NationStates Jolt Archive

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.

Political Correctness is a mistery lost in the fogs of time... :p

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.

If you can euphemize without sacrificing clarity, go for it.. but much PC talk is opaque and useless, unless you're already acquainted with it.. but even then, it's rarely helpful.

Now, when people who speak PC try and enforce the language, that gets people riled up.. but if you learned the "new" term, whatever it is, and it's clear enough, I wouldn't get huffy over it, personally.

Political correctness is a term often used in British media and politics to describe (generally extreme) things that people have to abide (normally people in government and civil service roles) by in order not to be guilty of discrimination of some sort. Often the measures go against logic and cause antagonism to the group they are designed to protect.
Examples from the UK:
A woman who was 5’1” was denied a job as a fire-fighter because she was too short to safely use equipment on the fire truck and could not pass some of the physical tests due to her size. She claimed discrimination.
An MP (I think) had to resign for using the word “niggardly” (meaning stingy/cheap/tight with money) because people thought it sounded too similar to another word.
Baa-baa Black Sheep receiving complaints because of alleged racist undertones. Some schools have removed copies to avoid offending minorities.
The nursery rhyme that goes something like “girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails” was rewritten by a children’s author with gender reversal.
Local government workers recently received an extensive list of terms they could not use (including “rule of thumb”) because they may offend people.
Things like “ice-cream man” and “bin men” being renamed “ice cream vendor” and “something like waste disposal officer” to remove gender stereotypes. (I once had an argument about the term “ice cream man being acceptable as I was referring to someone who was actually a man but this minor fact fell on deaf ears)

Generally used to describe limits put on normal day-to-day life (sometimes enforced by law) on what would normally be considered reasonable behaviour as there is a possibility that someone somewhere may be offended.

Political correctness is a term often used in British media and politics to describe (generally extreme) things that people have to abide (normally people in government and civil service roles) by in order not to be guilty of discrimination of some sort. Often the measures go against logic and cause antagonism to the group they are designed to protect.
Examples from the UK:
A woman who was 5’1” was denied a job as a fire-fighter because she was too short to safely use equipment on the fire truck and could not pass some of the physical tests due to her size. She claimed discrimination.
An MP (I think) had to resign for using the word “niggardly” (meaning stingy/cheap/tight with money) because people thought it sounded too similar to another word.
Baa-baa Black Sheep receiving complaints because of alleged racist undertones. Some schools have removed copies to avoid offending minorities.
The nursery rhyme that goes something like “girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails” was rewritten by a children’s author with gender reversal.
Local government workers recently received an extensive list of terms they could not use (including “rule of thumb”) because they may offend people.
Things like “ice-cream man” and “bin men” being renamed “ice cream vendor” and “something like waste disposal officer” to remove gender stereotypes. (I once had an argument about the term “ice cream man being acceptable as I was referring to someone who was actually a man but this minor fact fell on deaf ears)

Generally used to describe limits put on normal day-to-day life (sometimes enforced by law) on what would normally be considered reasonable behaviour as there is a possibility that someone somewhere may be offended.

Or, to put it another way, political correctness is stupid :D.

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.

Political correctness are different in different some countrys.
You can say Political correctness are the comman opinion.
Everybodys opinion are going to interpret as extrem or not Political correctness some countrys in the world.

for example In Sweden it not okej to want to have death penalty But in USA its okej. Its alway some question see extrem in som countrys but not in other.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.

Yup, thats pretty much what it is.

