Political Correctness is the end of Democracy!!

[viking thunder]

when the minority can control what the majority thinks and says by guilt tripping through political correctness. How can democracy work??

Discuss!!

[Dariune]

I agree that PC is becoming out of control.
It should be in moderation but i do find that some things are taken out of proportion.
For all you english out there this whole racist crap that happened with bigbrother for instance. I thought all of that was ludicrous.

It wasnt racism it was a form of bullying but nothing to jump up and down about.

I didnt even watch the program and i knew what happened.

*waits to get flamed by bigbrother lovers*

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

I am puzzled by your equation that the minority having a say is the end of democracy, moreover your urge to save democracy.

Democracy is rule by the majority, and is prone to excess corruption at the expense of the Individual, never mind that it relies on very little rational basis of existing.

On the same note, allowing the Majority to have a say over everything is additionally the end of freedom, as it would imply a totalitarian state.

[Ruben Cassar]

I agree that PC is becoming out of control.
It should be in moderation but i do find that some things are taken out of proportion.
For all you english out there this whole racist crap that happened with bigbrother for instance. I thought all of that was ludicrous.

It wasnt racism it was a form of bullying but nothing to jump up and down about.

I didnt even watch the program and i knew what happened.

*waits to get flamed by bigbrother lovers*

I agree with you 100%. I am not British and I know about the incident as well. It was all over the news, totally blown out of proportion.

[Ruben Cassar]

I am puzzled by your equation that the minority having a say is the end of democracy, moreover your urge to save democracy.

Democracy is rule by the majority, and is prone to excess corruption at the expense of the Individual, never mind that it relies on very little rational basis of existing.

On the same note, allowing the Majority to have a say over everything is additionally the end of freedom, as it would imply a totalitarian state.

Totalitarian is not like that. Totalitarian is one person or a VERY restricted number of persons exerting control over the majority.

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

I am puzzled by your equation that the minority having a say is the end of democracy, moreover your urge to save democracy.

Democracy is rule by the majority, and is prone to excess corruption at the expense of the Individual, never mind that it relies on very little rational basis of existing.

On the same note, allowing the Majority to have a say over everything is additionally the end of freedom, as it would imply a totalitarian state.

Totalitarian is not like that. Totalitarian is one person or a VERY restricted number of persons exerting control over the majority.

Pray tell, what would you call a rule by the majority? Communism?

[Ruben Cassar]

I am puzzled by your equation that the minority having a say is the end of democracy, moreover your urge to save democracy.

Democracy is rule by the majority, and is prone to excess corruption at the expense of the Individual, never mind that it relies on very little rational basis of existing.

On the same note, allowing the Majority to have a say over everything is additionally the end of freedom, as it would imply a totalitarian state.

Totalitarian is not like that. Totalitarian is one person or a VERY restricted number of persons exerting control over the majority.

Pray tell, what would you call a rule by the majority? Communism?

Communism is a form of totalitarian government in practice. Ideologically it wasn't.

[unriggable]

African American is a really annoying term that in itself is racist. It assumes all blacks are from Africa (not the carribean, not india, not south america)

[MeDeFe]

PC is ok. As long as it doesn't get out of hand.

And are you talking about a TV show?

[Stopper]

"Political Correctness" is just one big fat straw-man set up by conservative columnists, journalists and politicians, so that they can appear to talk tough, without actually having to promise anything or attack anyone directly.

Viking thunder, it would be good if you could tell us exactly who the "PC brigade" are, and exactly how they force the majority to do what they don't want to do.

We need someone to tell us, because everyone else seems to have their own different (and often very bizarre) idea of what they think PC consists of.

[Titanic]

PC is really annoying, and I think it will be relaxed within the next decade as people are getting too annoyed of it.

[Genghis Khant]

The best bit of PCspeak I've heard was when someone referred to an ugly person as 'aesthetically challenged'.

[Kugelblitz22]

the minority can control what the majority thinks

Really that's happening? Can you give me an example?

[Kugelblitz22]

It's kind of funny in way that conservatives view PC as a liberal phenomenon.

Consider the following:

In the 18th century people with mental handicaps were referred to as idiotic, or imbeciles. This was not meant to denigrated them, doctors and other service workers used these terms professionally.

Of course what happened was narrow minded, cruel bigots used these terms in a derogatory fashion to mock the handicapped so they became emotionally charged words.

Then in the early 19th century words that carried less negative connotations were adopted. Doctors could no longer tell a parent his child was an idiot or an imbecile because a segment of society had ruined the word. Words like feeble-minded and trainable began to be used. Of course you can guess what happened. Narrow minded bigots ruined the fancy new terms.

Flash forward. Retarded had a good run for a while but ignorant narrow minded fools turned it into an insult. It eventually gave way to mentally impaired.

Present day, people often use cognitivally impaired to refer to people with mental limitations. Conservatives everywhere bemoan the change.

