Political Correctness, implement of destruction

[Nightshade]

If you have a cause or political agenda which is antithetical to the fabric of the civilization of which you are wanting to change or even destroy, PC (political correctness) has become an effective blunt instrument against which a defense has not been currently devised. You can use PC no matter how nefarious or even ridiculous your cause may seem under normal circumstances if stated outright without the misdirection and obfuscation PC offers. PC is a poison for which there is no cure- if the afflicted society refuses to recognize its true purpose.

The attacker is always the \"victim\"- the actual society or group under attack is characterized as the perpetrator of injustice or oppressor. Reality is turned on its head for the purposes of the wielder of the PC tool.

How do we allow or accept the use of PC even if we are the ones under attack? That is the question.

[woodchip]

Singing camp songs will make the enemy love us?

[CDN_Merlin]

I have been tired of Political Correctness for decades. It's taking over our country(ies). Imagine if we all immigrated to the Middle East and asked them to change there ways for us. We'd be shot dead in a heartbeat. It's about time we stand up for our rights and freedoms and the people who worked this continent and bring it back to how it used to be.

[Mjolnir]

Most people who complain about political correctness are complaining because they're getting called out on being an ★■◆● of some sort. I've seen it taken too far but removing being polite isn't the greatest idea ever.

[CDN_Merlin]

I'm talking about saying stuff like Happy Holidays instead of Merry Xmas. People in other countries who aren't Catholics etc who don't celebrate xmas like we do would not allow us to change there ways of doing things.

[Mjolnir]

Other countries cut peoples hands off and stone people to death for adultery and other minor crimes. If you want to follow their example, that's on you but don't expect me to go along with that.

Let us also not forget the irony that Xmas was originally a pagan holiday then stolen/converted into what is now Xmas... so ya, irony FTW.

[Sergeant Thorne]

Was that even an answer or argument in your eyes, Mjolnir? Merlin has a good point. Trying to PC something like Christmas is insane.

Just a thought, but I'll bet you it wouldn't be so wide-spread if it weren't financially motivated (big businesses giving into the fear of offending anyone and losing money). Money/Business is the new/popular way to foist bull**** agendas on Americans (the world?). Just make it so that it's profitable to do it (like going green), and everyone who likes money will commit.

[CDN_Merlin]

Not sure about the USA, but in Canada, we are giving in and changing to many of our customs to immigrants who have different religions. I don't agree with it but sadly our governments like this because it gets them votes.

[roid]

What's wrong with people saying Happy Holidays? No-one's forcing you to say it, just say Merry Christmas if you want to.

I'm not sure quite what you're offended about. Do you want for everyone to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays? Just as an example: Do you want me to say Merry Christmas? I'm not Christian, and even further (and perhaps more extreme) - i literally do not celebrate Christmas. But i do have holidays.

You taking offence at someone saying \"Happy Holidays\", is just as ridiculous as someone taking offence at \"Merry Christmas\". They are the same ridiculousness.


It seems like the opposite of the gay \"marriage\" vs \"civil unions\" debate. Only religious people should be able to \"marry\", but everyone of every creed should say \"Merry Christmas\"?

[Avder]

What's wrong with people saying Happy Holidays? No-one's forcing you to say it, just say Merry Christmas if you want to.

I'm not sure quite what you're offended about. Do you want for everyone to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays? Just as an example: Do you want me to say Merry Christmas? I'm not Christian, and even further (and perhaps more extreme) - i literally do not celebrate Christmas. But i do have holidays.

You taking offence at someone saying "Happy Holidays", is just as ridiculous as someone taking offence at "Merry Christmas". They are the same ridiculousness.


It seems like the opposite of the gay "marriage" vs "civil unions" debate. Only religious people should be able to "marry", but everyone of every creed should say "Merry Christmas"?

I believe "Happy Holidays" v "Merry Christmas" was used as an example. Go take your anti-crazy pills.

[roid]

Go take your anti-crazy pills.

how about you go ★■◆● yourself

[CDN_Merlin]

Roid, you failed to see what I was getting at. We are being forced to change our way of life for these immigrants as to not upset there religious views but if the tides were turned, we'd be told to go fly a kite. My country is being change to a more \"middle eastern\" type.

[Heretic]

Go take your anti-crazy pills.

how about you go **** yourself

Wow a vascular structure in an anal canal telling some one to go **** themselves.

[Gooberman]

Fox news is responsible for the whole merry christmas/happy holidays shin-dig. Seriously, no one thought twice about saying merry christmas until they declared it a \"war,\" and brought a few exceptions of people refusing to say it into the center light. Such that people like me, ended up saying happy holidays so as to avoid being labeled a fox news nut, defending some sort of made up war. They are the ones who made christmas a partisan issue.

[Nightshade]

The whole Christmas/Holidays thing is merely a symptom of a larger problem.