Political correctness is a term often used in British media and politics to describe (generally extreme) things that people have to abide (normally people in government and civil service roles) by in order not to be guilty of discrimination of some sort. Often the measures go against logic and cause antagonism to the group they are designed to protect.
Examples from the UK:
A woman who was 5’1” was denied a job as a fire-fighter because she was too short to safely use equipment on the fire truck and could not pass some of the physical tests due to her size. She claimed discrimination.
An MP (I think) had to resign for using the word “niggardly” (meaning stingy/cheap/tight with money) because people thought it sounded too similar to another word.
Baa-baa Black Sheep receiving complaints because of alleged racist undertones. Some schools have removed copies to avoid offending minorities.
The nursery rhyme that goes something like “girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails” was rewritten by a children’s author with gender reversal.
Local government workers recently received an extensive list of terms they could not use (including “rule of thumb”) because they may offend people.
Things like “ice-cream man” and “bin men” being renamed “ice cream vendor” and “something like waste disposal officer” to remove gender stereotypes. (I once had an argument about the term “ice cream man being acceptable as I was referring to someone who was actually a man but this minor fact fell on deaf ears)

Generally used to describe limits put on normal day-to-day life (sometimes enforced by law) on what would normally be considered reasonable behaviour as there is a possibility that someone somewhere may be offended.

Well, sounds to me like a government trying not to alienate anybody and doing some braindead things for that.

But I found myself accused of political correctness for not believing in the European race dying out, for defending multicultural society and for generally trying to be polite, rational and inoffensive (as I do tend to believe that the rest of the world isn't stupid for not sharing my views). And that continues to puzzle me...

Many examples of political correctness are stupid, as described above, but personally I think the term is way over-used. It tends to be used as a weapon to bash anyone who isn't racist or sexist even if they're sensible about it.

Political correctness is a term often used in British media and politics to describe (generally extreme) things that people have to abide (normally people in government and civil service roles) by in order not to be guilty of discrimination of some sort. Often the measures go against logic and cause antagonism to the group they are designed to protect.
Examples from the UK:
A woman who was 5’1” was denied a job as a fire-fighter because she was too short to safely use equipment on the fire truck and could not pass some of the physical tests due to her size. She claimed discrimination.
An MP (I think) had to resign for using the word “niggardly” (meaning stingy/cheap/tight with money) because people thought it sounded too similar to another word.
Baa-baa Black Sheep receiving complaints because of alleged racist undertones. Some schools have removed copies to avoid offending minorities.
The nursery rhyme that goes something like “girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails” was rewritten by a children’s author with gender reversal.
Local government workers recently received an extensive list of terms they could not use (including “rule of thumb”) because they may offend people.
Things like “ice-cream man” and “bin men” being renamed “ice cream vendor” and “something like waste disposal officer” to remove gender stereotypes. (I once had an argument about the term “ice cream man being acceptable as I was referring to someone who was actually a man but this minor fact fell on deaf ears)

Generally used to describe limits put on normal day-to-day life (sometimes enforced by law) on what would normally be considered reasonable behaviour as there is a possibility that someone somewhere may be offended.


Its pathetic really

Some definitions. (http://www.answers.com/political+correctness&r=67)
Pretty much what FourX said. It's usually just avoiding people being *ist by using offensive terms, but there are far too many bored people looking for ways to be insulted and offended, hence "Political Correctness Gone Mad!"; a phrase often used by tabloids, in a suitably overexcited tone.

Usually the people pointing out that group X could be offended by statement/act Y are not members of group X.

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.

in its original form, thats not too far from the idea: to remove offensive words and remarks. no more queers, no more dwarfs, no more housewifes, instead we have homosexual, vertically challanged and home keeper. Some of this is fair enough, but like all things born of the left wing, they just had to take it too far.

But the term itself has now been shifted to mean anything the centre-right or common man (opps) deems to be silly or downright absurd. Things like banning Christmas decorations in case it offends non-christians or refusing to fly the the St George/Union Jack on public buildings lest someone take offence are often reported as political correctness, and in a way they are. But really PC is supposed to mean linguistic hurdles, a recent example being "deffered success" in place of fail.

Well, sounds to me like a government trying not to alienate anybody and doing some braindead things for that.

But I found myself accused of political correctness for not believing in the European race dying out, for defending multicultural society and for generally trying to be polite, rational and inoffensive (as I do tend to believe that the rest of the world isn't stupid for not sharing my views). And that continues to puzzle me...

hmmmm, the reason i dont like multi cultural society is the world is multi cultural, and since the dawn of time, theres been war after war, if it dosnt happen peacefully, how on earth can it work on a national scale?

