Political correctness gone disassociative

[ben_who]

Back in the 1990s, I used to dismiss the anti-politically-correct with the belief that they just wanted to be able to say the N-word in public again without some kind of social sanction.

I don't think I've ever seen more evidence of that than in this Presidential election.

I keep getting into these debates with Trump supporters online where something they say turns out to be offensive, and I express that I was offended by what they said. And their immediate reaction is to get offended at the fact that I was offended.

"Hey, you can't say all Muslims are terrorists. That's racist."
"Stop calling me racist! That offends me!"

Then stop being bloody racist, is what springs immediately to mind.

But getting back to my first paragraph, it seems that the goal of Trump's supporters in eradicating political correctness is to declare a monopoly on being offended. We're not allowed to be offended by Trump's comments on Mexicans and Muslims or his reposts from white supremacist websites, but they're allowed to run for the fainting couch in a cloud of verklempt whenever someone criticizes their rhetoric.

They don't want to eliminate political correctness, they want to own it. And when you own political correctness, you control the language. There was a letter to the editor from someone who claimed to be just as offended by the word "racist" as others were by the dreaded N-word and demanding that the word be relegated to the same status.

No side gets to declare a monopoly on outrage, and neither side has the right to an audience, and even the most deplorable speech has the right to exist, but right-wingers have always been clumsy with left-wing rhetoric, and this bizarre shadow version of political correctness is no different. When Trump said he had the best words, I sometimes wonder whether the unspoken predicate was, "But I never get to use any of 'em!"

[s_stabeler]

actually, it's simpler than that. It's- fairly crudely, actually - Gaslighting- they're trying to shut down the criticism of the bigotry by trying to recast it as the bigot being the victim. ( it's similar to when bigots claim " freedom of religion" when it looks like the bigotry will be banned. ( for the sake of avoiding argument, I'm talking about cases like that clerk, who more or less insisted it breached her religious freedom for licenses for gay marriage to be issued at all. ( yes, technically she claimed her objection was to the licenses being issued in her name. However, 1. she tried to claim at one point licenses issued under a court order that were not in her name were invalid ( if you insist on marriage licenses not being issued in your name to gay people, and a compromise is worked out, you don't get to then claim the licenses not in your name aren't valid.) and 2. the remedy for your job changing in a way that is not illegal that you can no longer tolerate is to quit. NOT to insist on the changes being reversed. Had she resigned, instead, i would have acknowledged it as a legitimate protest, albeit one I disagreed with her position.

[TheHuckster]

There's a few parties who want to "own" political correctness, and I agree one of those parties are Trump supporters and the alt-right.

Every time someone brings up the issue of PC, I cringe because I know what's going to be talked about for the next hour or so before people get tired. We'll have the idiot Trump supporters talk about how their views are being silenced by those who criticize them. Then people will point to the other extreme where people complain a hash tag like #IfMenHadPeriods is trans-phobic because it should say #IfPeopleWhoDoNotPossessTheBiologicalAbilityToMens truateHadPeriods

The N-word is beyond political correctness, though. I don't even consider it in the same ballpark. To use it disparagingly as Trump supporters are doing is what I'd consider a grave violation of decency that I'd put on the same level as denying the Holocaust or the worst of rape jokes. When any decent person would take offense to something like that, that's beyond PC.

To me, political correctness is about a movement that attempts to shed light on sensitivity toward people in a public setting, and is a form of taboo in a sense. We don't use terms like "negro" or "colored" because of its association with images of racial oppression in history. We try to say things in a gender neutral way, when appropriate. I think those are examples of PC in a positive light. But then you get into cases where PC is used as a weapon, such as in cases where professors or others who say things that are controversial are harassed, censored and/or fired from their jobs.

What people are missing, and what you're talking about, is while there are many sensationalized instances of that form of PC shenanigans going on, there are many other instances where people from the right are pulling the same stunts, the only difference being, they're not doing so under the political correctness banner. You hear of things like wanting gay teachers fired, or trying to block a Muslim decoration next to their Christian one, or wanting to silence anyone who has something to say about atheism.

I'm against over sensitivity of many forms, but while everyone talks about the harpies who spend 10 minutes on their YouTube channel screaming about a joke that involves a housewife, people seem to gloss over people who spend 10 days protesting a Muslim display that conflicts with their personal beliefs.

[jackfaire]

Politically Correct doesn't mean that Retarded people stopped being called Retarded it means that we created the label Mentally Challenged which is harder to use as an insult on non-Mentally Challenged people.

So sure if they want us to get rid of the word racist it means non-racist people won't be called racist which we don't use anyway. So let's see what would be a better lengthier way that couldn't be used as an insult.

How about "douchebag idiot that thinks anyone with a different colored skin than them which is why Donald Trump only likes Oompa Loompas, is somehow lesser than them person"

Nah I'll stick to Racist.

[ben_who]

actually, it's simpler than that. It's- fairly crudely, actually - Gaslighting- they're trying to shut down the criticism of the bigotry by trying to recast it as the bigot being the victim.

Jeez, my mother used to do that. She could devastate your self-esteem and reduce you to a quivering heap over the course of half an hour, but if you tried to defend yourself, rightfully or not, she'd burst into tears and wail that you didn't care about HER feelings. (Because mine are chopped liver, apparently.)

[wolfie]

"Hey, you can't say all Muslims are terrorists. That's racist."

"Stop calling me racist! That offends me!"

"Hey, you can't beat up the little kids in the lower grades. That's being a bully"

"Stop calling me a bully! That offends me!"

[jackfaire]

Jeez, my mother used to do that.

Was your mom a big V.C. Andrews fan? I noticed that happens a lot in her books.