5 Examples of Political Correctness Gone Too Far
Posted on by Nate C. (Nate)URL for sharing: http://thisorth.at/2ac7
614991
No one sacrifices more doves on the altar of political correctness than I do. Many a night do I spend nuzzling warmly against Lady PC's bosom as she whispers to me her secrets and brushes my tangled hair. But even I have to admit that sometimes political correctness is taken too far. At the very least, more important issues, such as bringing an end to baby snatching, should be addressed first. These 5 are my favorite examples of PCness run amok.
We've all seen this in advertising, on company websites, in college brochures, etc. A seemingly random group of people wearing nondescript, often solid-colored t-shirts is having the time of their lives together, each person a representative from a different point on the ethnic spectrum. Or it may be several individual pictures with accompanying quotes, but each major ethnic group is always represented.
Real diversity is great, but fake-looking diversity is mighty stupid. Not to mention it's pretty misleading. Imagine all the disappointed Caucasian kids that get to college, only to find out that their dream of having the perfect odd-couple roommate has been shattered. But even more disappointed when he gets there will be the Chinese student who finds that the campus is 90% white.
And, of course, Juan Williams. Juan Williams was fired from NPR for comments he made about Muslims on Fox News (see video below). That's what he gets for being open and honest in a discussion about a sensitive issue. Hopefully we can all learn from his mistake and never let it happen again. Even liberals agree that this guy got screwed. In the end though, I guess we should just be glad no one tried to blow him up like the dudes from South Park.
3. Trying Not to Hurt the Feelings of People Who Probably Have More Important Things to Worry About
A person experiencing headlessness chasing a person experiencing wetpantsedness.
4. Even More Name Changing
I have no idea what graphic to use for this one. I mean it's, like, symbolic.
1. Photographic Diversity
We've all seen this in advertising, on company websites, in college brochures, etc. A seemingly random group of people wearing nondescript, often solid-colored t-shirts is having the time of their lives together, each person a representative from a different point on the ethnic spectrum. Or it may be several individual pictures with accompanying quotes, but each major ethnic group is always represented.
Real diversity is great, but fake-looking diversity is mighty stupid. Not to mention it's pretty misleading. Imagine all the disappointed Caucasian kids that get to college, only to find out that their dream of having the perfect odd-couple roommate has been shattered. But even more disappointed when he gets there will be the Chinese student who finds that the campus is 90% white.
2. The Firing of Juan Williams
Our Founding Fathers are probably ROFL to see what the idea of free speech has become in this country. And let's be honest, it is pretty hilarious. It seems we barely have time to mourn the loss of one journalist before another has already been fired for saying something offensive to somebody. Of the many names in the journalists-fired-for-running-their-mouths club are Rick Sanchez, Keith Olbermann, and this woman whom I won't even name for fear of jeopardizing my own career.And, of course, Juan Williams. Juan Williams was fired from NPR for comments he made about Muslims on Fox News (see video below). That's what he gets for being open and honest in a discussion about a sensitive issue. Hopefully we can all learn from his mistake and never let it happen again. Even liberals agree that this guy got screwed. In the end though, I guess we should just be glad no one tried to blow him up like the dudes from South Park.
3. Trying Not to Hurt the Feelings of People Who Probably Have More Important Things to Worry About
A person experiencing headlessness chasing a person experiencing wetpantsedness.
Long ago, they were called street people. Then with the invention of trains and fingerless gloves came "hobo." Finally, someone coined the term "homeless," which seemed pretty good. Then someone else came along and decided we needed to change that to "persons experiencing homelessness," and it all got stupid. The goal in this kind of labeling is to focus more on the person's personhood while softening and minimizing the negative trait ("person with a disability" rather than "disabled person," "vision impaired" rather than "blind"). It's a noble idea, but for one thing: everybody hates syllables.
At some point, the terms get so ridiculous that all it does is make people realize how much easier "bum" and "cripple" roll off the tongue. If we spent half the time we spend perfecting the terminology on eradicating homelessness and designing robot legs for people, then we could focus on more important things, like bringing back Firefly.
4. Even More Name Changing
I have no idea what graphic to use for this one. I mean it's, like, symbolic.
Racial and ethnic terms have become way too confusing these days. In some cases, you have to put the continent of origin, followed by a dash, and then followed by a present country of citizenship. There's all those syllables again. (Is a white kid whose parents are from South Africa an African-American? What about Charlize Theron?) Then there's the term "Native American." Apparently "native" in this sense doesn't mean "born there" like in the dictionary, which should come as good news to the half-German son of a WWII codetalker. My confusion is compounded further by the fact that everyone on the reservation near where I live refers to themselves as Indians.
Let's face it. Political correctness pretty much boils down to upper class white liberals trying to do two things: keep anyone from ever being offended and make you feel like a bigot. So zealous are they in this endeavor that they've made the very practice of speaking a fearful one, as we have to agonize over each word choice to avoid persecution. I've even seen black folks surrounded by white liberals awkwardly using the term "African-American," because even they apparently felt scrutinized by the PC Rules of Destiny. I myself tried to use this term one time, but unfortunately it was a disaster. The person I was referring to yelled back that he was from the Virgin Islands so it didn't apply. I give up.
5. Coddling the Children
I've heard via teachers that some schools are doing away with GT (gifted/talented) classes. This would of course be so kids in the regular classes don't start crying every day. At that age, most students are either too cool or too lazy to want to be in the nerd classes. And the nerd kids that actually want to learn should be given every opportunity to excel, even if that means segregating them from the students who would rather start fights or put pencils in their nose.
Sports are the same way. When I was a kid, you actually had to try out for sports teams (though you didn't necessarily have to be good since I made the little league baseball team). Apparently nowadays, to avoid hurting kids' feelings, some sports leagues make the teams take anybody. While this may lead to some awesome videos on the FAIL blog, I don't think it's the best thing for the kids. That goofy kid may actually be good at something, but if we keep telling him he's good at everything when he's not, he'll never figure out what his talents are until it's too late. Then we'll just have one more hobo (er, I mean "housing-challenged person") out there walking around with his bindle full of cornbread.
HAS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE TOO FAR?
14991 views & 24 votes
email
share
You are now following
Debate It! 6
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/13/pakistan.blasphemy.vigilantes/index.html
This is an article about blasphemy cases in Pakistan. CNN makes the following observation:
"The curious part about this blasphemy case -- and many other such convictions and allegations under the controversial law -- is that they do not specify what the accused is meant to have said.
The first complaint delivered to the police in 2009 refers to a conversation Imran allegedly had with another man in a cafe, but says the exact blasphemous phrase cannot be repeated as that too would be an act of blasphemy."
Interesting point. However, the article then says, "By the time we get to the court appearance earlier this year, the charge is clearer (but we won't repeat it here, given the sensitivity of the matter)."
How can CNN criticize the Pakistani judicial system for not describing the blasphemy in the complaint, when CNN won't even describe it in the article? Apparently we have blasphemy laws here that apply to journalists.
Ah, CNN, a once legitimate news source, and now a joke.
Posted By Nate, (2 years and 1 months)
Posted By kimmie, (2 years and 1 months)
Posted By Lola2005, (2 years and 1 months)
http://www.adversity.net/special/niggardly.htm
It is etymologically unsatisfactory.
Posted By lessthanthree, (2 years and 1 months)
Posted By angie497, (2 years)
Posted By allany, (2 years)
Make a Comment