Anyway, heres some political corectness examples:

The Bishop of Hulme has called for the hymn "I Vow To Thee, My Country" to be banned because he thinks it is an example of the dangerous increase in "nationalism" in this country which, in his words, has parallels with the rise of Nazism. He also thinks that the words to this famous hymn have racist overtones. The Campaign Against Political Correctness strongly disagrees with these ridiculous assertions and urges anyone who belongs to a church to do all they can to ensure that this wonderful song - and others like it - are not dropped from their hymn sheets against their will.



Glasgow University Conservative Students' Group have been told that they cannot fly the Union Flag over the University despite the fact that the rainbow flag of Gay Pride was allowed to fly last week without any questions from University officials. David Adams, President of Glasgow University Conservative Students' Group, was completely shocked to be told that the Union Flag could not be flown from the same flagpole. Richard Cook, and member of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, from Glasgow said, "It is our national flag which is being slighted here and the University must reconsider their decision and allow these ordinary students with a belief in their country the same rights and privileges afforded to those who support other agendas." John Midgley, co-founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness said, "It is ridiculous that issues of sexuality have effectively been deemed more important by Glasgow University officials than pride in our country. If the Union Flag cannot be flown then the flag of common sense is well and truly flying at half mast today."



I also remember as a kid, we sang hyms, dosnt happen anymore because it might offend hinus and muslims...... so what? hyms is our culture, if they dont like, they can leave.

I cant find the article right now but, there was an instance of a lifeguard unit wanted a grant from the national lottery fund, they were refused because "they didnt rescue enough ethnic minorities"

This is the kind of political correctness i, and the majority of british people hate. If i want to say i dont like muslims (not that i dont, just an example) i get branded a racist or a nazi.

Well, if people cant say whats on there mind, history dictates theyll use there hands. which is why michael howard was right when he said if we carry on the way we are, there will be race riots in the streets, cos the goverment annoys me more and more, i actually dont have a problem with hindu's and muslims as people but, with all this political correctness, it just makes me resent them.

Which actually defeats the purpose of political correctness.

You shoudn't stop singing hyms, but no one should be forced to sing. In my primary school, lots of people resented having to sing hyms, and I think this contributed to them rejecting the idea of God.

As for the conservatives, those guys are idiots you don't decide what country you come from so you shouldn't be proud of it.

I think it is the stupid examples that get people riled up and stick in peoples minds, and I think that barmy rules that intefere with really quite reasonable everyday behaviour severely damage the causes they are aimed to protect by antonanising people.

While people should make an effort not to offend someone, people should also be resilient enough to not take things like nursery rhymes and everyday speech (ice-cream man) as being personally offensive.
- People should not go out of their way to be offensive.
- People should not go out of their way to be offended.

The acusation "people who disagree with political correctness are rascist/sexist/homophobic/etc" is not helpfull either as many who get riled by PC are none of these but get accused of them if they object to being compelled to use 'Newspeak' so as to not risk offending the very easily offended. These accusations also only succeed in alienating people and creating divides.

Cries of rascism whenever anyone says anyting to question the asylum system is an example of PC that many fall foul of.
eg.
Me: "I think genuine asylum seekers should be allowed to stay, work, join British society and be supported by the state if they cannot find employment until they either choose to remain here or return to their homeland when safe, but Illegal Immigrants and bogus asylum seekers should be deported"
PC Squad: RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!

Personally I find the accusation of rascism VERY offensive. To me it is an acusation similar to being acused of being a rapist or child molester.

It is a sad fact that political correctness, originally only being about politeness and inoffensiveness, has been overused to an extent where it has lost its credibility.

