand that when their children go to college, they will be exposed to more topics that they have yet to hear about. Parents do not expect the same from a high school classroom. Lake Braddock English departments officials sent a letter to Murphy stating that “society must address troubles the world faces” (The Washington Post - Shapiro). The letter also mentioned that, “ reading and studying books that expose us, imaginatively and safely, to that trouble steels our souls to pull us through our own hard times and leads us to a greater empathy for the plight of our fellow human beings” (The Washington Post - Shapiro).

These are but a few of the provocative headlines to capture the attention of faculty and administrators in recent years. Such essays, for many, introduced terms like trigger warnings, microaggressions, and safe spaces, now commonplace in media coverage of academic life in the 21st century. The stories they tell involve a wide range of issues, but the overarching themes that bind them include concerns about restrictions on free speech, student sensitivity, and evolving campus policies regarding acceptable content and language in and out of the classroom. My role today as a member of

Lukianoff and Haidt explain that the new trend in censoring what is said and taught in classrooms are slowly institutionalizing how professors and administrators

Lately in the United States, there is tension. Citizens do or say things that others prefer not to see or hear. But, when it comes to professionals, such as professors at universities, making these offensive statements it is a whole different circumstance. Some professors are offered a contract in which they are allowed to do and say whatever they please, but others are not. Even though the amount of tenure contracts offered are decreasing, Jeanne Zaino, the author of “Offensive Speech and the Contingency Clause: Adjuncts who are outspoken are losing their jobs,” published on the website Inside Higher Ed., believes professors and their jobs should still be protected under the First Amendment. Zaino references back to the story of two professors who publicly stated very unpopular opinion. They ended up fired due to their public statements. According to Zaino, these two should have not been fired. On the other hand, the professors should have known better because they represent a university. These professors knew what the consequences would be after making their statements. Besides the fact that I disagree with Jeanne Zaino, the essay is fairly written. It is not perfect due to its poor assumptions of what the reader must already know and believe. Although, these are key components, the author did a good job by explaining what was currently happening and showed a decent amount of research to back up their credibility. Zaino did a decent job writing her persuasive piece.

Our nation faces many challenges. Racism and sexism are among them and although these issues may be sensitive to talk about at times, no student should be left out of discussions for not knowing the “right” words to use. Word policing is something that has no place on college campuses, as Kors writes “Those things that threaten free and open debate and those things that threaten academic freedom are the direct enemy of liberty” (Kors 337). As a

“The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt is a short work written to inform people on an epidemic that is affecting colleges and universities around America. The article talks about certain “words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense” (Lukianoff) and how students are asking for them to not be said. Much is covered on the topic including specific examples of how people were persecuted for saying such things and various opinions on if this trend is for better or worse. I believe the article highlights a problem in the educational system and in order for improvement these topics need to be taught and discussed.

For one thing, in the op-ed “Can We Start Taking Political Correctness Seriously Now?” the author Chait summarizes that the protesters in the student demonstration at the University of Missouri besieged a photographer. Most supporters on the left think that young people want to keep themselves from any offense, and they believe that political correctness only occurs on campus; however, the truth is that political correctness will spread beyond the campuses. Next, Chait compares the Columbia event to the New Haven scene. Both of them express doubt in the “political democracy.” Finally, the author claims that the political correctness is excessive on campus, and leftists cannot escape the problem of political correctness. On the other hand, in the op-ed “The Delicate Little Flowers on Today’s College Campuses,” the author Goldberg explains that the Yale riot is due to the reply of a caution to stop wearing Halloween costumes. Also, as the scientist analyzes, current college students are so delicate that they always think they are offended. Then, Goldberg gives us the conclusion that it is the problem of education rather than political correctness itself. At last, he visualizes that these students flow into the society with “emotional cocoon” in the future. Although Chait’s Op-ed shows effective self-presentation in his claim about the leftist ideology of the political correctness, Goldberg does a better job by providing concrete evidence in logos and pathos in

Students everywhere are becoming more sensitive towards ideas that might hurt their feelings. This article really focuses on microaggressions and how these words or phrases have no malicious intent, but are still looked at by some students as offensive. It also looks at how students have a right to not be offended, and how this is having a negative outcome. When colleges try to adjust and make everyone happy so that no students get offended, they run into many problems like students being unable to have genuine discussions. There is also a negative outcome for students as well. Students who are protected will not be ready for the real world. The article also discusses trigger warnings and how they can become damaging to the brain, and are psychologically negative in the way students are using or avoiding them. “The Coddling of the American Mind”, shows how and why coddling college students has a negative impact on their education and mental

Political correctness features prominently within the play. Political correctness was seen as a highly controversial issue in the late 1980s to the early 1990s and was argued within a 1992 essay collection, debating political correctness, that it was “The most important discussion in American education”. This was perhaps due to the numerous amounts of opinions on whether or not political correctness was right. Political correctness repressed people’s abilities to freedom of speech and therefore there were many differing

“Terms such as politically correct thus have a hidden history, uncovering which is dependent both on the accurate recollection of those who were there,” (Cameron, 1995,78).