Political Correctness In The United States

Politically correct language has become huge movement in modern society. There are words that have gone through numerous changes such as “shellshock” going through many changes finally being to what it is known as today as “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” as best described the late George Carlin. Today there are large groups that urge political correctness to the masses in an attempt to end discrimination against gender, race, and sexuality. In “The Word Police” by Michiko Kakutani, the author writes about how political correct language is more focused on the words itself rather than the content behind. As progressive as it may seem, political correctness threatens a free society.

However, many groups claim that political correctness in society is justified in its efforts to sanitize offensive material created though years of oppressing minorities. What was originally a noble idea, to remove blatant words of offensive meaning, has turned into an “over the top” effort to rid any words of possible controversy. We are regulating our ways of plain speaking, freedom of choice, and freedom of speech. Laws of restrictions on slander and public decency should be decided on the common law methodology and not by the interests of the liberal “mob”. If plain speaking is not allowed, clear thinking is

Many of the predictions made by George Orwell in his book 1984 in relation to corruption of language are recognizable in the United States today. Our language is in the process of changing. The introduction of politically correct words and phrases over the past few decades is based on the principles of Orwell's Newspeak. Today, this phenomenon is a tool of liberals used to erase the opinions of the past, and to help propagate new ideas, and is rooted in the same motives as Newspeak. Although Political Correctness may not be all-encompassing as its Orwell's Newspeak, Political Correctness is equally as dangerous and oppressive to free thought. For example, terms such as "Affirmative Action" implies Action which is correct ("Affirmative" means correct, and "Action" is normally good as well) when actually what is meant is the preferential treatment for a particular minority group. The word "Peacekeepers," now refers to a soldier that occupies a foreign nation. During the cold war, when the USSR would do that type of thing,

Deaf children are entitled to know that they are heirs to an amazing culture, not a pitiful defect. In order to follow through on that obligation, one of the best things I feel we can do is try to educate other hearing people about the realities of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Language is one of the most critical aspects of most cultures, and one which sets deafness aside from other defects such as blindness, physical disability, or illness. Sign language is not universal, nor does it always correspond to the spoken language in the same country. For example American Sign Language is native to the United States and Canada. Deaf Canadians might use English, French, or both as a written language. But deaf people in Great Britain, while they may write in English, use a completely different sign language. (nad.org)

In today’s era people are being limited in their freedom of speech because people are too sensitive and it can be offensive.

Freedom of speech is a glorious thing and a privileges of living in the United States of America is being able to express one’s opinion. Segments of society are making an effort to stifle people’s opinions to do what is politically correct. Can people’s ideas of protection be too extreme? In the article, “The Coddling of the American Mind”, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that there is a negative outcome when rules are given to stop people from being offended, and this statement is supported from real life examples, analogies, and reliable sources.

everybody believes political correctness is a good thing.One standpoints that can defend this. Equally the other side, has some advantages.  Not everybody believes political correctness is in the nest interest of everyone. We all have our

By definition, political correctness is “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated”(Merriam-Webster). Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer for The Atlantic states in an article about political correctness, "It's about practicing Tolerance. It's about attempting to understand people . . . different from you, and saying to them you want their voice in the process. Tolerance is not just a value you hold, so much as it something you do repeatedly" (Coates). Race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and/or physical state are all demographics that are often talked about in disrespectful ways and discriminated against. People are not born believing these slurs and stereotypes, their minds are brainwashed with these values from the society in which they grow up. Since social status plays an important part in shaping our thoughts, actions and shared values, then if we acknowledging that any given person could be female or one of any other minority, we change people’s thoughts on where people belong in the system. All P.C. does is change how you say things, not what you say. Therefore you can still impart any concept you wish within the boundaries of Political Correctness as all it does is remove the institutionalized inequalities from our language. Free speech is being able to say anything you wish and within a politically correct environment you can still impart any meaning you wish; then political correctness is consistent with free

Not only does political correctness limit language, it limits competition between groups. For example the competition between the upper and lower class for power would cease if we were made to be politically correct. We need the upper and lower class for our society to function correctly. Without competition society can not thrive, and the philosophy of political correctness attempts to make people equals which effectively blocks individual success thus eliminating any motive to take the risks necessary to succeed. How can a person move up in this world with out stepping on others, and every time someone steps on someone else they will use methods or words that could be taken as politically incorrect. It is the nature of capitalism and democracy to have competing groups which ultimately leads to a separation of the bourgeoisie and proletariat or the upper and lower class. This is the greatest good a capitalistic democratic society can reach because the factions are not permanent; the members of each group are free to move

The term politically correct first appeared in the 1960’s and from then it has evolved far beyond its originally purposes. In his article “Apple Removes All American Civil War Games From the App Store Because of the Confederate Flag”, Tasos Lazarides informs people about Apple’s decision to remove the imagery of the Confederate Battle Flag the author does not take a strong position in the argument. He uses the article more for informational purposes, as opposed to using the article for an argument. Recently there has been uproar over the use of the Confederate Battle Flag. People find it offensive and therefore, it is being taken down everywhere. The flag is historical and does carry connotations; however, that is

There is no doubt that Christmas is a religious event but nowadays Christmas becomes more commercialized, as it has been defined as a high consumption season because the gifts giving culture becomes the most important part of Christmas and the consumers want to please their children

In Political Correctness In America, the author, E.W., argues against Obama's message in that "in 'modern, complicated, diverse societies' Americans must 'exercise civility and restraint and judgment'". Political correctness is here for a reason. So that you don't offend anyone. While some find it burdensome, it's not impossible to call people what they prefer or use terms that are more acceptable to the public while still getting your point across. The author writes that "criticism—is a necessary ingredient of debate and deliberation". While criticism is necessary, it is possible to have a proper debate within the boundaries of respect. Refraining from offending others and insisting on political correctness are two very different things. People

Freedom of Speech is a privilege compared to other countries in the world. The Freedom of expressing your feelings to the public creates a diverse and healthy society. Suppressing someone’s thoughts and words generates a lack luster society without critiques or opposing viewpoints. Politically Correct, also known as PC, to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to groups in society. A PC culture threatens someone’s freedom of speech. Being forced to not speak your mind because it isn’t politically correct and offends someone is woeful. A PC culture threatens free speech due to an entitled and fragile culture that wants to be shielded by offensive speech, and is not beneficial to present and future generations.

As aforementioned, the initial true meaning of Christmas is religion - one that has now been muchly downplayed. Of course at first glance religion is only an important element of Christmas for those who are actually religious, for which then religion plays the dominant role of what Christmas is to them. However, religion means to show obligation to something through faith, it could be argued that the majority of society is actually religious. We follow a society which has

In summary, political correctness is a huge issue, and one that needs to be acted upon quickly. Ever since this concept has been introduced, our society has been slowly morphing into the totalitarian government of “1984”, a government in which no one is a real human. Without the ability to think or talk, those creatures have lost their humanly rights, and aren’t humans anymore. I believe that, if not stopped, political correctness can turn