Even worse is, when demands of political correctness are used to shut down opposition. Sweden with its left-dominated politics is a sad example. There, political correctness has been backed upp by a law named "hets mot folkgrupp" (translates as "agitation against group of people" or something) Some year ago, a priest got jailed for reading what the Bible says about homosexuality and making some conclusions contrary to the liberal trend on the issue. Recently, a bakery selling those round brown chocolatey things with cocoa bits got penalized for calling them "negerbollar" (translates as "niggerballs"). A name that has been used for ages, at a time when "neger" was a common Swedish word witn no racist connotations whatsoever. But, what's worse is, when a company pissed off with the P.C. trend started printing shirts with a picture of the thing and a caption reading "rädda negerbollen!" ("save the niggerball!"), they got penalized too and had to stop. What the hell, isn't political activism allowed?

in its original form, thats not too far from the idea: to remove offensive words and remarks. no more queers, no more dwarfs, no more housewifes, instead we have homosexual, vertically challanged and home keeper.

And now homosexual get used as an insult like queer used to be, so we're going to need another term, like what happened to ****** -> black -> afro american (I may be missing some step)

The original idea was based on something good, but new words just get the old meaning until you can change the people's mind, and this is way harder to do with a law.

While I agree with above definitions of PC, I might like to add that another use of PC is to rename or reword problems so they don't seem or sound quite as bad. For example:

"No, we don't have a problem with homeless people, they're just displaced."
???!!! :confused: (They're homeless, get over it and admit it.)

"No we are not having a problem with home breaking and enterings at the moment, we are having a problem with minor home violations." (It was several homes that had been compleatly emptied of almost all belongings)

I don't know if this particular aspect of PCism has hit other parts of the world, but it's becoming more and more common over here in the states.

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.Political Correctness stems from the concept of being polite. It means you don't say certain words for certain things because you know their offensive.
Due to America's nature as a polarized society, a lot of people take it too far and an equal amount use it to excuse their lack of manners and claim it violates their freedom of speech.

While I agree with above definitions of PC, I might like to add that another use of PC is to rename or reword problems so they don't seem or sound quite as bad. For example:

"No, we don't have a problem with homeless people, they're just displaced."
???!!! :confused: (They're homeless, get over it and admit it.)

"No we are not having a problem with home breaking and enterings at the moment, we are having a problem with minor home violations." (It was several homes that had been compleatly emptied of almost all belongings)

I don't know if this particular aspect of PCism has hit other parts of the world, but it's becoming more and more common over here in the states.

That doesn't really sound like PC to me. PC is being oversensitive, but I don't see who would be offended by "breaking and entering". Sounds more like the Police or someone using euphemisms to pretend that they're doing a better job than they are.

An american example of PC i recently came across was that it is wrong to call homeless alcoholics on park benches "bums".

(To clarify - This was to describe a homeless person when none were present, not to personally go up to a specific homeless person and yell "Hey Bum")

Political correctness is essentially a poorly conducted attempt to legislate for morality enacted by a political movement bereft of any true sense of nationalism.Whilst the underlying sentiments of politeness remain laudable, the incarnation of political correctness that pervades contemporary british society is altogether different, since it engenders a culture of positive discrimination, alteration of language to serve the few, and the according discrimination against the white, caucasian majority. Modern political correctness dictates tht of two equaly adept candidates, one is compelled to employ the candidate of an ethnic minority, and that irrespective of the inherent inaptitude of the candidate for the vocation, employers are behoved to employ disable candidates.

The majority of Britains, myself not included, are inherently multicultural and tolerant, and find such regulations a constraint and imposition rather than an extension of their moral tendencies, whilst those who political correctness serves to aid grow to deride the culture that facilitates their existence. That political correctnes engenders racial integration is a dream, since a preponderence of ethnic communities are insular, xenophobic and furthermore converse in their native tongues, not english. A situation facilitated by a policy of lauding and encouraging ethnic culture, a beast of our own creation.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=440330

Here is an example of political correctness that has just cropped up in the NS forums.

Actually in most Critical Thinking courses, you will be taught that PC is flawed thought pattern and hindrance to critical thinking.

For all you out there.

