Political correctness

[huginnmuninn]

what are your views on political correctness and how far should it go?

[Maxxie]

Politeness and respect is as far as political correctness should go.

[Amnesiac]

Political correctness stifles intelligent discussion by labeling certain subjects as "offensive" or "controversial". Therefore, it shouldn't exist.

[Iris]

I believe in political correctness as far as not calling women "broads" or gay people "faggots" etc. That's just offensive and disrespectful. But not speaking about a controversial topic for the sake of being socially appropriate is too far.

[Genghis Khan]

Stupid concept, because of political correctness people haven't even the slightest idea of what's racist or controversial any more and put the disputed/offensive sticker on anything that refers to 'race' or 'religion'. [esp in the UK]

[Unlucky_Leprechaun]

I believe in political correctness as far as not calling women "broads" or gay people "faggots" etc. That's just offensive and disrespectful. But not speaking about a controversial topic for the sake of being socially appropriate is too far.

Agree totally. No disrespect is needed in an intelligent conversation. PC is a made up term... and should be thrown out.

[HaydenM]

Political correctness is gay (i just had to be oxymoronic :P) But honestly it is a stupid thing and i cannot give an opinion without it being deemed controversial. If anything in our society becomes unquestionable there is something wrong.

[huginnmuninn]

imo political corectness is just one way for people to deny freedom of speech without making it illegal. it combines the act of being overly sensitive with the conseqences of potentially being completely ignored or worse only focusing on one aspect of an arguement because someone feels offended by your views. there is a difference between being polite and being politically correct

[Modus Operandi]

PC speech seems to me to be intended to protect people from feeling offended, which is impossible. Someone who wants to get pissed off will always find a reason to get pissed off.

[dontcare97]

Political correctness should be common sense. Don't call homosexuals faggots or Hispanics lazy immigrants. Kindness, polite etiquette, and tolerance are all that's needed.

[Unique Physique]

I do agree with some levels of what is considered "political correctness" for example gender-neutral terms. I.E. police officers instead of policemen because the latter to most implies they are all male. Same with firefighters instead of firemen, obviously it wouldn't be wrong to call a single male police officer a policeman, but if there's a bunch of police officers which are both sexes, it's not really .. correct to refer to them as policemen, and it's a bit too much to have to say "policemen and policewomen" when referring to the police, so 'officer' is a gender neutral collective term that is used. I know I'm rambling a bit here, but you should see what I mean. This isn't about avoiding offending anybody, it's more of an attempt to be factually correct.

I see no reason why you should not call a black person.. a black person, or a white person a white person. It's not racist or offensive, it's just a simple way of describing ones race. Of course it's historically wrong to go around calling black people 'nigger' because that's always been known as a derogatory racist term. Same with 'faggot' for gay men. In all honesty though, I don't see why people blow up over political correctness and it's become such a scary word. There is nothing or nobody really stopping you speaking your mind about controversial topics such as race, homosexuality religion, immigration, etc. as long as you're not being an unreasonable dick about it. Obviously if you have an unpopular viewpoint you should expect to be grilled a bit, but it's nothing to do with political correctness.

[Mewp]

Political Correctness is a vauge, loose term which is employed in so many ways that it has become meaningless. As such, I sneer when people rage against it - it's a whipping boy for the fact that society deems some views to unacceptable. Take your persecution complex elsewhere - no one is stopping you from holding controversial opinions: suck it up, or shut up.

[Zazu]

Stick to the civil liberties granted by the Magna Carta, get rid of political correctness.