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Is There Too Much Political Correctness Now?

Is there too much political correctness now?


  • Total voters
    74
Yes, for now.

Ah yes. For now.

But people are being forced from their jobs or forced to sell their business for expressing their beliefs isnt right.

Yeah, when I was 16 and had my first job I had a big, stupid mouth too. You learn pretty quickly, though.
 
For me to go organize a whole group or mob to demand that a person be fired, or threaten his advertisers or customers or suppliers, for no other reason than I don't like an opinion the person expressed that had absolutely nothing to do with me personally is something quite different.

Sure it's quite different, but I'm also quite sure that organizing is actually specifically covered by the Bill of Rights. If one insulted customer is able to garner enough support from the community, and actually enact some change based upon his/ her belief. . . I'd just call that the free market.
 
A politically correct society deserves extinction.

The world has never known a society that wasn't politically correct.

oddly enough, the world hasn't known a society to escape extinction either.
 
Whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"?

That's a myth peddled by parents to numb their children from vocalized ignorance.
 
That's a myth peddled by parents to numb their children from vocalized ignorance.

Oh please, political correctness has gone awry.
 
PC, yes, mind control, ever so quietly and discreetly at first.
Whatever happened to GH, gentle honesty?
 
Oh please, political correctness has gone awry.

Name an institution with positive intentions that hasn't.

One obvious example of an institution that everyone loves to hate is HOA's. They're control-obsessed as hell and make idiotic rules like which color mailbox you can have, but people who've just dropped a cool mill on their new home are probably happy there's a rule in place that prevents their neighbor from deciding to put his old car on cinder blocks in the front lawn.

Point is, you search high and far enough you're going to get your anecdotes of people abusing a good thing.
 
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A politically correct society deserves extinction.

A society with a system of mores and etiquette deserves extinction? Seems a little harsh.
 
Name an institution with positive intentions that hasn't.

One obvious example of an institution that everyone loves to hate is HOA's. They're control-obsessed as hell and make idiotic rules like which color mailbox you can have, but people who've just dropped a cool mill on their new home are probably happy there's a rule in place that prevents their neighbor from deciding to put his old car on cinder blocks in the front lawn.

Point is, you search high and far enough you're going to get your anecdotes of people abusing a good thing.

It's out of control. People are offended by every little thing is what I mean and will take advantage of the "feel sorry for me" groups. If people didn't make such a big deal out of such things, then they wouldn't be such problems. :mrgreen:
 
Vote and be heard.

Or at least seen.

Political correctness is simply one from of dogmatism, which differs in nature very little from any other. It is the consequence of group identity manifested through ideology.

I tend to reject political correctness much as I would dogmatic libertarianism, religious fundamentalism, or any other ideology in which I am expected to join in some overt or subtle way and then conform to the dictates thereof.
 
It's out of control. People are offended by every little thing is what I mean and will take advantage of the "feel sorry for me" groups. If people didn't make such a big deal out of such things, then they wouldn't be such problems. :mrgreen:

Society has always had downsides to rules of etiquette run amok, such as the fabled constrictive rules of 19th Century Victorian England that make for so many awful forbidden love stories. Society evolves new mores, life goes on. In twenty years we'll have new polite norms and we'll be bitching about those. But while we've created a fancy new term for it ("political correctness") let's not pretend that it's anything new, or that rules for polite society will never exist.

Besides, there will always be places where you can speak your mind with impunity. Like DP, for example.
 
Society has always had downsides to rules of etiquette run amok, such as the fabled constrictive rules of 19th Century Victorian England that make for so many awful forbidden love stories. Society evolves new mores, life goes on. In twenty years we'll have new polite norms and we'll be bitching about those. But while we've created a fancy new term for it ("political correctness") let's not pretend that it's anything new, or that rules for polite society will never exist.

Besides, there will always be places where you can speak your mind with impunity. Like DP, for example.

Of course, I haven't been alive that long to know about any 19th Century Victorian England, but I can say that it seems like since I was a kid, things have changed drastically in regards to political correctness. It's ridiculous.

I know these aren't typical, but they are some good examples of just how stupid this things can become. :lol:

10 Ridiculous Cases of Political Correctness - Listverse
 
Of course, I haven't been alive that long to know about any 19th Century Victorian England, but I can say that it seems like since I was a kid, things have changed drastically in regards to political correctness. It's ridiculous.

