Political correctness (PC)

Introduction

Political correctness (PC) is a term used in the modern era to denote laws, practices, or terminology that are meant to protect members of specified groups in the community from disadvantage or offense. Furthermore, political correctness refers to the employment of behavior or language that will not offend any ethnic faction of individuals because the majority of people believe that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, fairly, and equally (Schwartz, 2016). Political correctness was instituted with lofty goals in mind, and it has undoubtedly made society less vocally frightening by lowering hatredful. Political correctness, on the other hand, has failed in many important ways and is regularly used to restrict non-hateful opposing views, hence it should be abandoned.

PC as an Enforced Norm

For the past few years, PC stood as the model of open-mindedness and fairness but currently has been misused by popular politicians globally who destroy its rosy picture. The notion of the political correctness typically functions as the unbiased, illustrative reference to the principle of averting action and utterances that can offend or marginalize particular individuals (Molyneux, 2016). Nevertheless, since the theory entails the word correctness, it can be perceived or used as the normative expression. The approach indicates that things should be conducted in the specific way hence it can evoke feelings of being subordinated and talked down. Politicians who focus at discrediting the theory of PC point at its moralistic connotations. By endorsing traditional social hierarchies and conventions, political correctness is portrayed as the norm that is enforced in the community in the top-down approach (Wilson, 2016). Since PC correctness is constructed as the arbitrarily imposed and biased agenda, the anti-PC leaders adopt broad common strategies throughout the world in their attempt to discredit and undermine political correctness.

Misuse and Suppression

Furthermore, PC has been misused in its use within the society hence it should be ended. Initially, liberals consider any ideas that go against their opinions as politically incorrect particularly in areas where conservatives are many. Secondly, most vocal and loudest social factions in regional support or broad support view any agenda that divergence with their ideas as politically incorrect (Benson, 2015). PC is only applicable to socially dominant groups who view it victory in the sense that they can simply demonize their challengers and suppress opposing judgments as well as inconvenient facts (Molyneux, 2016). However, the socially dominant group is not the majority in the society but whose agenda rules and resisting agendas frowning upon socially.

Failure to Address Discrimination

Political correctness has not altered the minds and hearts of individuals since instead of being understandable, discrimination and hate went beneath and hidden from the public eyes. The hidden abhorrence and segregation is harder to trace thus making to eradicate (Molyneux, 2016). Moreover, PC is much focused on the color of the skin and words uttered rather than the intentions of the speaker. Some of the innocent phrases are considered to be code words for phenotype or hateful speech, creating confusion on what the speaker intends or means (Winegard, 2015). The confusion established by political correctness leads to hate and discrimination going unpunished by the guilty since their statements sound innocent and blameless individuals being wrongly accused of hate. Besides, PC is utilized to prevent the logical discussion of the theme by shutting down challengers through the accusations that they are racists, bigots or hateful even when it is not real (Wilson, 2016). Instead of permitting ideas to fall or rise founded on the merits of the debates, unpopular notions are suppressed prior the discussion.

Misrepresentation and Suppression in Politics

Politicians are using PC theory to discredit their opponents by taking some of their words out of context, lying about what they meant and making them look bad in the society eye. Although a person can be innocent, what he or she says is tainted and ignored which results in policies that are founded on the interest of particular group rather than based on the overall needs of all citizens (Schwartz, 2016). Furthermore, political correctness is frequently utilized to discourage specific social groups from discussing certain topics which hinder the open dialog between perpetuate racist and social groups. For instance, a white man in the United States will be viewed as racist if he or she condemns particular awful traits among the black American or Asians (Winegard, 2015). Besides, several people are associating PC to the suppression of the free speech hence making huge percentages to reject the concept.

Disconnection from Realities and Suppression of Truth

The majority of the European populist radical parties’ associate political correctness with the elite indicating that the European Union is governed by elites with a single concern. Political correctness is unrelated to the real political and social realities since an individual is restricted from implementing or suggesting policies that target particular group in the community (Wilson, 2016). Moreover, power holders are not able to address the actual issues of the societies and citizens are becoming tired of the administration that does not listen to them since they enforce decisions that are not scrutinized. For instance, the Trump’s policy prohibiting particular individuals from Arabic and African nations from getting into the USA has been viewed as racism although it is one of the major solutions to counter terrorism in America (Wilson, 2016). People need to be told the truth rather than hiding the truth which delays the appropriate actions that can help in solving the problem.

Misuse by the Media and Neglect of Overall Interests

Additionally, the media has been obsessed by the political correctness as it can be illustrated by different politicians in the world. According to Trump, his opponents have put PC beyond common sense, safety and all else regarding the interest of American people. PC can occupy people’s mind, making them tolerate action and ideas that are harmful, abnormal and irrational (Winegard, 2015). Politicians who are greedy and have personal interests of the ruling have misused PC making citizens oppose any policy that goes against their view even if they are beneficial to the entire nation. Moreover, individuals have been opposing other people policies by only listening to the verbal meaning without analyzing their intentions. Furthermore, political correctness is extravagance since it is the privilege of the small group of rich individuals that cannot be afforded by nations including the United States which has got no time to deal with it (Molyneux, 2016).

Fear of Labeling and Suppression of Freedom of Speech

Political correctness hinder people from speaking the truth and express their views due to the fear of being labeled as racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic and Islamophobic. Due to the fear of being seen as going against a particular group, PC is seen as an intimidation that threatens people when specific leader utters certain words (Molyneux, 2016). Moreover, political correctness influence people to vote leaders who have no vision for the nation as long he or she avoids speeches that politically correct. Politicians who are misunderstood due to their rigid policies on how to change the society and are not given a chance to lead people despite having progressive strategies that can help in solving problems in the society.

Violation of Free Speech and Taboo

The tyrannical picture of PC is broadly reinforced by the principle of violating the right to free speech. Therefore, political correctness can be described as the type of censorship imposed via coercion that stimulates the bodily uneasiness and evokes the instant support to resistance by the listeners (Benson, 2015). Leaders in the world fear to deliver an important speech to a particular group of people due to the anxiety that they may face resistance from the community. Besides, political correctness is presented as the deception since it forces individuals to live in the human-made globe in which the real predicaments are taboo (Schwartz, 2016). In several contexts, political correctness counters and reject deep-seated speech patterns and thinking in the community.

Conclusion

Conclusively, political correctness has caused unintentional problems in the society due to misapplication thus it should be ended. Political correctness theory has been used by politicians and dominant social groups to implement the policies of their interest. Rather than analyzing the intention of the speaker, some of the politicians are taking words of their opponents which are viewed as being politically incorrect to discredit their challengers. Moreover, PC is restricting individuals from the freedom of speech due to the fear of being termed as racist, Islamophobic and sexist. Furthermore, political correctness hinders the identification of hate and discrimination since leaders avoid showing it to the public eyes. People need to know the truth of their fate so that they can correct and come up with better strategies to solve their predicaments.

References

Benson, M. (2015). Liberals destroying academic freedom and diversity of thought. Prairie Pundit, 2015-06.

Molyneux, S. (2016, November 7). Why Political Correctness Must End | Milo Yiannopoulos and Stefan Molyneux [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVYI9HO6aF0

Schwartz, H. S. (2016). Political correctness and the destruction of social order: chronicling the rise of the pristine self. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wilson, J. K. (2016). Patriotic correctness: academic freedom and its enemies. London; New York: Routledge.

Winegard, B. (2015). A dialogue concerning political correctness and its discontents. EvoS: The Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 1(1), 2015-04.