Political Correctness

Is Great Britain too political correct and should we be unafraid to offend?

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Comments

  • I've never been afraid to state my opinion, if that offends tough (image )
  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    I think it's fine to be as offensive as you like, but I understand 'political correctness' to mean thinking about the connotations of what you say so you only offend when you WANT to, not by accident because you haven't thought about what the language you mean might mean to someone else. Saying 'well, it's not offensive because I didn't mean it that way' is nonsense at the point when you've already offended someone.

  • For example what is better gagging hate preachers or letting them sprout their crap and exposing the stupid rationale of their views ?

  • I thought political correctness came around because some people are so far up their own arses they think they have th right to tell  others what they SHOULD be offended by and impose their sense of guilt on everyone else

  • Hate preachers are in a different class - they preach murder and should be sent home.  They are not really part of pilitical correctness as it affects the rest of us day to day

  • Well, let's face it, It rather depends on what someone is saying. If it means not being able to call someone a "spastic" or a "poof" or a "n*gger"  without being challenged about it then it's fine by me.

  • If something is correct you should be allowed to say it no matter what, offence is caused by the way you say it, or by the way others receive it.Opinions and things not quite factual are the causes of most offence.

    Political correctness is the correctness that is imposed on us by people or groups with an interest. in other words whether you agree with it or not, it is a changed perception of correctness based upon certain aims and strategies.

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    I think the purpose of political correctness should be to get people to think about what they are saying and challenge their own ideas and beliefs.  If they still feel strongly about something then they should be allowed to speak freely and receive the feedback from society about their views. Idiots will be ousted but it still allows for differences of opinion and changes in society

    Unfortunatly you can't legislate for that though so we end up with laws that prevent us from speakly freely in case it offends someone

  • baldblokebaldbloke ✭✭✭

    un-PC of me to say so, but one of the marshalls at the Orion 15 yesterday was absolutely bloody gorgeous

  • I never speak politically correctly, but then again I always try to speak in a respectful way (even though I speak bluntly at times) so I guess I don't need to.

    Like all things the extremes are always worse than the reality, and Baldbloke, there is nothing un-PC in that

  • to me political correctness is having a general concensesus of what is acceptable or not acceptable to say..

     for years you could call someone a spastic, poof or sambo.......many used them knowing that they were negative and insulting............and many used them without thinking and just thought they were harmless teasing words........

    but to many those and other words were words that were used to hurt and put them down as inferior........

    so if we have a collection of words that we all know are not acceptable then that is good.........those who weren't aware that they were causing pain can now be informed that there were out of order......

    if people are not told then they can not stop and change their attitudes and behavuiour...

    and just by saying that it was ok when i was younger soes not make it right......

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    "politically correct" is a pretty pejorative term and since it surfaced I've found it used mostly by reactionary complacent right wingers who are pretty comfortable in their lives and don't really have to worry about the real lives of people less fortunate than themselves.
  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    Seren, but any word can be used in such a way that it is insulting.  There are words in use that have changed meaning or that are new.  Just look at how the meaning of the word gay has changed.  Firstly it meant happy and careful, then it was used as a derogatory term and now it is used to mean homosexual (mostly) without the negative connotations

  • yes words change......but if there is a general consesnsus that certain words should not be used in company........unless those who want to use them can come up in debate a genuine reason why they should be avoided then i am happy that they are banned from our society.......

  • No words can't be banned nor can we legislate on mass for what is acceptable or not - half of what is insulting is about how it is said and the meaning meant rather than the actual words. 

    Political correctness insults us by suggesting we can't make our own minds up about what is acceptable language or not in our day to day interactions and whether someone is genuinly trying to upset us.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    I don't think black people should be referred to as niggers. Is that politically correct? I think it's pretty insulting for a young black lad to be playing football for instance and be call ed nigger by the opposition? Who decided it was acceptable? The black lad or the other player?
  • and yes if people continue to use words in public that are not acceptable by the government courts .then they should be dealt with.......

    freedom of speech is great for your own front room.....but yes there are certain words that are not acceptable and shouyld not be used in public or you should be challenged and stopped........

    agree with you Mr Puffy....same as we have laws on what is acceptable.language comes under those....

