Posted on 06/16/2006 4:48:58 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
Most Americans have been politically corrected and don't even know it, because it is beginning to feel so natural.
If you find yourself compromising your principles in order to get along with those with whom you don't agree, you, my friend have been infected with political correctness.
Political correctness is a politically correct word for cultural Marxism. Just how do you know if you have been affected? The simple test is that if you have been afraid of using the wrong word because someone might find it offensive or insensitive you have been infected.
If you want to say something that has roots in common sense and you find yourself playing a mind game like watching the slow volley of a badminton game and thinking should you say what you are thinking or not, you have been infected. If you hold your tongue for fear of being labeled a racist or a sexist, or homophobic you have been infected.
If you have pondered the fact that common sense is no longer common you know that the disease is out there, waiting to snatch another victim there may still be hope for you. Unlike most diseases, however, it is the elderly that are more able to withstand the effects of the disease. They have the antidote, but they must speak up and let the younger crowd know what freedom of speech and thought really means. Unfortunately, as America loses its aging population, the voice of common sense and freedom will vanish and immunity to political correctness will disappear also.
If your circle of friends has become smaller because you are offended at what some of them say, or afraid that one of them might say something offensive, you have probably been infected.
If you wonder why airport security does not 'profile' possible terrorist, but instead treats every American like a terrorists you are witnessing the effects of political correctness on a grand scale. If you choose to stand in line and be subjected to searches, you are infected. In fact, your willingness to stand inline only validates the disease.
If you wonder why government cannot enact simple common sense legislation like shutting down our borders and enforcing our immigration laws you are witnessing the disease on a national scale.
If you subscribe to the philosophy of hate crimes, you have been infected. You believe that your thoughts are no longer yours, but rather belong in the realm of group think.
If you believe corporations and capitalism are the scourges of society, congratulations because you truly believe in the end results of political correctness. You are now a supreme carrier of the disease designed to take down productive nations and deliver them to Third World status.
If you are wondering why the number of outspoken people has diminished over the past few decades it is because we have allowed the epidemic of political correctness to permeate our society. Also, take notice of how many rally around anyone that appears to have some degree of common sense and is not afraid to speak up and take action. Society is looking for leaders that with the courage to stand up and be counted.
We have allowed our children be exposed to the deadly disease in our schools without proper vaccination. Yes, it is a deadly disease. One good example is the new African country now called Zimbabwe. Not too long ago it was a thriving country called Rhodesia, until political correctness took over and not long after the killings began. But, I speak of history and political correctness cannot have any of that. It has been said that 'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' Political Correctness must abolish history in order to survive because it has been used to overthrow governments in the past.
Political correctness used to be cute and in some cases we treat it like a little puppy even today. How many times do we chuckle at a new way to describe people like vertically challenged? And let's not overlook the crippled, I mean handicapped, no wait physically challenged. Gosh, how do we know what word will offend someone. We need an official guide!
The best way to know if you are infected or exposed to Political Correctness is to filter what you here or read and ask yourself if it makes common sense. Believe me; you know what common sense is! If you struggle to justify how reset your common sense BS meter it may not be too late for you to overcome the disease. The only know cure for political correctness is fortitude and the ability to speak out. When you speak out you help other people realize that they are not alone. In fact, there may be hundreds of people in your neighborhood waiting for someone to speak up.
If you find yourself wanting to scream 'Start Making Sense' at the top of your lungs, there may be hope for you. However, if you do scream you may find yourself on an all expenses paid trip to the reeducation camp along with your very own set of prescriptions for some mind altering chemicals designed to provide you with the 'Everything is Fine' attitude.
The reorganizers of American culture are banking on this outcome.
Careful, citizen, or the Ministry of Truth may redact this post.
Political Correctness is Marxism writ small.
PC is a form of censorship designed to quell free speech and, thus, quell the spread of ideas.
It is all around us.
A related tactic is the the politics of personal destruction, wherein the person, rather than the ideas expressed by that person, are verbally attacked. Regrettably, some FR posters use such a tactic when they are empty of facts to support their contentions.
PC and its related 'instruments' can take many forms, all designed to direct the social discourse.
Gosh, how do we know what word will offend someone. We need an official guide!
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Common sense should remind us that when words offend, it is not the word that hurts, but what the word describes.
For example - no one likes being crippled/handicapped/unable to act perfectly.
It isn't the word, it is the fact that is hurtful. When the PC word is changed, the fact of having bad feet, or eyes, or results of polio, etc does not go away. So the new word eventually becomes 'hurtful.'
When people own a word, it is not hurtful. Consider the dual message of the N word, depending on the skin color of the person using it.
Conservatives are not hurt when accused of being conservative.
Liberals seem to want to move on from that word, instead of own it.
We need to rise above allowing ourselves to be hurt by words, or bullied by the PC politburo for using "unacceptable" words.
Being a hard-headed engineer of a conservative persuasion who refuses to back down when he thinks he's right, I refused to change it and consequently lost points on the paper (from an A to a B). I subsequently went over the instructor's head to the Dean to protest the score.
The Dean reviewed my paper, my previous papers, and previous scores, and decided to restore my A. He also did an "off the record sit-down" with me about political correctness and how it would be in my own career self-interest to learn to deal with it. I politely responded that I understood his point, but I refused to back off providing correct answers to satisfy others' feelings and politics.
Again, I'm an engineer. But I'm an intellectually-honest engineer.
