Has political correctness gone too far?

Agreed completely.

I believe some of this issue stems from the fact that "political correctness" has both of a benign and malignant definition. The benign one essentially equates PC with "respect". I.e. not calling Native Americans "Injuns", even though that was once acceptable. PC (I.e. the climate of social interactions) has determined that the term "Injun" is offensive and shouldn't be said anymore. (Going a step further, it's put a stigma on the term "Indian", though to be fair, there are Native Americans who use this term themselves). Either way, "respect" is about not offending people, using the terms that they prefer, and listening to when someone is offended or bothered by something, not telling someone that they have no right to be offended and that their grievances are invalid. As you said, it's easy to not take these grievances seriously when you're a part of the "dominant" class.

The malignant definition of PC on the other hand especially equates PC with "censorship". Here this means pre-emptively avoiding anything that might cause offense, whether actual or not, and causing a detriment to free expression, especially academic expression. With that I agree entirely on your point: we should not sacrifice intellectualism, academia, and factual information in the name of PC. PC can help foster respect, but it should not censor reality. And since it sometimes does (as can be seen from the example of universities across the country), then in that case, yes, I must say that it has "gone too far".

 

Yes.

 

Depends on what context you're using it in. A lot of folks on the right like to scream "Political correctness" because it's not acceptable to use racial slurs and the like anymore.

But when I have to deal with people who want everyone to accept that this person should have been born a cat, or it's now "poly phobic" to say that cheating on your significant other is wrong, that I take issue with.

The little "safe space" bubble has got to be popped. News flash: nobody cares about your feelings in the real world. There was some girl who threw a fit because she overheard me say the word bitch, and flew into a tirade saying "That word is a sexist slur that is in no way different from calling a black person the n-word!" Had my filter not kicked in, George Carlin pretty accurately describes what my reaction might have been:

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I think in some respects it has.

Like British Airways when they banned the term "Black coffee" and "White coffee" incase someone were offended. That was a stretch too far.

 

I believe in the freedom of speech, which is something political correctness is antithetical to. With the freedom of speech also comes the freedom to tell others that they hold an opinion that is stupid, hurtful, and backwards. You only need to look at college speech codes as but one example whereby perfectly reasonable debate gets shutdown and silenced.

I'm all for manners, and the acceptance of people, and so forth, but political correctness takes things to another level to the point of policing speech, and that's where I have serious problem. I want all ideas and points of view to be examined and studied - from the worst things the Nazis have said, to the most inclusive opinions. This makes for a well-rounded education and society, and strengthens one's own arguments against those who hold contrary opinions. You win through argument and debate, not through silencing others. Holding an opinion and speaking about it should never be illegal - that's essentially a version of thought crime. Acting upon your opinion is another story (and an entirely different argument).

 

i think people take fringe cases to argue for less civility in our society. Yes, i think we all agree that some of the extreme cases, like people thinking theyre cats and not wanting to be called crazy, and sueing because of it is political correctness gone too far. The problem is, that's an extreme case and isn't really all that common is society.

When you have people saying "Mexicans are rapists and bad people but some, i ASSUME are ok." That is not in the least bit acceptable and should be shunned by society. If youre running around saying, "goddamn ni***rs are all welfare queens who game the system." or "muslims are inherently evil". etc. that's not ok! how about just treating others how you want to be treated and keeping your mouth shut when you having nothing nice to say that adds nothing to any conversation or dialogue other than to show your dismay for a person based on where their ancestors were born in relation to the Sun to change their skin pigment to a different shade.

I don't think we have political correctness going amuck like its being reported by rightwing extremists. how about addressing the political correctness around treating white collar criminals with respect when they had no respect for the economy when they crashed it... you don't hear about that with political correctness because its just a dog whistle to white cis gendered males that the others are taking our country from us.

 

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Yes political correctness has gone too far. WAY too far. You literally can't say anything more (generally speaking, of course you could talk!) because someones going to find it "offensive". A lot the times people like that are just perceiving what someone said to be against, and the person gets in trouble for that! It's really really scary too, because this is akin to people who have schizophrenia and other mental illnesses think. Some people just need thicker skin. Recently a police force in scotland said that they fine people and have them arrested for POSTING mean comments on social media websites! The government shouldn't have any right to tell people what they can say or not say, right? And just recently in regina, saskatchewan, here in Canada, they passed an anti- bullying law that basically said you could be FINED FOR GOSSIPING! I think that's the stupidest law i've ever seen passed in my entire life.

Tell me this hasn't gotten out of hand...

