Political Correctness And Totalitarianism

Term Paper: Analyzing the Relationship between Political Correctness, Limits, and Totalitarianism According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, political correctness is defined as “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). The notion of something being “eliminated” suggests that discussing the topics of sex or race cusp on topics that would be considered taboo. Silencing an individual’s right to freedom of speech or quashing the liberty of participating in the “taboo” topics of sex or race violate the core principle of freedom or liberty in liberal democracies. Participating in the language of political correctness …show more content…
Per Váňa (2012), “like totalitarian regimes through language, political correctness seeks unity of thought and action, changes the lexical elements of language, does not allow alternatives if they bring negative, offensive or otherwise inappropriate connotations and controls the public discourse” (p. 16). Mintz (2015) identifies characteristics of a totalitarian dictatorship, however to be specific, the following is outlined: “a nearly complete monopoly by the party over all means of mass communication” (p. 258). The main theme of controlling freedom of speech and liberty of the individuals is central to the idea of totalitarianism and in conjunction, political correctness supports the notion of totalitarianism by disallowing any inappropriate or negative thoughts, words, or actions. Participating in the language of political correctness rears the ugly head of totalitarianism which in the case of totalitarian dictatorship is “a regime that seeks to control all aspects of life within a country” (Mintz et al., 2015, p. 258). As noted previously, political correctness has inserted itself by making a harmless Christmas greeting such as “ho ho ho” inappropriate to shifting the inner workings of universities by shifting the minds of staff faculties; showing its intrusion into a diversity of situations and …show more content…
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