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    I work with a black person who is happy to be called a nigger as that is what she believes she is, in the same way as I am a Limey.  But she would never find it acceptable for that term to be used in a derogatory way to describe her.  Its not the word that is insulting but the intended meaning behind it

  • there will always be the odd exception to the rules Caz.......

     

    there are people out there that think its still acceptable to for men to have sex with 12 year old girls.........and in some parts of the world now doubt its probably even legal.

    there are still people out there who think that women are the property of men and that rape isn't a part of a marriage......in many countries this is still so

    but the majority of people in this country think its wrong and so it is not allowed......

    we ahve laws and rules to protect the vulnerable

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    So should we ban all negative words?  I would be offended if I was called lazy, a scrounger, uncaring, selfish, vindictive and a whole loads of other words.

  • the words that i would see/ call banned are ones that are used to be negative for a group/ class of people........its a blanket word.....

     it does not describle the person......it is purely as an insult...and are used just for one group....

  • I don't really understand why Pakis is so insulting but Scots isn't. To me we have allowed those who used it aggressively to claim it and permanently entrench it as an insult



    Whilst I agree that forced language censorship can be unhelpful, I do see a lot of people who enjoy this sort of discussion, using it to feel free to offend.



    Without laws to prevent isms, those who wish to offend, discriminate and attack would be free to do so without fear of consequence. Using common sense to regulate is great but only works with those that have it.
  • unfortunately groups have taken over things and made them their own..wasn't the nazi symbol quite innocent before the nazi party took it over..........

  • The meaning of Political Correctness has been deliberately obscured by those that feel threatened by it.  The origional sense was to avoid language that has implicit or explicit derogatory connotations, whether offense is intended or not.

    It has now become a perjorative term to suggest that public bodies, or other groups are trying to tell people how to think by banning words.  Some words, which I wont list here, have obvious derogatory connotations, and to argue that meanings change is disengenuous.  Some words may have become acceptable to some people, whilst remaining a insulting in the minds of others.  Great care should be taken in the use of these words, and in my mind they are best avoided altogether.

    I think there is another cause for confusion, and this is when words, phrases etc don't necessarily cause offence, but serve to reinforce predjudice or normalise unnacceptble behaviour.  The first thing that springs to mind here is the current popularity of 'rape jokes'.  Jokes that belittle rape and sexual assault; make it seem a bit of a laugh.  Whilst the jokes themselve may be quite witty and don't obviously offend anyone, the problem is that, for some people, they may help to justify or excuse their actions.

  • I can't abide it when harmless terms like Merry Christmas are banned or replaced because some idiot somewhere thinks someone somewhere is going to be offended by its use. The politcal correctness agenda reaches into our lives in lots of different ways. Sometimes it is reasonable, and sometimes it is ridiculous.



    I don't think it is purely synonymous with "not being offensive". I think it has a deeper agenda quite often which is this, "not only do you have to conform with MY way of thinking, you have to adopt it unquestioningly or you will be cast into outer darkness."



    George Orwell would have hated it, I'm sure.
  • JB it can obviously go too far when people don't consider or don't understand the purpose. A bit like the old ' elf and safety gone mad!'.
  • Sometimes people see a PC agenda where there isnt one. Lot of the stories about christmas having been banned turn out not to be true.

  • I agree that most ofg the stories about banning christmas are untrue and obviously being used for someones own adgenda......

     

    but to fair the churches in this country have not liked merry christmas foir anumber of years..they prefer to write happy christmas..............because the word merry has changed over time......merry is a word associated with being partaken slightly too much in alcohol......

    and there is no point in argueing that its still has its old fashioned meaning when half the the population thinks of it in another meaning

     so churches prefer merry not to be used

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