-Fore-Fathers
-Man and Wife
-Adam and Eve
-stewardesses
-his and her
-Krauts (which I am by birth)
-Yankees (which I am by living area)

Political correctness bashing (often justifiable) was all the rage in the mid-90's in Britain. I've hardly ever seen it since in this country; I guess the latest round of bashing is US-inspired. People are making a mountain out of a molehill, if you ask me. Worse, it's a convenient label for ignorant bigots to throw around in order to deflect justified criticism of their bullshit.

-Fore-Fathers... Americanism. We have ancestors.
-Man and Wife... peculiar. Husband and wife, man and woman.
-Adam and Eve... relevance?

-Fore-Fathers... Americanism. We have ancestors.
-Man and Wife... peculiar. Husband and wife, man and woman.
-Adam and Eve... relevance?

That typically gets thrown into the mix by some extreme feminists. Saying why should Adam come first. Makes no sense to me, but I've seen it tossed in the Non-PC bin.

That typically gets thrown into the mix by some extreme feminists. Saying why should Adam come first. Makes no sense to me, but I've seen it tossed in the Non-PC bin.
Ah. In fairness, wife and husband, woman and man.. these are acceptable. Neither need be enforced, is all. If you're writing a letter to a couple and the principal addressee is female, then write to Mrs & Mr, not Mr & Mrs.

Now, I find Mr and Mrs A Smith pretty offensive - it should be, say, Mr A & Mrs J Smith. However, the correct way to write this is really whatever the couple themselves wishes!

It is a sad fact that political correctness, originally only being about politeness and inoffensiveness, has been overused to an extent where it has lost its credibility.

Even worse is, when demands of political correctness are used to shut down opposition. Sweden with its left-dominated politics is a sad example. There, political correctness has been backed upp by a law named "hets mot folkgrupp" (translates as "agitation against group of people" or something) Some year ago, a priest got jailed for reading what the Bible says about homosexuality and making some conclusions contrary to the liberal trend on the issue. Recently, a bakery selling those round brown chocolatey things with cocoa bits got penalized for calling them "negerbollar" (translates as "niggerballs"). A name that has been used for ages, at a time when "neger" was a common Swedish word witn no racist connotations whatsoever. But, what's worse is, when a company pissed off with the P.C. trend started printing shirts with a picture of the thing and a caption reading "rädda negerbollen!" ("save the niggerball!"), they got penalized too and had to stop. What the hell, isn't political activism allowed?Oh, come on. As some of the Swedish here have pointed out, the priest got sentenced, appealed, and is pending his hearing in front of the supreme court for hateful terms he used, and not for reading from the bible.
No negative connotation? Yes there is. I may be German and it isn't the same as Sweden, but the term "Negerkuss" ("****** kiss") is no longer in use to describe one of these (http://www.skh.de/jugendstil/bilder/schokokuss.jpg). They're called "Schaumküsse" ("foam kisses") or "Schokoküsse" ("chocolaty kisses") now, if only to avoid misconceptions like the following:
http://lexatoons.de/Galerie/gif/AbbNegerkuss.gif
"Neger" is somewhere between the words "******" and "negroe", but it most certainly is offensive, since it is a negative term for blacks.

Political Correctness is censorship.

[QUOTE=Laerod]They're called "Schaumküsse" ("foam kisses") or "Schokoküsse" ("chocolaty kisses") now, if only to avoid misconceptions like the following:
http://lexatoons.de/Galerie/gif/AbbNegerkuss.gif
QUOTE]

I always liked the term "Venus Nipples" :D

Political Correctness is censorship.
Tha'ts bullshit... I mean hokey.

Laerod you got a TG!

Tha'ts bullshit... I mean hokey.

Hey, if musicians can declare their lyrics shouldn't be censored, then we can say PC is censorship.

Tha'ts bullshit... I mean hokey.

I thought it was following the dictionary definition rather accurately:

cen·sor Audio pronunciation of "censoring" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (snsr)
n.