I know these aren't typical, but they are some good examples of just how stupid this things can become. :lol:

10 Ridiculous Cases of Political Correctness - Listverse

May I assume that link goes to a list of examples of the rules of polite society run amok?
 
May I assume that link goes to a list of examples of the rules of polite society run amok?

Read it. It's funny. :mrgreen:
 
Sure it's quite different, but I'm also quite sure that organizing is actually specifically covered by the Bill of Rights. If one insulted customer is able to garner enough support from the community, and actually enact some change based upon his/ her belief. . . I'd just call that the free market.

My point, however, is not what is 'legal' to do. My point is what is honorable and ethical to do, what SHOULD be illegal to do for a people who values individual liberty over all other unalienable rights. We aren't talking about somebody who is violating anybody else's rights or is doing something detrimental or harmful for the community. We are talking about a person being able to think thoughts, hold opinions, believe what he believes without being physically and/or materially attacked for no other offense than that.
 
My point, however, is not what is 'legal' to do. My point is what is honorable and ethical to do, what SHOULD be illegal to do for a people who values individual liberty over all other unalienable rights. We aren't talking about somebody who is violating anybody else's rights or is doing something detrimental or harmful for the community. We are talking about a person being able to think thoughts, hold opinions, believe what he believes without being physically and/or materially attacked for no other offense than that.

That's kind of a good point. I'm not sure how I feel about someone's life and/or livelihood being destroyed over political correctness. But at the same time, that same sentiment holds true for both sides. Just as the business owner shouldn't be persecuted for his opinions, consumers are allowed to have their own opinions and choose to do business elsewhere, so the hurt is going to be inevitable because of our freedoms, so I guess PC is kind of a way of society regulating itself. I do agree that there are many instances where things are just grossly exaggerated and stupid though. :)
 
That's kind of a good point. I'm not sure how I feel about someone's life and/or livelihood being destroyed over political correctness. But at the same time, that same sentiment holds true for both sides. Just as the business owner shouldn't be persecuted for his opinions, consumers are allowed to have their own opinions and choose to do business elsewhere, so the hurt is going to be inevitable because of our freedoms, so I guess PC is kind of a way of society regulating itself. I do agree that there are many instances where things are just grossly exaggerated and stupid though. :)

PC is NOT a way of society regulating itself. PC is a bunch of bullies, a minority at that, presuming to be the virtue police and FORCE others to be who and what that minority demands that they be or else that minority will punish them physically and/or materially. It is anti-liberty, anti-American, and it is wrong and it is evil.

Unless there is a clear agreement within the social contract--conditions of a business license for instance--no business person should be forced to do business with or provide services for somebody or something that they believe to be morally or ethically wrong. And nobody should be forced to do business with that business owner for any reason. But the only ethical policy is a live and let live policy for both. So long as we are not violating the rights of anybody else, each person should be able to be who and what he/she is and make his/her own choices without fear that some angry group or mob will descend on them to punish them for having a wrong attitude or using a wrong word or uttering an unacceptable phrase.

Unless we are all free to be who and what we are, short of violating anybody else's rights, there is no liberty at all and none of us have any rights at all.
 
It's out of control. People are offended by every little thing is what I mean and will take advantage of the "feel sorry for me" groups. If people didn't make such a big deal out of such things, then they wouldn't be such problems. :mrgreen:

False.

There's plenty that people aren't offended by, things which used to cause a huge uproar.

  • Bi-Racial marriage, for example, is something that doesn't offend nearly as many people as it used to.
  • Being an atheist, or at the least having no acknowledgment of religion, is another example.


Back in the good old days, both of these simple things caused great ire in the community. Was that then political correctness gone awry?

It's not that political correctness as gone awry in recent years, it's that the definitions of what's acceptable has changed.
 
My point, however, is not what is 'legal' to do. My point is what is honorable and ethical to do, what SHOULD be illegal to do for a people who values individual liberty over all other unalienable rights. We aren't talking about somebody who is violating anybody else's rights or is doing something detrimental or harmful for the community. We are talking about a person being able to think thoughts, hold opinions, believe what he believes without being physically and/or materially attacked for no other offense than that.

I suppose, and I can see your point.