The real problem is PC as a practice of societal suicide. The moment we stop doing something well within our rights and is part of the identity of our culture in order not to \"offend\" 3rd parties, we are accepting our own demise as a distinct society

If you go to Mexico and tell people parading down the street with giant idols of the virgin Mary or huge wooden skeletons during their \"day of the dead\" that they are offending you and your day out at the beach, they'd tell you where to go- and rightly so.

[CDN_Merlin]

Amen TB. That's what I was trying to say all along.

[Spidey]

Fox news is responsible for the whole merry christmas/happy holidays shin-dig. Seriously, no one thought twice about saying merry christmas until they declared it a "war," and brought a few exceptions of people refusing to say it into the center light. Such that people like me, ended up saying happy holidays so as to avoid being labeled a fox news nut, defending some sort of made up war. They are the ones who made christmas a partisan issue.

Lol, this issue has been around loooog before there was even a FOX news…it all started when someone decided to take “Christ” out of Christmas and replace it with a “X”.

[Gooberman]

Once again, you can always find some crazy who does or says something, that is where the FNC got their source. They take these crazies, and make them the \"norm\" and declare \"war\" and do \"FOX NEWS ALERTS!!!!!\", to such an extreme, that the first thing people think of in a thread about political correctness. 10-15 years ago people just said merry Christmas, I am not talking about corporations, person to person. FNC made it the political football it has now become, where people/corporations use Happy holidays to avoid being labeled a Fox news nut.

[null0010]

I'm talking about saying stuff like Happy Holidays instead of Merry Xmas. People in other countries who aren't Catholics etc who don't celebrate xmas like we do would not allow us to change there ways of doing things.

Is someone forcing you to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," or are you just annoyed that retailers, etc, say the former over the latter to appeal to the largest possible consumer base?

As it was already said, if you want to say "Merry Christmas," then say it. If you want to say "black man" instead of "a person or persons of African-American descent," then do so. No one is forcing you to use "politically correct" language; there is certainly no law against saying "black man" or "Christmas," and to pretend like there is some kind of "culture war" because your particular culture is less of a majority in this country than it used to be is plainly absurd.

If it bothers you so much, I suppose you could move to an area with a higher concentration of the culture you prefer to be around and insulate yourself against other cultures and their influences.

[Neo]

Ironically, ThunderBunny is like the only cat (or bunny) who posted his own information, and not just reposting someone else's article, unlike most of the people complaining about him.

I want my stewardesses and waitresses back! =P Or better yet, the 'space wenches' of the PTMC Cafe. ^_~ Not that I'm ever going to fly on an airplane again. >_<

[Jeff250]

Lol, this issue has been around loooog before there was even a FOX news…it all started when someone decided to take “Christ” out of Christmas and replace it with a “X”.

So you're blaming this on the Χtian's.

[minmay]

I am an atheist. I live in the United States, which is (as you probably know) predominantly Christian. It does not, in fact, offend me when people say \"Merry Christmas\" or \"Happy Easter.\" I have never met anyone else who would be - and most of my friends are also atheists or agnostics.
Furthermore - and this is the important part - if it did offend me, I would not have the ability to stop it. I could say that it offends me, and that's pretty much it. Freedom of speech still exists in most developed countries. You can even use derogatory racial slurs in most of them without getting thrown in jail, though it will certainly turn some people against you.
Of course, there is frequently social pressure to be politically correct. But this is comparable to the social pressure to follow or not follow a certain religion, or the social pressure to listen or not listen to music from a certain artist. It sucks to be a creationist in a room full of biologists, it sucks to be a mouse in a room full of cats, and it sucks to say non-PC things in a room full of fanatic defenders of PCness. But nobody's forcing that mouse to stay out of the room full of cats. And if it's illegal for a cat to kill a mouse, it's illegal for a cat to kill a mouse even if the mouse just said something the cat didn't like.
And I have experienced this myself; when I visit my father's side of my family, I can't help but feel a bit nervous because they are very devoutly Catholic, and I doubt they would be thrilled to learn I'm an atheist. But the pressure on me to conform to their Christian holidays and rituals is entirely social; it is completely legal for me to announce that I am an atheist, argue in favor of atheism, and so on. Certainly I risk being treated poorly by them, but it's still a crime if they murder me for arguing in favor of atheism.

As for \"political correctness\" being used to defend a ridiculous idea and make the spectators side with it...well, I have a hard time believing the spectators are that stupid. But I can't prove that either way.

[Neo]

No offense, but I lost interest in your reply as soon as I read \"atheist.\"

Not being politically correct oneself is a great idea, but not a solution. I still call them waitresses; a 'server' is a computer, as far as I'm concerned. While I'm at it, in my world, 'PC' can only be a reference to a specific type of personal computer. =P

[minmay]

Not being politically correct oneself is a great idea, but not a solution.

A solution to what problem?

[Heretic]

Let's all be PC just to draw attention away from the substantive debate about racial, class and gender discrimination.

