Before we can fully understand whether political correctness has been good or bad for society, we have to revisit what political correctness actually means.
There are actually two definitions of “political correctness.” One that its proponents talk about (i.e. ending hate speech), one that its opponents talk about (i.e. suppressing free speech). Even though the opponents and proponents seem to be talking about opposite things, they are actually two side of the same coin.
Political Correctness started with great intentions, and has indeed made society less verbally threatening by discouraging hateful speech, however it has failed in several important ways too, and is often misused to suppress non-hateful opposing viewpoints.
Example Usages
- Use of hateful or insulting words is considered politically incorrect.
- Liberals considering any ideas that oppose their ideas as politically incorrect, especially in regions where liberals are the majority.
- Conservatives considering any ideas that oppose their ideas as politically incorrect, especially in regions where conservatives are the majority.
- The loudest and most vocal social groups with broad support or regional support considering any agenda that conflicts with their own as being politically incorrect.
Techniques Used
- Mild social pressure, such as hints and dirty looks.
- Verbal or written warnings, in the case of employment. Sometimes close friends will give an informal verbal warning as well.
- In that doesn’t work, shaming, vilifying and personal attacks are used.
- Making someone a persona non grata in social circles, business and employment for repeated infractions or a serious offense.
- And, in some cases, penalties under the law.
Successes
- Eliminates a majority of verbally hostile phrases and words from the workplace, schools and other public venues through the use of social pressure and laws.
- Children are less exposed to hateful phrases and are less likely to repeat them.
- It has generally been accepted that obviously hateful speech is wrong.
This looks like a pretty short list, but this is actually a huge accomplishment, and a good thing.
Winners
- People in society benefit directly since there are fewer occurrences of hateful speech in mainstream culture (especially when compared to 50 to 100 years ago), and when hateful acts do occur, it is usually accompanied by moral outrage and demands for corrective action.
- It may not seem like it since the media over-hypes any offense they discover, but the very fact that we are outraged over it is a big change from 50 to 100 years ago when some of the behavior was considered “normal” or “just the way it is.”
- Socially dominant groups would view it
as a success, in the sense that they can easily demonize their opponents and suppress opposing opinions and inconvenient facts.- Note, a socially dominant group does not actually have to be in the majority. Their agenda has to be dominant though, and opposing agendas frowned upon socially.
- Hateful people sometimes successfully twist political correctness to support their hateful agenda. For example, they may dislike a certain social group, so they vilify the social group they don’t like for certain behaviors while exempting themselves from the very same behaviors. They do this by trying to define what is politically correct by race or gender rather than by behavior.
- Although this is not what political correctness was intended to be, some people try to twist it for this purpose.
- The media is a big winner here because they can call out instances of political incorrectness and spur moral outrage into views and advertiser revenue.
- Fring groups often get free publicity because of the media attention, which sometimes helps them recruit new members.
Losers
- Openly hateful groups lose mainstream support quickly, and many people will not do business with companies involved in a scandal.
- Anyone who wants to talk about a taboo/sensitive subject in a positive/constructive way but is the wrong color, gender or belongs to the wrong social group is often shouted down as soon as they open their mouth.
- Anyone who wants to talk about facts and reality, even when it does not match up with what is currently politically correct.
- Society loses because social groups wind up stuck in groupthink since they won’t let positive/constructive outside ideas in. They wind up spinning their wheels trying the same old ineffective ideas over and over.
Failures
- It has not changed the hearts and minds of people. So instead of being obvious, hate and discrimination goes underground and are hidden from public eyes.
- This hidden discrimination and hate is harder to track, making it harder to eradicate.
- It is too focused on the words uttered and the color of skin of the speaker, and not focused enough on the intentions of the speaker.
- Innocent phrases often becomes “code words” for racist or hateful speech, causing confusion over what the speaker actually means and intends.
- This leads to discrimination and hate going unpunished by the guilty because their statements sound innocent, and innocent people being wrongly accused of hate because they unknowing uses an innocent sounding phrase that others have used in an offensive way.
- It is often used to prevent logical discussion of a topic, by shutting down opponents by accusing them of being hateful, racist or bigots, even when that is not the case.
- So instead of allowing ideas to rise or fall based on the merits of the arguments, unpopular ideas are suppressed before discussions can even begin in earnest.
- The easiest way to discredit your opponent is to take some of his words out of context, lie about what he really meant, and make him look bad in the public eye. The person could be totally innocent, but now anything he says is ignored and tainted. If you shut down enough opponents that way, your agenda is virtually unopposed.
- This results in policies that are biased towards one interest group, and are not necessarily in the best interest of all people.
- It is often used to discourage certain social groups from talking about certain topics at all, which prevents an open dialog between social groups, and perpetuates racist/racialism.
Backlash
- Because many people associate “political correctness” to the suppression of free speech, a growing percentage of the population is rejecting the concept of political correctness.
- The bad part of this is that you will start to hear more racist and ignorant remarks in the public discourse.
- The good part of this is that people will feel less pressure to avoid talking about sensitive issues, and actually propose solutions that are different from the preferred agenda.
- This can lead to compromise and better solutions if people listen to each other and respect other people’s opinions.
- This can lead to more conflict if people refuse to listen to any ideas other than their own, and do not respect other people or social groups.
Alternatives / Corrections
- Teach people to be respectful of others, even those they may disagree with.
- Teach people to be willing to listen to one another, and attempt to understand the other person’s point of view, so that we can have meaningful discussions that actually make a positive difference.
- Teach people to express their points of view and values without bashing their opponents. Arguments should be based on facts and reason, rather than emotion and anger.
- Recognize that hate can flow both ways, and that there should be no double standards, in either direction.
Summary
- Political Correctness has been good for society in many ways, but also has caused unintentional consequences by being misapplied.
- A backlash is growing, and alternate solutions for creating a more respectful, fair and open society are needed.