Examples Of Political Correctness

What is the single biggest threat to the United States today? If a group of Americans were asked to answer this question, there would surely be much debate. The threat of terrorism certainly has had an effect on the American way of life. College students are being gunned down on their own campuses, buildings are being bombed, and co-workers are shooting each other. ISIS claims to be in the United States planning their next attack. Any informed American would be concerned.
It could also be argued that mental illness is our biggest threat. Practically every month we hear reports of shootings in schools. Columbine and Sandy Hook were two schools that experienced shootings that claimed the lives of innocent students and teachers. Investigations …show more content…
Stores wish their customers Happy Holidays because Merry Christmas could offend non- Christians. At a high school in California, five students were sent home from school for wearing shirts that displayed the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday. (thetruthwins.com) These are all examples of political correctness. Political correctness is defined as the agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that would offend a particular group of people. (Merriam-Webster.com) Political correctness is the biggest threat to the United States because it makes us weak and vulnerable. It regards certain topics, expressions and gestures off limits. What happened to say what you mean, and mean what you say? It is politically incorrect to call someone poor, dumb or old but financially inept, cerebrally challenged and a senior citizen are considered acceptable. The fact is that there are poor, old and dumb people in this world. Just because we word it differently, doesn’t change the circumstances. Anyone with common sense or compassion knows not to tell someone they are dumb. However, we could all agree that there are people out there that regularly earn that description. Do we help matters by lying to them or avoiding them? If we call someone black, we are racist. Call someone gay and we are homophobic. Describe someone as crippled and …show more content…
Who exactly are the PC police? Who is it making these lists of acceptable and non acceptable words and phrases? Liberals blame conservatives, the old blame the young, and professors blame students. People of any ideology, race, social stature or age have the ability to say inappropriate things. It has been happening since the beginning of time. The intent of the message may not have been to be hurtful or disrespectful but just a truthful conversation between individuals or groups. It could be a debated conversation ending in a mutual ability to agree to disagree. It becomes a problem when the conversation is recorded and posted on social media for all to see. The conversation gets blown out of proportion or misinterpreted and people are labeled racist or insensitive. Americans are too sensitive. We get offended too easily. This characteristic causes us to be weak or at least perceived as weak. We are afraid to report suspicious behavior to the authorities, we bend rules that affect our safety, and we care more about accidentally accusing someone of being a terrorist than being vigilant and protecting ourselves from the people that really do not have our best interest at