Americans Strongly Dislike PC Culture

[Rion]

Large Majorities Dislike Political Correctness - The Atlantic

Acording to the report, 25 percent of Americans are traditional or devoted conservatives, and their views are far outside the American mainstream. Some 8 percent of Americans are progressive activists, and their views are even less typical. By contrast, the two-thirds of Americans who don’t belong to either extreme constitute an “exhausted majority.” Their members “share a sense of fatigue with our polarized national conversation, a willingness to be flexible in their political viewpoints, and a lack of voice in the national conversation.”

Most members of the “exhausted majority,” and then some, dislike political correctness. Among the general population, a full 80 percent believe that “political correctness is a problem in our country.” Even young people are uncomfortable with it, including 74 percent ages 24 to 29, and 79 percent under age 24. On this particular issue, the woke are in a clear minority across all ages.

Youth isn’t a good proxy for support of political correctness—and it turns out race isn’t, either.

...

So what does this group look like? Compared with the rest of the (nationally representative) polling sample, progressive activists are much more likely to be rich, highly educated—and white. They are nearly twice as likely as the average to make more than $100,000 a year. They are nearly three times as likely to have a postgraduate degree. And while 12 percent of the overall sample in the study is African American, only 3 percent of progressive activists are. With the exception of the small tribe of devoted conservatives, progressive activists are the most racially homogeneous group in the country.

I think that it is always valuable to remember that these forums, and online in general, do not represent reality. The Progressives represent less than 10% of the American population. This is why you should be wary of thinking that your social media feed and/or local bubble is a good measure of how your fellow citizens feel.

 

[childeye 2]

It seems to me that "political correctness" is a vague and subjective phrase. It probably reverses in meaning depending upon one's political views. Hence people from both sides can say they dislike it but they're not even talking about the same thing.

Is it politically correct to not laugh at a speech impediment? If you say yes, then if you're against political correctness, then you are for laughing at people who cannot help how they talk.

 

[DaisyDay]

I just read that this morning. It's a pretty good article.

It's true that "PC" is not well-defined - the article does discuss that as well and what it tends to mean to the various groups. That was one of the parts I found most interesting.

The majority of the people of the disaffected middle dislike PC culture and, at the same time, equally dislike hate speech. One of the most troublesome things to them about the PC culture is the vagueness and, especially, the ever-changing terms such that it is difficult to get "right" all the time and getting it wrong carries too much of a social stigma. So, it's frustrating and unfair.

 

[U2pray4all]

If you have well read 1984 the left is taking it as instruction. Words you can not use. To thoughts you can not have then. Wipe out the words that allow free thought to be spoken. Double plus ungood.

 

[ilovejcsog]

I just read that this morning. It's a pretty good article.

It's true that "PC" is not well-defined - the article does discuss that as well and what it tends to mean to the various groups. That was one of the parts I found most interesting.

The majority of the people of the disaffected middle dislike PC culture and, at the same time, equally dislike hate speech. One of the most troublesome things to them about the PC culture is the vagueness and, especially, the ever-changing terms such that it is difficult to get "right" all the time and getting it wrong carries too much of a social stigma. So, it's frustrating and unfair.

OH MY! I LOVE YOUR AVATAR daisyday

 

[Invalidusername]

To me PC is controlling/censoring words that people use in order to not offend. It can vary in terms of how extreme it is. For example, today you cannot make sexist, racist, or homophobic jokes because it might hurt someone's feelings.... ONLY if it offends certain groups.

Making a sexist jokes about men is perfectly fine, just don't you dare mock the weaker gender. Making racist jokes about whites and Asians are perfectly fine but if you make a joke about blacks you are literally Hitler. Making jokes about Christians and Jews are perfectly fine but if you make a joke about Muslims, you're a bigot!

It's all censorship and controlling people's thoughts. Now clearly as Christians we shouldn't make sexist or racist jokes if they are intended to offend but right now the left is taking it so far.

 

[Rescued One]

I get my instructions pertaining to speaking from God, not the government.

Ephesians 4
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

 

[exitstageright]

I get my instructions pertaining to speaking from God, not the government.

Ephesians 4
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Well,no Christian can and will argue with you.

 

[dzheremi]

I suspect that the reason that 'political correctness' has been left vague is that it has had such a wide variety of applications and meanings over the years, and the one we all know some variation of now (something like: speech/actions cleansed of or otherwise avoiding potentially offensive aspects, in accordance with the goal of reducing or eliminating the harm such offense may cause to some kind of taxonomy of socially and politically protected minority groups) is actually quite new. In its long history, politically correct has been tied to everyone from senators and other statesmen to communists, radical lesbian separatists, and various kinds of feminists. That might sound like standard conservative scaremonger stuff about how lesbians and commies have been working for decades to turn everyone gay and red, but it really is just the evolution of the term, as you can learn at the following link which explores the history of the various usages of the term (note especially the lengthy post from June 26, 2015 by user SvenYargs): How has the meaning of "politically correct" changed?

 

[FireDragon76]

Since when is what the majority of people think a guide to truth?