1. A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable.

No, it would be censorship if there was a Department of Political Correctness that fined you for saying 'fag'. It's a social norm, which you are free to ignore if you don't see the whole problem with racism and hompohobia etc. Anyway, I agree with Werteswandel, it's mostly just people making mountains out of molehills. Most of the over-the-top PC euphemisms were invented to take the piss out of political correctness anyway, and end up being taken seriously.

hmmmm, the reason i dont like multi cultural society is the world is multi cultural, and since the dawn of time, theres been war after war, if it dosnt happen peacefully, how on earth can it work on a national scale?

Hah, oh dear God. How can it work on a national scale? Try looking at a country that has been doing it for a couple decades. -__- IE: Canada.

I thought it was following the dictionary definition rather accurately:

cen·sor Audio pronunciation of "censoring" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (snsr)
n.

1. A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable.
po·lite ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-lt)
adj. po·lit·er, po·lit·est
Marked by or showing consideration for others, tact, and observance of accepted social usage.
Refined; elegant: polite society.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that PC is censorship if taken too far, but the basic idea is to be polite.

No negative connotation? Yes there is. I may be German and it isn't the same as Sweden, but the term "Negerkuss" ("****** kiss") is no longer in use to describe one of these (http://www.skh.de/jugendstil/bilder/schokokuss.jpg). They're called "Schaumküsse" ("foam kisses") or "Schokoküsse" ("chocolaty kisses") now, if only to avoid misconceptions like the following:
http://lexatoons.de/Galerie/gif/AbbNegerkuss.gif
"Neger" is somewhere between the words "******" and "negroe", but it most certainly is offensive, since it is a negative term for blacks.
That is certainly different in the south - they are still called "Negerküsse", or rather "Mohrenköpfe" (moor's head). "Neger" and "Mohr" are interchangable, although Mohr as a term for black people hasn't been used for a long time and the use of Neger frowned upon today.

Yet I still eat Mohrenköpfe (which incidently in Austria are called Schwedenbombe - "Swedish bomb"), drink Mohrenbräu (a beer) and eat Sarotti chocolate (their mascot is a little moor: http://www.sarotti.de/ )

That is certainly different in the south - they are still called "Negerküsse", or rather "Mohrenköpfe" (moor's head). "Neger" and "Mohr" are interchangable, although Mohr as a term for black people hasn't been used for a long time and the use of Neger frowned upon today.

Yet I still eat Mohrenköpfe (which incidently in Austria are called Schwedenbombe - "Swedish bomb"), drink Mohrenbräu (a beer) and eat Sarotti chocolate (their mascot is a little moor: http://www.sarotti.de/ )There's a difference between "Mohr" and "Neger", doncha know. ;)
Remember how the Moors were the ones that invaded Spain? I know that the place in Bavaria where Benedict XVI still has a Moor's head on it. The Sarotti Moor isn't the same as a Negerkuss. "Mohr" was usually used to refer to the Turks and the Berbers or other darkskinned muslims.
And besides, this just serves to convince me just how backward the South is :D
(I didn't hear the term much when I was in Munich... Though my North German step-grandmother still uses the term a bit :D )

Edit: Oh, and I'd fight anyone trying to get Sarotti to change the "Mohr" tooth and nail. The kid is just cool! :p

There's a difference between "Mohr" and "Neger", doncha know. ;)
Remember how the Moors were the ones that invaded Spain? I know that the place in Bavaria where Benedict XVI still has a Moor's head on it. The Sarotti Moor isn't the same as a Negerkuss. "Mohr" was usually used to refer to the Turks and the Berbers or other darkskinned muslims.
And besides, this just serves to convince me just how backward the South is :D
(I didn't hear the term much when I was in Munich... Though my North German step-grandmother still uses the term a bit :D )

Edit: Oh, and I'd fight anyone trying to get Sarotti to change the "Mohr" tooth and nail. The kid is just cool! :p
Although you're right about the history of the term "Mohr", it was later used to generally describe black Africans. As such no difference was made between the terms "Mohr" and "Neger", only that "Mohr" had already fallen out of use by the time it was deemed to be upolite to call coloured people by such a name.

