No, I don't think 'political correctness' has gone mad.
I think we're in a constant battle to improve and progress in society, and part of that is addressing inequality, intolerance and discrimination.
Unfortunately, because people are fallible, we don't always get it right. Sometimes people misjudge the potential of something to cause offence, and - ironically - end up causing offence.
The important thing is to remember that most of the time this oversensitivity stems from the desire to do good - to avoid hurting people. So even when it's poorly judged, the intention is positive.
As for your experience in England - I'm also in England, and have literally never experienced people no longer saying Merry Christmas because of 'political correctness'. We have a big fat Christmas tree in the town centre every year! So not sure which shitty town or city you're in, but you may wish to move.
Political correctness is necessary I don't disagree with that I just think it has gone too far. A professor in America used the word 'niggardly' in one of his speeches and was forced to resign. Niggardly is of saxon origin whereas niger, the route of n*****, is Greek and they have completely different meanings ooe being black and the other meaning small or puny.
I don't think it's 'gone too far', I just think people make mistakes on either side of the line.
Sometimes people will react irrationally to something they perceive as offensive which is actually perfectly innocent. It has ALWAYS been that way - this isn't some new thing. The difference is the amount of ways somebody can access potentially offensive information (and respond to said information) has massively increased - especially with the advent of the internet and social media.
What we have to do, as ordinary, rational people, is point out when some of the general public and the media have overreacted to something. If the majority are quick to step in, we can try and stifle the irrational hysteria and media hype.
It's more common in the US, "happy holidays" banners abound, people get offended if you say "Merry Christmas", people up in arms if you call someone " black" (even worse here in St Louis) , and any non friendly interaction with a black and a white person, regardless the circumstances, is automatically said that the white person committed a hate crime, yet black on black crime happens quite often, yet with the possible exception of a few in the immediate area, most people won't bat an eye. (And the crime does get bad, I've been on some jobs with my dad in North Stl, and we've ran into people stealing and selling drugs, police tape on a nearby house, and a couple incidents where people tried to break into our van while we were talking to the customer on the front porch! Lucky for us, the customer had a 12 gauge he used to scare off theives!)
Political correctness
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No, I don't think 'political correctness' has gone mad.
I think we're in a constant battle to improve and progress in society, and part of that is addressing inequality, intolerance and discrimination.
Unfortunately, because people are fallible, we don't always get it right. Sometimes people misjudge the potential of something to cause offence, and - ironically - end up causing offence.
The important thing is to remember that most of the time this oversensitivity stems from the desire to do good - to avoid hurting people. So even when it's poorly judged, the intention is positive.
As for your experience in England - I'm also in England, and have literally never experienced people no longer saying Merry Christmas because of 'political correctness'. We have a big fat Christmas tree in the town centre every year! So not sure which shitty town or city you're in, but you may wish to move.
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disthing
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Legion
8 years ago
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Here's Stewart Lee talking about 'political correctness gone mad'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmsV1TuESrc
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Anonymous Post Author
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Political correctness is necessary I don't disagree with that I just think it has gone too far. A professor in America used the word 'niggardly' in one of his speeches and was forced to resign. Niggardly is of saxon origin whereas niger, the route of n*****, is Greek and they have completely different meanings ooe being black and the other meaning small or puny.
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disthing
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I don't think it's 'gone too far', I just think people make mistakes on either side of the line.
Sometimes people will react irrationally to something they perceive as offensive which is actually perfectly innocent. It has ALWAYS been that way - this isn't some new thing. The difference is the amount of ways somebody can access potentially offensive information (and respond to said information) has massively increased - especially with the advent of the internet and social media.
What we have to do, as ordinary, rational people, is point out when some of the general public and the media have overreacted to something. If the majority are quick to step in, we can try and stifle the irrational hysteria and media hype.
It's more common in the US, "happy holidays" banners abound, people get offended if you say "Merry Christmas", people up in arms if you call someone " black" (even worse here in St Louis) , and any non friendly interaction with a black and a white person, regardless the circumstances, is automatically said that the white person committed a hate crime, yet black on black crime happens quite often, yet with the possible exception of a few in the immediate area, most people won't bat an eye. (And the crime does get bad, I've been on some jobs with my dad in North Stl, and we've ran into people stealing and selling drugs, police tape on a nearby house, and a couple incidents where people tried to break into our van while we were talking to the customer on the front porch! Lucky for us, the customer had a 12 gauge he used to scare off theives!)