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| Yes | 80% | 834 votes | Total: 1040 votes | |
| No | 20% | 206 votes |
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Add to FavoritesPolitical correctness undermines free speech in the United States in a number of insidious ways. It stifles confrontation and allows undercurrents of tension to build up when people do not say what they are really thinking. It sustains a climate of below-the-surface feelings of victimization that can erupt in a volcano of rage and law suits. Finally, political correctness results in absolutely ridiculous practices, such as frisking 80-year-old ladies at the airport so that swarthy young guys from lands where there are likely to be a lot of sand and camels don't feel profiled.
Name a minority, and one can find a politically correct attitude to accommodate them. Take American Indians, for example. The howling savages of my boyhood cowboy flicks are now known as "Native Americans." I was born here, too, can't I be called a "native"? Now that the NCAA has asked colleges to rid itself of Indian names and mascots in the name of political correctness, have Native Americans somehow benefited? Fortunately, that group didn't have the clout to force the Atlanta Braves or Cleveland Indians to change their team name. The owners just ignored the activists, who seem to have lost interest.
Then there are our African-/Afro-/Black American friends. That particular minority owns the equivalent of the nuclear option of political incorrectness - the N-word. It is a word so politically incorrect that if uttered in the work environment, classroom, in a public interview, or anywhere where more than one person can hear it, it results in immediate ostracism, firing, public opprobrium, and all sorts of bad, bad things (unless, one happens to be a member of the African-(etc.) race, in which case, one can utter it in stand-up comedy routines, rap music, or casual street conversation with friends of the same racial background.) One almost gets the impression that White people's inability to utter the N-Word is our legacy of the slavery years. Fair enough. Just don't ask us for reparations, okay?
One only needs to Google the words "political correctness run amok" to discover countless columns, articles, and blogs decrying political correctness in American universities. In some universities, Freshmen must undergo "sensitivity" indoctrination classes so that they can learn the politically correct behavior towards minorities that they may never have encountered before arriving on campus. Many colleges have published guides for political correctness (called "student handbooks") with appropriate warnings that insensitive speech can result from anything from a visit to the Dean to suspension or expulsion.
And there is an emerging group in our nation, who are handled with the kid gloves of political correctness, despite the dictates of common sense. That group, of course, is the Muslim community. American Muslims are beginning to continue the tradition of our American Indians (who have quieted somewhat because of all those casinos) and our African-(etc.) friends (whose growing middle class is becoming an embarrassment to the likes of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton).
A group of American Muslims made the news recently as they began to throw down their prayer rugs in an airport, dispersed in the airplane seating in the manner of the 9-11 terrorists and began to behave in an overall disturbing manner to the extent they had to be thrown off the plane. Unfortunately, the memory of 9-11 is still too fresh in our memories to extend that level of political correctness to men shouting "Allah," which was probably the last word many of the dead on 9-11 heard. Nevertheless, the Mullahs are suing. One day soon, they might even have their own "M-Word."
So, yes, political correctness stifles free speech, creates tension and conflict, and causes illogical and stupid behavior. But it does save hurt feelings, I suppose.
Learn more about this author, Jerry Curtis.
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No
When considering the question of whether or not political correctness has undermined free speech in the United States, it is very important to keep in mind the fact that political correctness is a _societal constraint_. A society functions by deciding what norms of behavior they want to support, impose, and discourage. To an extent, this is supported by law and legislation, as in the case of those rights afforded and protected by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. However, the majority of social norms and mores are imposed by pressure to conform to society rather than through written law. People in a society conform to commonly practiced behaviors or refrain from practicing uncommon behaviors from fear of rejection or disapproval of the society. For the most part, political correctness falls under the latter category, in that it is the society that decides what is or is not politically correct behavior. The change is not in the legal freedom of speech in the United States, but rather in the societal constraints on our freedom of speech.
Ideological divisions and differences in moral stances will always occur in a society. It is imperative that society members be allowed to express their opinions, at least to the extent that they do not infringe upon others' rights. However, the difficulty comes when protecting the rights of a group versus the rights of an individual, and vice-versa. Although political correctness may be seen in many cases as a protection for the weak, it is more than this. Yes, political correctness demands that I choose my words carefully when approaching a co-worker about a disagreement. However, it also demands that my co-worker cannot say I am unable to complete a task because I am female, that I am unable to understand something because of my age, or that I am less intelligent because I speak with a Southern drawl. Discrimination and harassment, two things that are thankfully decreasing in our society, are protected both legally and by the social constraints of political correctness.
As of now in our society, I do not feel that political correctness extends to the point that it infringes on our freedom of speech. I think we all need to use some degree of reason in judging our responses to what people say, because people are capable of being offended too easily. We also should not use political correctness as an excuse for not wanting to hear things with which we disagree. It is easy to use political correctness as a shield. However, political correctness has yet to alter the basic _legal rights_ for which we are afforded protections for speech. In recent cases like Rosie O'Donnell speaking about 9/11 and Don Imus's remarks against the Rutgers basketball team, it has been the media NOT the law that has started most of the ruckus against the individuals involved. Rather than being concerned with the status of political correctness in society, we should be concerned with the fact that MSNBC spends an afternoon polling "experts" on whether Rosie is unpatriotic or should be fired, instead of focusing on actual "news" in the world.
Learn more about this author, Winifred Stockington.
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