Diluting Expression

[BwareDWare94 723]

Following perhaps the most divisive and, frankly, annoying election process in American history, I think it's fitting to discuss the topic of political correctness. The PC nature (or lack thereof) of the rhetoric used by Donald Trump was a constant talking point (and let's be honest--he was completely tactless at times), as were the "we've gone too far with political correctness" assertions by other right wing candidates like Ben Carson. This led me to dive deeper into the topic on my own time, and I was surprised at the conclusion that I reached.

Disclaimer: it is absolutely necessary that we teach our society, particularly younger generations, about the dangers of ignorance + language.

Social justice warriors, as they've come to be called--anonymous individuals on the internet waiting in the wings to cull any use of language that they deem inappropriate, have absolutely, 100% gotten out of hand. Are they truly anonymous? For all intents and purposes they are--they're nobodies, just like you and me, so even if their real names are in some comment section on some website, it's not like the rest of the country hears about these individuals. It's not so much what they're fighting against--ignorance is something that we cannot tolerate--it's that they fight in a way that disallows progress.

There are truly horrible, racist, sexist, misogynist, [insert non-heterosexual sexual orientation here]-phobic individuals out there who have chosen to be the way that they are, but in our modern web-based society, everybody is lumped into one category, and those individuals who make the wrong kinds of statements out of ignorance or lack of exposure, they get the same treatment as those who do know better but have chosen their perspectives. Is that fair? No. Is it right? No. We treat medical ailments with mostly nurturing care, but ignorance is allowed to fester because we try to treat it with hyperbolic ridicule. "So and so" is just "such an awful person" for saying something and not understanding the context of it or realizing that a word they've chosen has a meaning of which they were unaware. Ignorance is a sickness, and contrary to popular belief, it often isn't self-inflicted. We can't treat it by acting as if the individual already knows better, because they might not know better.

Take rural America as an example. In many parts of the country, particularly the northern Midwest, small communities almost entirely consist of Caucasian Christian people. They've effectively grown up in a subset of American society that does not expose them to other races, cultures, sexual orientations (at least not to the degree that a larger community does), or perspectives. Exposure is the key to the erosion of ignorance. "Hey, they're just like me, they're people," is easy to say when you see differences every single day. In rural America, people simply aren't exposed enough. During the 2016 election process, rural America was categorized as just a bunch of white racist/sexist/whatever-phobic hicks. Do some rural Americans fit into this category? Yes, they do, but so do many Americans living in more urbanized areas. The point is, many rural Americans simply don't know any better due the lack of diversity in their communities.

That being said, let's return to social justice warriors. They lump every single individual who says something "wrong" into the same category, thereby alienating the many individuals that they could help out and educate. This is resulting in many disenfranchised citizens who feel as though they can't express their viewpoints without having a large group of self-righteous strangers jump down their throats like petty schoolchildren. It's like Orwell's Thought Crime come to life, and social media is the Telescreen.

Radical liberalism has gotten out of hand to the extent that we are effectively censoring people. Freedom of Speech is eroding by the day, and instead of facing this reality and acknowledging that we've gone too far, we simply point to radical Conservatism and say, "but they're a lot worse!" That might be true. As a matter of fact, it isn't even debatable, but that doesn't mean that we liberals can't be a little more self-aware and careful. We claim to have this purpose, this idealized America that we're striving for where nobody has to worry about their rights, safety, access to jobs and housing, etc. What we don't realize is that we're allowing radicals to sabotage our cause by aliening the current portion of the under-educated and under-exposed population that is willing to learn about other races, cultures, sexual orientations, etc. It might seem wrong, but they simply don't know any better. To say that they should "just know these things" is to take for granted the fact that many of us were allowed to grow through exposure, whether that's from day one growing up in an urbanized area of the country, or through attending college in an urbanized area, or moving to an urbanized area. Exposure is conducive to growth, and we simply cannot keep lumping the under-exposed in with the truly awful individuals who knowingly practice hate.

