Political correctness

[BlueIris]

Did you hear about the woman who was shot in the stomach recently and is being prosecuted for the death of her own unborn child? You couldn't make it up.

The "political correctness gone mad" trope is just a more socially acceptable symptom of a general insularity and lack of empathy.

[ankietyjoe]

Did you hear about the woman who was shot in the stomach recently and is being prosecuted for the death of her own unborn child? You couldn't make it up.

The "political correctness gone mad" trope is just a more socially acceptable symptom of a general insularity and lack of empathy.

I try not to look.....but I did hear about it.

And this is not to denegrate American people. I come into contact with people all over the world through my job as a lot of it is online. I have at least 20-30 American friends on Facebook that I'm in contact with regularly, and without exception they are all clued up, accepting individuals. There are redneck beer fanatics, plumbers, biochemists, students etc etc. A large cross section from all over the country. Not one of them supports the HUGE negative aspects of how America is portraying itself right now, so I really have no idea what is propping up the farcical circus that is Trumpmania.

[BlueIris]

Agreed, yes, some of the nicest, most accepting people I know live in the States, and they're being betrayed.

[FrankT]

There's no such thing as political correctness.

[Fishmanpa]

I think what a lot of people are missing here is that the disgusting Trump/Brexit fanatics have become used to calling any kind of empathy 'snowflake'.

There is a growing tendency for people to feel self righteous about their casual racism and disdain for anything that isn't white, because to oppose that view is somehow negating their freedom of speech.

People are being trained to hate, and embracing it. They feel that it somehow empowers them. The irony is stunning.

Its happening big time here in the States. If you're a liberal, you're coined a snowflake and if you're a conservative, you're a racist. Things were mildly PC until Trump came into office but having a president that is the total opposite of PC has normalized it and encouraged the discord seen daily.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Did you hear about the woman who was shot in the stomach recently and is being prosecuted for the death of her own unborn child? You couldn't make it up.

I have along with all the abortion law stuff. Certain US states are obviously using the current political atmosphere to try to bring about change to fit their beliefs. These states are the more religious ones. None of these laws mean much of anything with the exception they add up to having the ability to challenge the long established federal one about abortion. The way the US rigs it's court system by putting in their own judges means there is now a swing away from the brick wall they thought was there before and now they believe they have a chance to overturn the federal abortion law allowing them to attempt to being in their "pro heartbeat" laws.

I can only hope it all fails. It tells you a lot about those states. But even within them not everyone agrees and even though someone may vote for someone doesn't mean they support everything they do. Many times in our voting it's about picking these least of two evils, both bringing policies we think are nonsense.

Have you seen how women are treated in El Salvador? If you have a miscarriage you are on the end of highly religious Christian law making that may throw you in jail for decades if you can't prove you didn't do anything to endanger the baby. The funny thing is, in all cases it's women who take the full force of the law. Even in cases of rape the woman can end up in jail far longer for losing the baby, or aborting, than the guy who raped her! Even children, young girls, are sent to jail.

It's not just Christianity that does this though. Look at women's suffering under other religions.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I often read the actors say they couldn’t make a Little Britain or American pie movie in today’s climate. I read a film magazine which said just that in today’s political correctness we can’t have these movies. Makes me feel sad.

I'm not sure David Walliams blacking up would be taken as well these days The funny thing is, in this current climate of finding something in someone's past to bring up to discredit or attack them some people seem immune.

As mentioned before, it's social media. What used to be a discussion in a pub or a person standing on a soapbox ranting until the police got there has now turned into a web of connected big mouths shouting their views across the net with the media looking for lazy ways to create a quick article because a few people on Twitter say something.

Just another good reason to avoid social media. It's a magnet for people who want to fight or rubberneck the drama. Is it new? Nope. It's often the same mentality of those who would turn up to watch a public execution. So many exist to jump on anything even if it's innocent and labelling people is the norm.

It's a downside of technology. However you have to be careful trying to reign it in too or you end up like China & Russia.

If you took social media to be representative of real life it would be a massive mistake. So few are willing to walk around being so abrasive for the very real reason real life brings consequences. For some reason people took the internet for being a place so free they could do & say what they wanted and stopped acting as they would in real life.

It's not even a left vs right thing either. Just look at those on the left tearing into each other. The same surely on the right between those more fair minded and those further down the far right spectrum. And there is the key word - spectrum.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I love this - and its also how I choose to interpret political correctness. On the whole.
But I do think sometimes there is more to it than that. I think sometimes the hard-core politically correct turn indignation into a sport and that’s just...... annoying (although presumably the righteous indignant gain some pleasure from it).

An example. My husband’s cousin is a college student at a very left-wing right-on university in America. Her room mate identifies as gender neutral. The thing is, “they” (they’s chosen pronoun) is both genetically female and dresses female (makeup, dresses bla bla bla). So people are constantly calling they “she”, which causes great and enthusiastic offence and indignation. Official complaints get made etc.
I can’t help but feel that, while it’s perhaps fun be so cross and righteous, it damages the overall culture of tolerance (which is SO important). It pushes people the other way.

Perhaps something we forget, and perhaps in the heat of the moment or after ages of facing certain attitudes making it easier to generalise about someone making a potentially innocent mistake, is that life is very complicated and none of us get a manual about what to say. It's a flawed attitude that thinks we should just be xyz about everything and the proof against that is taking yourself out of your own culture and seeing how easily you can offend someone in a very different one.

So we all have to accept we have our ignorance and hypocrisies. I think this is where many of the more vocal go wrong. They expect rather than try to remember not everyone is equal. We learn from our surroundings and if you don't have much diversity you can be forgiven for being ignorant of issues outside of them. That doesn't mean you can act like an unpleasant ar5e though.

Pronouns are a good example of this. You can be forgiven not knowing until someone tells you. You can be forgiven an innocent mistake. Even outside of LGBT+ we make the occasional mistake calling someone he or she. But when you know it's also used as a way to denigrate it makes for you feeling guilty once you realise and others to question your true attitude.

If you don't keep up you can be forgiven not knowing the latest social changes.

[ankietyjoe]

Its happening big time here in the States. If you're a liberal, you're coined a snowflake and if you're a conservative, you're a racist. Things were mildly PC until Trump came into office but having a president that is the total opposite of PC has normalized it and encouraged the discord seen daily.

Positive thoughts

I don't think it's polar around the middle axis though. These days you're portrayed as being a liberal for not wanting to snatch children from their parents or denying climate change or not wanting some drunken white trash loser to own an assualt rifle.

Being right wing (quite a lot) is now apparently being 'normal'.

[jojo2316]

I don't think it's polar around the middle axis though. These days you're portrayed as being a liberal for not wanting to snatch children from their parents or denying climate change or not wanting some drunken white trash loser to own an assualt rifle.

Being right wing (quite a lot) is now apparently being 'normal'.

I think I am probably a “snowflake”, but I am also in my 40s now, and find it hard to keep up with all the rapid cultural developments. I think tolerance is important- crucial in fact. But I think tolerance needs to go both ways. I would never intentionally hurt someone’s feelings by referring to them with the wrong pronoun, but if I got it wrong because I am old and clumsy, I hope I would be treated with tolerance.
What I am saying is, from where I am sitting, it looks like fault is on both sides. And like oil and water, those sides are pushing each other further and further apart. It’s scary!