3 ms·

I don't think summarizing "anti-political correctness" as "I don't have to be considerate towards others" is even remotely connected to reality. I think you nee

by jerf 7y ago

I don't think summarizing "anti-political correctness" as "I don't have to be considerate towards others" is even remotely connected to reality. I think you need to get out of your filter bubble.

senderista 7y ago
That's exactly how e.g. Trump uses the term at his rallies. On the right nowadays, "politically incorrect" simply means what everyone else would call "being an asshole". The term has been corrupted beyond recovery, and we should just stop using it.
- jerf 7y ago
  I would simply re-iterate my point. I think you (also, as a different person than I originally replied to) need to get out of your filter bubble. You do not understand why people find political correctness offensive. Note how I do not phrase that as a question. It is definitely not that they just don't want to have to be nice to people. When you understand, you may well still not agree with it. (The idea that "understanding is agreement" is a very naive one, but popular nonetheless.) But you clearly do not understand it.
  - senderista 7y ago
    You are making assumptions about me that are simply invalid. In fact, I have deep concerns about the sort of culture originally denominated by "political correctness", especially its effect on freedom of thought within the academy. I am merely pointing out that the term has been coopted by people who use it maliciously and in bad faith, to the point that I don't think it makes sense to use it anymore.
- mcguire 7y ago
  Likewise, the term "politically correct" has been corrupted beyond recovery for slightly longer.
_bxg1 7y ago
I grew up "outside of my filter bubble". I was raised on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the very mouthpieces of political-incorrectness. And I bought into it for a long time, until I gained some perspective on the world and came to understand that brashness is not a virtue. We live in a society. Something that offends someone else may not comprise a universal moral truth, but making an effort to consider how your words affect others, including others whose backgrounds you may not understand at all, does. And certainly, going out of your way to rail against others' sensitivities (political incorrectness) helps nobody. It's possible that your personal definition of "anti-political-correctness" is different from mine, but I venture to say that the public at large, presented with the term, interprets it the way I do.
- jlawson 7y ago
  >going out of your way to rail against others' sensitivities (political incorrectness) helps nobody. It helps the people who are being bullied or silenced, with those sensitivities used as a justification. Typically those sensitivities aren't involuntary. They're inculcated and exaggerated, both individually and on a mass basis, specifically as a lever to gain power over other people. If that lever for power stopped working, the vast majority of those sensitivities would stop existing. Anti-PC is helpful because it sets out the right incentives. Instead of incentivizing people to become helpless, mentally-ill wrecks who "can't even" in the face of the slightest emotional or intellectual challenge, it incentivizes people to be the most centered and independent version of themselves they can.
- jeegsy 7y ago
  > including others whose backgrounds you may not understand at all, does. There is a certain soft bigotry in the assumption that differences in background account for as much as people think they do. The "perspective that I gained in the world" is that ppl are remarkably similar with some mostly surface differences. The point is, there has to be room to ask "Is your taking offence to this legitimate under any reasonable standard?"

by jerf 7y ago

I don't think summarizing "anti-political correctness" as "I don't have to be considerate towards others" is even remotely connected to reality. I think you need to get out of your filter bubble.

senderista 7y ago

That's exactly how e.g. Trump uses the term at his rallies. On the right nowadays, "politically incorrect" simply means what everyone else would call "being an asshole". The term has been corrupted beyond recovery, and we should just stop using it.

jerf 7y ago
I would simply re-iterate my point. I think you (also, as a different person than I originally replied to) need to get out of your filter bubble. You do not understand why people find political correctness offensive. Note how I do not phrase that as a question. It is definitely not that they just don't want to have to be nice to people. When you understand, you may well still not agree with it. (The idea that "understanding is agreement" is a very naive one, but popular nonetheless.) But you clearly do not understand it.
- senderista 7y ago
  You are making assumptions about me that are simply invalid. In fact, I have deep concerns about the sort of culture originally denominated by "political correctness", especially its effect on freedom of thought within the academy. I am merely pointing out that the term has been coopted by people who use it maliciously and in bad faith, to the point that I don't think it makes sense to use it anymore.
mcguire 7y ago
Likewise, the term "politically correct" has been corrupted beyond recovery for slightly longer.

_bxg1 7y ago

I grew up "outside of my filter bubble". I was raised on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the very mouthpieces of political-incorrectness. And I bought into it for a long time, until I gained some perspective on the world and came to understand that brashness is not a virtue. We live in a society. Something that offends someone else may not comprise a universal moral truth, but making an effort to consider how your words affect others, including others whose backgrounds you may not understand at all, does. And certainly, going out of your way to rail against others' sensitivities (political incorrectness) helps nobody. It's possible that your personal definition of "anti-political-correctness" is different from mine, but I venture to say that the public at large, presented with the term, interprets it the way I do.

jlawson 7y ago
>going out of your way to rail against others' sensitivities (political incorrectness) helps nobody. It helps the people who are being bullied or silenced, with those sensitivities used as a justification. Typically those sensitivities aren't involuntary. They're inculcated and exaggerated, both individually and on a mass basis, specifically as a lever to gain power over other people. If that lever for power stopped working, the vast majority of those sensitivities would stop existing. Anti-PC is helpful because it sets out the right incentives. Instead of incentivizing people to become helpless, mentally-ill wrecks who "can't even" in the face of the slightest emotional or intellectual challenge, it incentivizes people to be the most centered and independent version of themselves they can.
jeegsy 7y ago
> including others whose backgrounds you may not understand at all, does. There is a certain soft bigotry in the assumption that differences in background account for as much as people think they do. The "perspective that I gained in the world" is that ppl are remarkably similar with some mostly surface differences. The point is, there has to be room to ask "Is your taking offence to this legitimate under any reasonable standard?"