I ask you, who are the narrow minded, ignorant bigots who keep ruining medical terms by using them as put-downs?
Could it be the peace loving hippies out in California? With there smelly feet, sandals and copious amounts of tie-dye-flower power? Or is the ignorant backwoods hillbilly, who wanders around the rural West Virginia all day saying stuff like "If it ain't white, it ain't right" and littering the woods with cigarette butts and beercans?

For every person in West Virginia with a college degree, there are two in Massachusetts's. And I think we know which of those states is conservative and which is liberal.

Congratulations Conservative party for making political correctness necessary. Your not all idiots but enough of you are so that we have to keep changing our lexicon, to meet the changing realities of language.

[flashleg8]

"Political Correctness" is just one big fat straw-man set up by conservative columnists, journalists and politicians, so that they can appear to talk tough, without actually having to promise anything or attack anyone directly.

I agree whole heartedly with this!

[Blueoctober]

African American is a really annoying term that in itself is racist. It assumes all blacks are from Africa (not the carribean, not india, not south america)

well techinically they are all from africa but good point

[Genghis Khant]

African American is a really annoying term that in itself is racist. It assumes all blacks are from Africa (not the carribean, not india, not south america)

well techinically they are all from africa but good point

Technically, we are all from Africa.

[Blueoctober]

no

actually the first modern "human" was found in france.

cro-magnon is actually then name of the cave they were found in.

but i think the scientists would be interested in studying you because you cant be human

[Genghis Khant]

Evolutionally challenged, maybe.

[Blueoctober]

some kind of challenge

[flashleg8]

no

actually the first modern "human" was found in france.

cro-magnon is actually then name of the cave they were found in.

but i think the scientists would be interested in studying you because you cant be human

It might be the first "modern" human, but the remains of the oldest human species (Homo nabilis) discovered were found on the shores of Lake Turkana in East Africa.
They existed from approximately 2.2 to 1.6 million years ago.

[jay_a2j]

the minority can control what the majority thinks

Really that's happening? Can you give me an example?

Just one?


Retail stores saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". (this however was corrected this past year 2006 after much public pressure)


Prayer in school.


Searching baby strollers and the elderly in NYC subways while letting men of Arab decent go unsearched.


Donald Trumps American Flag... told to take it down. (He didn't)


The uncomprehensable drive to allow illegal immigrants to stay illegally in the US.



and the list goes on..... yeah political correctness will be the downfall of the US.

[flashleg8]

Searching baby strollers and the elderly in NYC subways while letting men of Arab decent go unsearched.

Why would you want to search decent Arab men?

[Lord Canti]

Political corectness, or what ever you want to call this syndrome of society that keeps us from expressng our true feelings about the world around us, is very confusing to me. I am of Irish Catholic heritage and if you wanted to call me a hot tempered drunken wife beater, throwing in any other stereotypes that you felt approprioate, I would either ignore you or take it as a joke. On this end of it people have got to be less defensive and learn to take a joke. ( Carlos Mencia you are a genius.)

However, I understand their are other forms of stereotypical profiling that are more serious, not to be joked about. Many Arabs are hard working, religous, kind human beings. To the frightened masses, all Arabs are terrorists, ready and willing to kill as many innocent people as possible in violent explosions. In a PC world, they retain their individual rights, while the rest of us feel insecure about who enters our countries and board the planes. Every man and woman on this Earth deserves rights against descrimination as well as the right to security. We need a social comprimise in this situation that allows Non-Arabs some but not total security while leaving Arabs with most but not all of their rights. Political correctness does not allow this comprimise, ignoring the possibility that someone from the Middle East would be more likely to hijack a plane or commit a suicide attack than someone from Boston or Ontario or Paris. In this way, PC does hurt democracy, dissallowing the a completly fair, rational solution that would provide a measure of security to the world.

[flashleg8]

I am of Irish Catholic heritage and if you wanted to call me a hot tempered drunken wife beater, throwing in any other stereotypes that you felt approprioate, I would either ignore you or take it as a joke. On this end of it people have got to be less defensive and learn to take a joke. ( Carlos Mencia you are a genius.)

That might be fine for you in America, but people of Irish Catholic heritage experienced extreme prejudice in my part of the world till very recently (70's) and even in the 80's-90's (at the height of the IRA bombings) Irish people encountered the same sort of fear and paranoia from the public. The bullying police tactics that you propose to deal with the Islamic extremist threat will not work - for the same reason it didn't work for us against the IRA. If you marginalise a section of the society with this behaviour you will make the problem worst. This will just act as a recruiting sergeant for exactly the people you want to stop. In the UK we are experiencing this effect right no due to the draconian police raids carried out on supposed terrorists that just turn out to be law abiding Muslims. After this kind of treatment can you really blame people for hating the authorities? (Perhaps a better analogy would be to point to the Police tactics used against the black gangs in LA - that just sparked widespread riots due to the alienation of vast sections of the black community).