Edited January 7, 2017 by BwareDWare94

[blotsfan 2,112]

[Cherry 1,302]

I think the reason this isn't getting more responses is the text format.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I copy and pasted it from my own blog post. I thought it looked the same on my laptop but I was distracted.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

In general, I've found that the people who complain about today's PC culture are the ones who are looking for excuses for it to be OK for them to be assholes. And that society should just accept it.

 

I am a Christian male who disagrees with the LGBTQ+ movement on virtually every subject... Who believes that the only real religion is Christianity... Doesn't support abortion... Etc.

 

If I've managed to live in Eugene, Oregon, and be friends with gay people, Muslims, etc who know how I disagree with their life choices. If I, someone who believes you are what God made you and not what you think you are, can still call a man a woman because that's she wants to be called (regardless of how ridiculous I think that is)... Then there's no real argument for why someone should get bent out of shape over being told (for example) don't say "Redskins" because it'll offend certain people. It simply means that people aren't willing to be sympathetic of others. At least in my opinion.

 

I do think that there will be a time where the PC movement will have serious negative implications in our society, but that time hasn't arrived yet.

 

Hell, someone here got mad at me for wishing them a Merry Christmas.

 

But as a whole, I disagree, and in general, I've found that it's the people who are angered or offended that their lack of sensitivity to others shouldn't be tolerated tend to be at fault and should simply develop better perspective.

Edited January 8, 2017 by DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F

[RazorStar 4,025]

No, there are reasonable people who exist in the liberal movement. The issue is with people who want to scalp you if you happened to vote for Donald Trump instead of Hillary, or who want to paint with the brush of fascist, bigot or misogynist for doing something harmless that they disagree with.

 

Nutjobs like Zarna Joshi and Annaliese Neilsen, who consider it their duty to find offense at the most minor things and harass the ever living daylights out of everyone else until they're vindicated. And the problem these people is that they are so loud that you have no choice but to hear what they're saying, even if it's complete bullshit.

Edited January 8, 2017 by RazorStar

[Cherry 1,302]

The issue with the SJW culture and the angry left wing is the same issue as the angry right wing. It's a group of extremists who simply want to crush any opposing ideology through force. SJWs are out to censor "hate" speech supposedly for the sake of being politically correct and preventing hurt feelings. The issue with this is it allows true suppression of free speech.

 

I had a discussion with a legitimate anarcho-communist a few months ago. He literally advocated for the extermination of the rich, the powerful, and the capitalists. I quickly noted that I was a capitalist and asked him why I should be killed for an ideology. He simply shrugged it off and tried to explain that I wouldn't be killed because I'm not a "bad capitalist."

 

This is an example of what happens when you allow radical thinking to grow. It's easy to paint with a broad brush and say you'll do things well. But in reality these actions have consequences. Silencing free speech has consequences. Eliminating classes of society has consequences.

 

The Alt-Right has a lot of the same issues developing right now. It's turned from a bunch of jokers making memes into a bunch of legitimate fascists. Fascists who believe that those who do not share their exact world view should be killed immediately.

 

It's the duty of moderates on both sides to reign in extremists. It is the duty of moderate liberals to reign in SJWs. It is the duty of moderate conservatives to reign in fascists like those in the Alt-Right.

[seanbrock 1,684]

I'm a pretty liberal guy as some of you might know. In my mind this is one of those "opinions are like assholes" deals. The PC movement is basically just a very vocal minority of people. Same as the religious fundamental movement. I think for the most part people understand what's acceptable and not. I think the best way to combat people like that is to not back down and just laugh at them and ridicule them like South Park did lol.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

I'm a pretty liberal guy as some of you might know. In my mind this is one of those "opinions are like assholes" deals. The PC movement is basically just a very vocal minority of people. Same as the religious fundamental movement. I think for the most part people understand what's acceptable and not. I think the best way to combat people like that is to not back down and just laugh at them and ridicule them like South Park did lol.

 

You really think this after the last two years?

[seanbrock 1,684]

Yeah because the people who say dumb shit are lavished with attention because it seems moral outrage sells. Think of it like TGP trolls. 95% of us are here to hang out and talk sports but look at how much people cry and get butt hurt from one troll like Phil Elliot.

Edited January 11, 2017 by seanbrock