[Will Robinson]

The worse part about PC is it is a sentiment...a feeling...so there are no rules about it's application. Right now, in America at least, PC is defined by pop culture and those with a microphone/media presence who choose to use it.
So we get a lot of really stupid people with control of the electronic bully pulpit telling the average idiot who/what he should tolerate and who/what he shouldn't.

So it is OK to call for a sniper to hit President Bush or to call your fellow loony's out to stone the Speaker of the House (when he was a republican) but if you disagree with Obama's policy you are a racist bastard....

Those same stupid people tried to force feed us ebonics and remove scoring from scholastic sporting activities...and of course they gave us government mandated mortgage's for the unqualified because it is just unfair if some people can't own their own home.

It shouldn't be called politically correct, that is just a euphemism for political expediency for selfish personal gain.

[CUDA]

I once called my female mail deliverer, the \"Mail-Lady\" she got VERY indignant with my while informing me she was NOT a \"Mail Lady\", she was a \"Letter Carrier\"

I was like, well excuuUUUUuuse MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[CUDA]

I once called my female mail deliverer, the \"Mail-Lady\" she got VERY indignant with me while informing me she was NOT a \"Mail Lady\", she was a \"Letter Carrier\"

I was like, well excuuUUUUuuse MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[CUDA]

stupid edit feature needs fixed

[Bet51987]

.

[CUDA]

So it is OK to call for a sniper to hit President Bush or to call your fellow loony's out to stone the Speaker of the House (when he was a republican) but if you disagree with Obama's policy you are a racist bastard....

You've got to be kidding me...

Bee

actually there is alot of validity to what he said.

[minmay]

Obama is more popular than Bush, so naturally you'll find more people attempting to silence criticism of the latter. Try saying a sniper should have shot Thomas Jefferson; I guarantee you will get a very, very negative reaction (although it will most likely be less \"racist bastard\" and more \"bastard\").

[Will Robinson]

So it is OK to call for a sniper to hit President Bush or to call your fellow loony's out to stone the Speaker of the House (when he was a republican) but if you disagree with Obama's policy you are a racist bastard....

You've got to be kidding me...

Bee

No, not kidding. They are all three examples that have taken place. Craig Kilborn did the sniper bit on his TV show. Alec Baldwin called for people to go to the home of Speaker of the House Henry Hyde and stone him and his family.
and TC among many others on the left with a much more prominent soapbox than the DBB have consistently disregarded protests of Obama's policy as racially motivated.

So tell me, are you unaware of these events or just automatically refuse to consider the point because it challenges your perception of things?
It's really quite simple, the left wields PC like a weapon to bully the public into accepting their agenda. It's the same old if-it-will-save-just-one-child trick just expanded upon and presented to you as a character test. You either accept their selective application of morality or you are an evil person. The hypocrisy is abundant.

[Will Robinson]

I find it silly and worrisome that we, as a society, have even accepted \"politically correctness\" as a good thing! Since when did politics become a morality?!? Politics is a necessary evil and usually practiced with great disregard to morality and ethics and justice so why the hell do we even accept the concept as it is named as a good one? Because the pop-icons tell you to or they will mock you that's why! And too many of you care what the other kids will say about you so you go along....

[Bet51987]

.

[Spidey]

Sure there are racist remarks being made, but does that invalidate all criticism?

Never mind…you never answer questions.

……………………….

A few years ago I coined the phrase “impenetrable shield of accusation” It has the power to deflect all opinions and render them null and void. It’s the most powerful weapon the PC or liberal crowd has.

Of course the biggest drawback of using this weapon is, it makes the user look intellectually bankrupt.

It was already used somewhere in this thread…twice even.

[woodchip]

And please don't think for a moment that in America there is no racism driving some of the comments toward Obama. I don't believe you to be a naive person.

Bee

And there are comments critical of Obama being labeled racist as a easy means to deflect the criticism.

[Will Robinson]

...So tell me, are you unaware of these events or just automatically refuse to consider the point because it challenges your perception of things?

I'm aware of the fact that every serious threat against the POTUS, whether current or former, are investigated by the Secret Service. The two comedians in late night comedy shows you mentioned don't qualify as a viable threat so I stand by my OMG remark. BTW, the secret service had a talk with both of them.

And please don't think for a moment that in America there is no racism driving some of the comments toward Obama. I don't believe you to be a naive person.

Bee

What the heck does any of what you just said have to do with the selective application of political correctness as illustrated by the examples I gave?!?
You just ignored the point, the topic, and all logic to take a hard left down non sequitur lane!

[Jeff250]

A few years ago I coined the phrase “impenetrable shield of accusation” It has the power to deflect all opinions and render them null and void. It’s the most powerful weapon the PC or liberal crowd has.

Conservatives use the "impenetrable shield" too... "unpatriotic"... "criticizing a president during a time of war"... the Democrats are better at it, but the Republicans have been playing catch up in recent years...

[Spidey]

You’re right, conservatives are way behind the curve…the proof is they haven’t thought up words to insulate groups like whites, The rich, businessmen and such.

Attacking \"these\" groups has become the “patriotic” thing to do.