Political Correctness is a way of speaking that is designed to avoid offending people.
It elicits a lot of controversy however, as some believe it stifles free speech,
whereas others believe it's needed to protect certain groups that are often stereotyped
or prejudiced.
There is also another group of people who remain apathetic towards political correctness,
maintaining that it neither helps nor hinders the groups that it is intended to protect.
In this video I have organised the debate into 3 groups, those who are in favour of
political correctness,
those against,
and those who remain apathetic towards it, they think it does nothing.
Let’s get to it.
Those in favour of Political Correctness stress that our words are very powerful and we need
to be careful about how we use them.
we could risk harming others, maybe by promoting certain stereotypes that lock minorities out
of the debate,
or in the sense that our words can actively, trigger trauma for certain groups, for example
domestic abuse victims.
In this sense, Political Correctness, or tailoring our vocabulary not to offend anybody is about
respect.
Furthermore, proponents of political correctness argue that having certain rules and guidelines
in place it improves civil discourse as a whole,
by forcing people to avoid demagogic sensationalized arguments that rely on stereotypes, and instead
rephrase their arguments,
relying on statistics, and not appealing to emotion.
Stepping back a bit, because I realise what I just said is quite a mouthful, a demagogue
is somebody who appeals to people’s emotions and prejudices through arguments that reflect
these, as opposed to rational arguments.
In a democracy we often risk being at the whim of demagogues, because of the universality
of the system, almost anybody can run for office and almost everybody can vote-
arguably political correctness provides a standard that prevents people from appealing
to the everyman’s prejudices and avoiding demagoguery.
Now for opponents of political correctness.
Opponents argue that political correctness does not prevent demagoguery and hatred, instead
it fuels it.
By making certain terms and topics off limits, it results in censorship that leads to toxic
views developing.
This can arguably be demonstrated in the rise of Donald Trump, a man who rose to prominence
in the 2016 Republican Primaries by saying exactly what he thought, brazen and often
offensive though it was.
Many have argued that Trump’s rise had a lot to do with a backlash against the politically
correct culture in America,
on college campuses and in the media/.
Opponents of political correctness also ask the more general question of who decides what
is and what isn't politically correct?
It’s an important question, because it draws attention to the idea that political correctness
is a form of suppression, a small out of touch clique dictating what is right and wrong to
the rest of us.
The final group of arguments about political correctness represents a sort of apathy.
These people neither support nor oppose political correctness, instead they believe it’s useless
but also harmless.
The argument goes that using a word like spokesperson, as oposed to spokesman doesn’t reduce the
gender pay gap, or help to eliminate sexist stereoptypes about women in the workplace.
These people argue that highlighting certain terminology as sexist or racist or homophobic
offers
nothing tangible in terms of actively eliminating sexism, racism or homophobia.
Furthermore those who are apathetic towards political correctness don’t see it as stiflting
free speech,
they argue that in most cases people aren’t compelled to use certain terminology, asking
people to use certain terms is hardly robbing anybody of anything.
In this sense the apathetic group of people is a contrast between the people who bang
on about PC Culture gone mad, SJWs rekt etc and the other group who thinks that using
the word actor as opposed to actress is tantamount to depriving women of their civil rights.
To conclude, political correctness is a way of speaking to avoid offending anybody.
Those in favour of it, argue that it maintains respect in political debate,
which helps to protect certain groups as well as improving discourse as a whole.
Those against see it as an attack on free speech,
an almost dictatorial measure.
Those who don’t care either way do not see how using terminology advances the plight
of the groups political correctness seeks to correct;
neither do they see how asking people to use certain terminology is so dictatorial.
I think if I was to pick a side I would side with the apathetic group
whilst still being wary of how much we’re compelling people to use certain terminology.
That’s political correctness, thanks for watching, please like, share and subscribe.