:-)
Bullshit. WTF's "cultural Marxism?" It's a meaningless noise that's supposed to trigger a two minute hate from us right-wingers. The idea that "there are things one doesn't say" has been around a looong time, and 'political correctness' is just its latest manifestation.
Does he mean its old people? The old people who brought us the welfare state, among other manifestations of "common sense and freedom"? Nobody my age ever voted for Roosevelt, Johnson, or Carter.
================================================
Not to be confused with politeness.
I guess I'm ok for now, it's getting to the point when I try on a new pair of shoes I have to make sure they fit "in" my mouth as well as "on" my feet.
The danger is when the government takes it upon itself to no longer represent the people but to tell them what to do, what to eat, what to wear, what to drive, how to flush, floss, wash, and what to say. That is backwards. Representative governm,ent takes its orders from the people.
Interesting article, but for one point.
The older generations are the ones that gave us this mess. Not all of them, but a good portion.
You are going to love the HR guys.
No, the idea is that the left expropriated this principle to silence speech, and then thoughts, which are in opposition to the left's goals. It is an extension of the principle for purely political ends.
Ann Coulter's recent brouhaha is an example; as is (in another context) the killings and torchings of buildings over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.
Nice try, though.
Both my mother and mother-in-law are in their 80's and raised as blue collar democrats. It's a total waste of time to discuss politics with them - they've always voted Democratic because he Dems are for the 'little guy'. They think they are still voting for Harry Truman.
Cheers!
I think that "older" generation here refers to those of us born before the boom, ie before the end of WWII.
True, but remember FDR.
Poor guy! I feel sorry for you!
Nobody my age ever voted for Roosevelt, Johnson, or Carter.
I voted for Carter. A more massive wake-up has never been. What a fool I was.
?
'Manners' have nothing to do with PC wordspeak. Rethink your argument.
FDR was very close to a socialist/communist. Far closer than anyone else elected till that time. He started the whole slide to socialism in the US, and was elected by the older generation.
My point is that there are a lot of folks from the previous generations who were and are as socialist as many are today.
One of the funniest posts I've ever read on FR !
will read later
My surviving relatives of the Roosevelt generation finally gave up on the Dems - at least for national elections - when Bill Clinton was President. He was just too gross!
I'd have voted for Carter, but I was 10. He won the elementary school straw vote :-().
Okay.
Oh, they already love me! (smile) So far, though, they haven't been able to nail me since I insist on treating everybody equally and fairly. I had one incident, though, where somebody complained about the performance appraisal I gave her. The HR folks backed off, however, when I showed them examples of her work and the time I've had to spend cleaning up her mistakes.
Yes, you have to wonder into what PC category our libs would put the Spanish-speaking Japanese president of Peru! (Or was it Bolivia?)
I think 'older generation' refers to those of us who were not schooled in the current PC-revisionist history schools of today -- who still have common sense.
Using Mugabe as an example of political correctness is disconnected enough to undercut the entire article.
Cue the violins. I should be so lucky.
When I was growing up, 'nigger' was just a word. You didn't say it to someone or about someone, that would be rude and offensive, but it was just a word.
It could be used in a sentence, without converting it to its initial.
Its still offensive to say about someone or to someone, but now, one can't even say the dreaded word in converstation.
I have been chastized here on FR, for calling citizens of Mexico Mexicans. I have been accused of racism for using the word. Very strange.
You could be forgiven for voting for Carter in 1976, after all Ford, at the time, looked even worse.
If you voted for Carter in 1980, then that we won't forgive. ;)
Gender refers to "he" and "she". Sex is the actual designation.
Top ten responses to "You have a good one"
10. You're welcome to use it whenever you'd like
9. Wanna touch it?
8. It comes in assorted sizes
7. You should see it in the dark
6. Yours ain't bad either
5. Thanks for noticing.
4. It's a gift really....
3. I've won awards for it.
2. It's available for rent
and the number one reply to "You have a good one"
1. ...and it tastes like Chicken!
I got yer PC right here on my laptop!
Put simply... PC wordspeak provides a special vocabulary to describe 'victims'.
Self ping for later read.
Richard Wright began to feel a sense of pride in his ancestry, when he learned that the ancient Egyptians were African-American.
My Dad is in his eighties, he turned on the Democrats when they turned Progressive. He still likes Roosevelt, though.
Just today, the WP had a spread about Gov. Erlich (R) of MD having fired his representative to the Metro Transit Board over a statement he made.
It seems on a local TV political discussion roundtable he stated that homosexual behavior was sexual deviancy. One of DC representatives to the board who is openly gay resented the remark even though it was not even made in a board meeting or to the DC rep. He took umbrage. Gov. Erlich (R) fired his rep.
It is no longer a choice, you MUST conform.
OB
It creates entire classes of 'victims' and makes them verbally sacrosanct to stifle attempts to communicate or even discuss reality.
Please do not confuse it with being well-mannered or diplomatic which are verbal tools to permit discussion without being offensive.
If there is one thing that Conservative people are going to have to become aware of, it is that PC has been used to remove any debate from substantiative topics to focus on the delivery of the message when the substance is such that it is inconvenient to those framing the debate.
Ann Coulter has done a fine job of pointing this out just recently.
Political correctness is ultimately a tyranny of ideas which has nothing to do with being polite.
Ethnic slurs are a “horse-of-a-different-color”. ;)
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