
Trump, Obama and the Assault on Political Correctness - ktamura
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/opinion/trump-obama-and-the-assault-on-political-correctness.html
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deciplex
I know that what you can do in a poll is limited, but frankly any answer to
this question will tell me almost nothing:

> _Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statement: A big
> problem this country has is being politically correct._

I would ask anyone who agrees with this statement, what concrete problems does
it actually cause? Is it depressing wages for the middle class - is PC culture
to blame for increasing disparity in wealth and income? Is PC culture shipping
jobs overseas? Is PC culture shooting unarmed men in the streets? Is it spying
on us and reading our emails?

There are aspects of political correctness that irritate the hell out of me,
as well, but it's almost always very abstract. Rarely does it encroach on my
personal life at all. As near as I can tell it is mostly restricted to college
campuses, and the gulf between academia and real life is a much larger leap to
make than most people realize, I think. PC culture has no chance of co-opting
the broader American culture to any significant degree. I have a single friend
who has gone all-in on PC lately, and yes frankly talking to him sometimes can
be a real pain in my ass. But he's still my friend because he's still a decent
person, he can still be reasoned with, and he often makes good points.

On the other hand I have several people in my life who years ago doubled down
on the _opposite_ of PC culture - right-wing arealism, and I can tell you that
these people are orders of magnitude more insufferable than the most ardent
Social Justice Warrior I can imagine. They ruin Thanksgivings. They tell
racist, or sexist, or otherwise bigoted jokes and get incredibly upset if you
don't laugh or, heaven forfend, you insist they cut that shit out. They repeat
outrageous lies they read about on the Internet or heard on talk radio or
occasionally cable news, and it is absolutely impossible to reason with them
about any of it because they have been basically brainwashed beyond all reason
at this point.

Frankly I think all the bloviating we see about "PC culture" these days serves
mainly to draw attention away from the fact that much of the right wing in
America has become completely disconnected from reality, to the point of it
being a mental health issue. Why is no one talking about that?

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Consultant32452
I'll give it a shot. Political correctness stops us from having honest
conversations about real problems. It's why educators have to tip toe around
basic science topics like evolution. It's why people like Sam Harris are put
into the "bigot" box instead of us having frank discussions about militant
Islam on the evening news. Political correctness is why the educated people in
news can't speak honestly to how stupid climate change denial is. It's why we
can't talk about real problems that seem to be unique to some minority groups.

And when these problems don't get talked about, they don't get solved. And
unless people go out of their way, they simply can't be truly informed about
the issues. Hell, they can't even learn that there's more to be informed
ABOUT.

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deciplex
You seem to be suggesting that political correctness and right-wing arealism
are two sides of the same coin. I can buy that. However, and maybe this is
just my personal experience, but I've found that it's a _much_ bigger
impediment to clear thinking on the right, than on the left. Would you agree?
If so (and because I'm pretty sure I'm brushing up now against my daily post
limit on HN of 5-6 posts), why do you think we hear so much more about
"political correctness" than the horror show that is right-wing media?

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Consultant32452
I disagree. It's the left that won't let us speak honestly about problems in
some minority cultures or militant Islam. The left also won't let any real
discussion of men's rights or potential problems with 3rd wave feminism.

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dawnbreez
This article smacks of lefty bias. I'm not sure this is even newsworthy.

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shishkebab
Well, it is an opinion...

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mixmastamyk
It's true. I'm not a Trump fan per se--but I trust an honest moron far more
than a dishonest one who says all the right things.

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vaadu
Political correctness has no place in a free society. It's fascism, pure and
simple.