Small groups of people can lead to social change. It has happened before in history. Those progressive activists generate new ideas and new critiques of society, and sometimes they do trickle into the mainstream consensus.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I just read that this morning. It's a pretty good article.

It's true that "PC" is not well-defined - the article does discuss that as well and what it tends to mean to the various groups. That was one of the parts I found most interesting.

The majority of the people of the disaffected middle dislike PC culture and, at the same time, equally dislike hate speech. One of the most troublesome things to them about the PC culture is the vagueness and, especially, the ever-changing terms such that it is difficult to get "right" all the time and getting it wrong carries too much of a social stigma. So, it's frustrating and unfair.

I stopped caring - and you have to in order to engage in debate now.

Everything you say that is not "pc", every thought you have can be accused of being hate speech, even when you just wanted to express an opinion about some political thing, which leaves a person with two choices, to shut up and not discuss politics,(which is the desire of the left) or to stop caring what anyone thinks about your choice of words and opinion.

I stopped caring because there is no way to navigate it otherwise.

 

[rambot]

I get my instructions pertaining to speaking from God, not the government.

Ephesians 4
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Pc speech tends to mirror this better than "freedom" speech

 

[iluvatar5150]

It’s always struck me as odd that a group with such a long tradition of religious piety and advocating for censorship of entertainment media would have such a problem with the notion that people should moderate what they say for the sake of not offending others.

 

[FireDragon76]

It’s always struck me as odd that a group with such a long tradition of religious piety and advocating for censorship of entertainment media would have such a problem with the notion that people should moderate what they say for the sake of not offending others.

Naked bodies are bad, but racial slurs are just personal preferences.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

"Political Correctness" seems to be a very vague, and varying concept depending on who you talk to.

The concept/term is also applied very inconsistently.

Many folks seem to have the impression that "I should be able to insult any group I don't agree with, with total impunity in the name of free speech" Yet, they're very sensitive about their own views and feel that their own views are worth protecting from what they feel are "threats".

And make no mistake about it, you can find no shortage of examples on both sides of every political & ideological fence.

 

[dzheremi]

There is definitely "conservative political correctness", as mentioned at the Stack Exchange link I provided earlier (re: Ross Douthat's example of "ideological correctness" in conservative politics). It's just not usually called that because because PCism is so tied these days to specifically left-leaning politics that many people probably think that you cannot be PC if your focus in enforcing particular viewpoints isn't along the narrow range of characteristics that dominate the leftist narrative (i.e., being "woke" about sexuality, gender, and race issues).

I think the argument could even be made that conservatives do better at keeping to what was apparently the original meaning of politically correct (~ that which is politically in accordance with received wisdom) than liberals do, as that was essentially an appeal to a type of conservatism rather than the modern liberal notion of endless, exhausting social 'progress', primarily measured in changes to where the line is before you're labeled a bigot and treated accordingly (e.g., what you could say 5, 10, 20 years ago, you can't say now, and that is by default always a good thing).

 

[Rion]

Since when is what the majority of people think a guide to truth?

Small groups of people can lead to social change. It has happened before in history. Those progressive activists generate new ideas and new critiques of society, and sometimes they do trickle into the mainstream consensus.

It's not. However, the radical left loves to portray itself as the majority, and pressure others to follow their dogma based upon this misconception.

It’s always struck me as odd that a group with such a long tradition of religious piety and advocating for censorship of entertainment media would have such a problem with the notion that people should moderate what they say for the sake of not offending others.

I find it interesting that so many leftie people are stuck in the 80's and 90's , when it comes to censorship. The progressives have happily adopted the concept of censoring as a major role in how they react to the world. From no - platforming, to no tolerance hate speech laws, the far left has become openly authoritarian. In reaction to this, more moderate folks and those who are small l libertarians find themselves being forced to work with conservatives who are now targeted for censorship.

Hence why I say that there is a paradigm shift occurring in American politics.

 

[KCfromNC]

It’s always struck me as odd that a group with such a long tradition of religious piety and advocating for censorship of entertainment media would have such a problem with the notion that people should moderate what they say for the sake of not offending others.

Especially here on a forum where there are strict rules about which political topics can be discussed, and of the ones left, which sides one can take.

 

[LoAmmi]

I find it interesting that so many leftie people are stuck in the 80's and 90's , when it comes to censorship. The progressives have happily adopted the concept of censoring as a major role in how they react to the world. From no - platforming, to no tolerance hate speech laws, the far left has become openly authoritarian. In reaction to this, more moderate folks and those who are small l libertarians find themselves being forced to work with conservatives who are now targeted for censorship.

Hence why I say that there is a paradigm shift occurring in American politics.

Could you show me where in the US there are no-tolerance hate speech laws being passed?

 

[Fantine]

There is a happy medium between "political correctness" and barely articulate venomous phrases and threats using third-grade vocabulary and exhibiting extreme ignorance of any facts.

I am fine with politicians being a little less politically correct---but the other extreme is so loathsome and repulsive that it should turn any discerning potential voter completely off.

*Any resemblance of this description to a real politician is coincidental.