About Benedict XVI - he's got a moor in his coat of arms as he used to be Bishop of Freising and the moor is in its coat of arms.

I personally find Mohrenkopf inoffensive, but then I'm fairly white. My coloured friends don't have a problem with that, either. I once had a huge discussion with an American professor (white) once, about the examples I gave in my earlier post. He said it was racist to drink that beer or eat Sarotti chocolate. I told him I'd eaten faggots in England (Wiki: Faggots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food))), does that make me homophobic. He was not amused :D

"I'd eaten faggots in England (Wiki: Faggots), does that make me homophobic. He was not amused"

A cannibal who prefers tender rump?

For an explaination of PC, go no further than the Appendix to 1984 (Orwell), the explaination of Newspeak works for PC.

The purpose is the same for both, power through manipulating language.

For an explaination of PC, go no further than the Appendix to 1984 (Orwell), the explaination of Newspeak works for PC.

The purpose is the same for both, power through manipulating language.

Well yes, the point of it is that language is power. PC is always related to disempowered groups and the intention is to get rid of this unbalance by changing language. However PC is only a social norm, not an expression of the government's power.

So let me get this straight - PC means that its ok to invade, occupy, bomb, extort, exploit and generally ream seven shades out of other folks, as long as you don't go to extreme lengths like insulting them?

:headbang:

So let me get this straight - PC means that its ok to invade, occupy, bomb, extort, exploit and generally ream seven shades out of other folks, as long as you don't go to extreme lengths like insulting them?

:headbang:

Um, no, where did you get that from?

po·lite ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-lt)
adj. po·lit·er, po·lit·est
Marked by or showing consideration for others, tact, and observance of accepted social usage.
Refined; elegant: polite society.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that PC is censorship if taken too far, but the basic idea is to be polite.

I can handle polite. It's when it gets to the point of suing and job loss and all the other things that PC influences that starts me boiling. Just because someone didn't have thick enough skin (see the suing of the doctor by the fat chick--definitely not a PC statement) to ignore some words.

How does it go? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

Please, if someone else's opinion of you is more important that your self realization, you have problems. I've been called fat, a gun nut, and all other sorts of names--am I suing? Am I fighting? Am I doing anything other than throwing some words back? No. If someone throws a punch for only words--they are the criminal, not the person using their free-speech rights. Are they an asshole for using those words? More than likely, but they're still within legal limits.

Anything that irritates conservative this much can't be so bad. :p

Anything that irritates conservative this much can't be so bad. :p

You couldn't be more wrong. Once the phrase "differently abled" has been uttered 1,000,000 times, Stalin will rise from the grave and conquer the world with an army of Commie zombies.

Political Correctness is a mistery lost in the fogs of time... :p


PC is being taken too far. Its absurd. You can't say BOO to anyone anymore with out someone accusing you of being racist and not adhering to 'PC codes'.

I think in 2003/2004 PC was far more prevelant, people were becoming scarily conservative. It has calmed down recently tho.

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.
That's all it is in Canada, where I live.

Anything that irritates conservative this much can't be so bad. :p

How about when it irritates those of us who aren't conservatives?

Somebody please explain the concept to me, and why it seems to be the ultimate evil to some on this forum.

So far, I was under the impression that Political Correctness was simply politeness, wording your opinions in a way that is not personally offensive to others, but I seem to be wrong there.



Political correctness is when the left can call the right facists, nutjobs, racists, sexists, etc. but if the right dares to make a comment criticizing the left, OH NO SHE SAID AN UN-PC THING!!!!! In other words, it's something that gives political immunity to a certain group, such as blacks, Jews, homosexuals, women, etc. by playing the race, anti-semite, homophobe, chauvinist card. You can't criticize these people without being vilified into oblivion. It's not about "politeness", it's about "I can lambast you but you can't touch me, neener neener neener!"