However, what you need to consider is the weight that some of those opinions carry. Sure, to some hotshot millionaire with a poor world view, his bigoted opinions are relatively harmless. Maybe he's not going to make a rule banning (insert demographic here) from his establishment. However, if one of the millions of people that look up to him gets wind of his opinion, they might be liable to act on it in a smaller, yet equally harmful way.

Coming from a very privileged position, it's not always easy to see the harm in having powerful people simply express their opinions.
 
Unless there is a clear agreement within the social contract--conditions of a business license for instance--no business person should be forced to do business with or provide services for somebody or something that they believe to be morally or ethically wrong. And nobody should be forced to do business with that business owner for any reason.

This is all very true, which is why I don't see where you have a problem with customers organizing and boycotting a business. Sure, in many cases this might destroy a business or a persons career, but doesn't that fit with the claim you've made above.

Those customers have the right to boycott that business as much as the business has the right to boycott the customers, unfortunately as is often the case, the business dies first. Especially in a business providing non-essential items (i.e. wedding cakes).

Unless we are all free to be who and what we are, short of violating anybody else's rights, there is no liberty at all and none of us have any rights at all.

Thing is, everyone does have the right to be who and what they are, but there can be consequences within the realm of free speech/ expression.

It almost invariably comes down to the principles of darwin and/ or the free market.
 
This is all very true, which is why I don't see where you have a problem with customers organizing and boycotting a business. Sure, in many cases this might destroy a business or a persons career, but doesn't that fit with the claim you've made above.

Those customers have the right to boycott that business as much as the business has the right to boycott the customers, unfortunately as is often the case, the business dies first. Especially in a business providing non-essential items (i.e. wedding cakes).



Thing is, everyone does have the right to be who and what they are, but there can be consequences within the realm of free speech/ expression.

It almost invariably comes down to the principles of darwin and/ or the free market.

Why? If I say I support traditional marriage or I am pro life or I am pro choice or I am Atheist or I am an alien from Mars, but I am violating nobody else's rights and I am not forcing my opinions or belief upon anybody; what gives you a RIGHT to organize a boycott and damage my business because you don't like my point of view? How is that not a restraint of my legal trade? A violation of my person and right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? How is that not a violation of my unalienable rights to be who and what I am? How do you justify it on any kind of sense of justice, fair play, or morality?

And if you are convinced that such boycotts are the American way then is it okay to organize a boycott against the minority owned business? The women owned business? The gay guy who opens up a shop? The person who speaks out in favor of political correctness? Where do you draw the line? Or do you?

(For the record I think trying to intentionally hurt somebody's livelihood or drive a person out for such reasons is entirely immoral, should be culturally taboo, and should be illegal.)
 
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Why? If I say I support traditional marriage or I am pro life or I am pro choice or I am Atheist or I am an alien from Mars, but I am violating nobody else's rights and I am not forcing my opinions or belief upon anybody; what gives you a RIGHT to organize a boycott and damage my business because you don't like my point of view?

Boycotting and/ or organizing is a form of expression and opinion. So, I'd say the same ideal that gives you the right to express your support of traditional marriage or atheism is what gives me the right to organize and boycott.

I don't actually see how someone who is upset about not being able to express their opinions without fear of reprisal can disagree with a group of people doing the exact same thing.


How is that not a restraint of my legal trade? A violation of my person and right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? How is that not a violation of my unalienable rights to be who and what I am?

Only the government can violate your right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Anything short of the government coming down and taking what is yours and/ or telling you what to do is a civil matter. Unfortunately, most companies have little to no luck fighting boycotts in court.

It really comes down to which side can last longer, or at all, under the circumstances.

And if you are convinced that such boycotts are the American way then is it okay to organize a boycott against the minority owned business? The women owned business? The gay guy who opens up a shop? The person who speaks out in favor of political correctness? Where do you draw the line? Or do you?

Sure it's okay to organize a boycott against any business, if someone doesn't like a business, how its run or what someone said in relation to said business, they can boycott.

And for the record, boycotts against minority and/ or women owned business was the way of life for decades and decades. Hell, people used to boycott businesses for even doing business with minorities in the past.

Still might in some pockets of the country.


(For the record I think trying to intentionally hurt somebody's livelihood or drive a person out for such reasons is entirely immoral, should be culturally taboo, and should be illegal.)

To an extent I agree with you, however I'm also a big proponent of the free market, and boycotts are just a function of said market.
 
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