 

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Keep in mind liberals and conservatives both practice a form of political correctness. I just do what the heck I want to be honest I stop giving a dam about offending people.

 

Yes. It has gone to the point where you can't voice your opinion about something without some sensitive whiny person getting all butthurt about it and trying to silence other's opinions that don't agree with theirs.

 

Yes it has. It has gone so far that we can't debate ideas anymore. When someone says something you don't like, have an argument! We're at the point where if someone says something we don't like, we shut them up. Just have an argument, and grow what's left of your critical thinking.

---------- Post added 7th Apr 2016 at 02:47 PM ----------

No, allowing it to go too far just keeps bigotry bottled up and become more extreme. That's why Donald Trump is winning, because repressed bigots want an outlet, they just overcompensate.

What can really end bigotry is educating these people, have debates, and discuss ideas.

Of course, we should treat others with respect, but in reality, there will be people that will say things you don't like to hear. The world is not a "safe space."

 

I think we should first define what is meant by political correctness. How I understand the term is that it is an idea that states that some ideas or some ways of expressing an idea are inherently bad and because of this they should be banned. The ban is enforced through laws or social exclusion where a person who does not obey the "correct" way of speaking is punished either through courts or through exclusion from their employment, education or social circles.

I vehemently oppose and reject this kind of political correctness. I believe in freedom of speech and that all men should have the same restriction and the same freedoms. If it is not OK to discriminate or shun someone because of their sexual orientation or political opinions then it should be equally wrong to discriminate someone for having "wrong" opinions.

I do agree that some speech is hurtful and offensive but that is life. Everyone is ultimately responsible for their own emotions and feelings. This cannot be outsourced to anyone else. If you are offended of some speech then it's YOUR problem the same way it's your problem if you feel bad because your neighbor didn't say hello to you in the morning. I don't think anyone wants to see the etiquette or fashion police patrolling on our streets.

 

Thank you, smurf...you saved me the trouble.

To others...it isn't political correctness that goes too far; it's people trying to do and say shallow things to excuse themselves from true acceptance that goes too far.

 

Thank you. I was thinking along the same lines. When the term "political correctness" is invoked, everyone seem to have different notions of what PC constitutes. As for the thread's question, it's too broad to give a definite answer. But there indeed has been instances of "PC gone mad" which shouldn't be ignored (Tim Hunt's sexist but harmless joke come to mind). For me, political correctness means accept everything I say without question it, because feelz. That something I can't stand for. I like my skepticism.
Also offensive jokes are funny.

 

Hahah yes!! I loved that episode, the creators of South Park just address these things well and in a fun way.

 

It can be rather annoying when one is assumed to be privileged due to the colour of the skin, even if they grew up in abject poverty. In that scenario, any perceived privilege is unlikely to phase the person in question - they have bigger things to concern themselves with, like where their next meal is coming from.

I certainly take no heed of people who throw accusations of 'white privilege' in my direction. 'Privileged' is definitely not the word I would use to describe my upbringing.

In other aspects - it depends. Cries of 'political correctness gone mad' are usually coming from old white Republican types, but equally, political correctness can stifle legitimate debate surrounding uncomfortable topics. For example, with the refugee crisis - although I fully support taking in refugees, I don't support the 'free for all' approach, nor do I think taking in nearly 1 million unrecorded refugees in one year is a particularly smart idea. I think people need to be allowed to talk about their concerns - they're not always rooted in racism. Simply shutting down the discussion and accusing people of all sorts is the type of thing that pushes people to the nutty fringe parties like the BNP.

It's a fine balance to strike. If you ever want an example of where political correctness can indeed go well beyond the point of sanity, just visit Tumblr. OTOH, if you want to see a world where political correctness doesn't exist at all, just take a look at Ted Cruz's ideas for the US should he become president.

 

It depends on what one means by political correctness. For some, it's not being able to say whatever they want, while for others, it's making the world a more safe and equal place.

I brought up how a "friend" recently blocked me on FB, but we had disagreements prior to that. It felt like walking on eggshells, honestly. This is the type of person to constantly put up "trigger warnings", too.

When it gets to the point where honest debate isn't allowed, it's gone too far. When only one view, or expression, or goal is acceptable, that's where I draw the line.

 

Agreed

Treat everyone with respect.
But no need to get offended at every little thing either.

 

This quote perfectly sums up my opinion. Political correctness has indeed gone too far: by all means be nice to people, but do we really need to go so far when it comes to censoring free speech? Political correctness, to me, is a barrier to honest, helpful discussion and nothing should be off-limits just because some people might get upset about it.