So everyone, there is no Political Correctness (in scare quotes pace Robert Sharp - who is generally extremely thought provoking and
Political Correctness, at least as I understand it, is the business of refraining from speaking your mind, or using particular forms of words or whatever, TO AVOID CAUSING OFFENCE.
I fail to see how this is in any way different to self-censorship, why it is not the very antithesis of Freedom of Expression. As we have seen rather too clearly since September and as 'Arry would have it:
Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear.In other news, the long-running controversy surrounding the depiction of Mohammed atop the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, enters its 71st year. Crowds of Muslims - alternately praying at its foot and giving thanks to the Founding Fathers of the US for the doctinre of the separation of Church and State that gives them full citizenship and the freedom to practise their religion without interference, have been condemned by Muslim leaders reminding them that this is idolatrous.
3 comments:
Just saw your latest comment on Robert Sharp's blog. It was what I think, but expressed in a concise, sensible and tactful way.
Thanks for the link.
I'm not sure that 'to avoid causing offence' fully captures the definition, although I have suggested before that "thinking before you speak" is certinly part of it.
'Political Correctness' is also the recognition that words and concepts can be unfairly prejudicial. Hence the constant quest to seek alternative phraseology.
That's not to say that this search cannot be taken to extreme levels by jobsworth unthinkers.
If the politically correct could think up a nicer world for "euphemism" they would. The purpose of PC is to shape thought (and action) in an Orwellian way to literally make some ideas unthinkable.
P.S. This may be pedantic of me, but I believe the "mot juste" would be "insightful", not "inciteful". YMMV.
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