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Politically Correct - Page 3

Not that I agree wholeheartedly with the whole Political Correctness movement, but, to take apart the original post:

That is something my parents taught me to do long before the term "politically correct" was coined. It encourages accuracy, and cuts down on apologies for things you really didn't mean to say.

First and foremost, Africa is a huge continent. People from different areas of that continent have different characteristics. China is also a very large country, with many different peoples of many different characteristics. Add to that, in a Trini sense, JB might have meant just about any Asian person, by "Chinese" and you've got an extremely wide net. There are weak and strong people, from each sector.

'Reality' is not and cannot be subjected to a generalization of an entire continent or two! If I said, Americans are more likely not to know basic geography outside of their own country, that might be (and is) quite true, from my personal experience. I am certain however, that Colin Powell and Condolzeeza Rice can point out Norway on a world Atlas!

There is a definite difference in my opinion, between asking people not to make racial or gender-specific stereotypes and/or generalizations the norm in their way of thinking, and the current politically correct madnesses infecting the globe, however. Calling a spade a spade is not wrong when you say, "this child is stronger in math than that child". Wrong is saying, "boys are better at math than girls".

Capisce?

Correct Politically

Er, I meant just what I meant because it is an example. To focus on which continent I chose or which people I used only reinforces my point about being politically correct. In other words, when one becomes so politically correct they are not able to form opinions because of fear of what others may think of what they say. If in my experience I see Africans from Africa being stronger than Chinese from China then I have every right to say that. Will that offend someone, yes it will, but does that mean I should now change my opinion because it does not sound right to someone else? There was no Trini sense to what I said because this is the Political and Activism Board and not the T&T Board.

Reality is what you conceive to be reality, but this is not the Matrix Board or Philosophy Board, and thus I will not bring that up here, but again you reinforce my point that from experience you have formed opinion. Those who are politically correct will try to 'correct' you on your opinion.

Politically Correct History & Civil Business Politics

Jim is so right! Something I recently saw on another site are: Black Hispanics, White Hispanics, Afro-Trinidadians, Indo-Trinidadians and the list goes on...to refer to who? People who are Hispanic, Black and Indians descendants. Here they call "red" to someone who is either Mulatto or Mixed-race. Don't ask me why in the world they call it "red" though...

Very good points Konq. I think that as long as a person uses the common terms without the actual intention of discriminating or put down someone, is fine. I also think it has a lot to do with a cultural thing. Here in Trinidad for instance it is very common to refer Black people as "Negros", yes and is not insulting. I do not use it because I think is kind of weird but people use it all the time here. Let me clarify is not the same "n" word that they use in the USA and even that word is used within the same race but when someone from outside who is not from that race uses that word, a whole revolution arises.

So, political correctness serves no purpose in my opinion but just satisfy someone's psychological issues who feels they are treated "better" by a change of words. Strange.

Page 3 Correct Politically

In the US, political correctness has become more akin to tyranny. It closes off entire "sensitive" topics due to fear of being branded a racist, which is the modern day equivalent of heresy from days of old. It is my personal opinion that the state of the poor in the US is partially the fault of this close lipped mentality. It cannot be denied that there are many blacks within what is considered the poverty level, but there are also other races. Rather than assuming that all blacks are poor and making politically correct excuses for them, why not focus on the question: why are they economically stagnant.

Funny story on why I do not use the phrase African American: I had a friend who was getting an African American scholarship, who filled out the application because he was African. When he showed up to accept the scholarship, they retracted it. It turns out they wanted someone who was black, not a white from South Africa with a green card.

Correct Politically

We have discussed political correctness in the modern world and it was stated:

The border between Political correctness and saying something offensive seems very dicey.

What if I were to say "Asians develop more fully developed synaptic connections in the brain then Africans, which results in smarter individuals"

I know this is not necessarily true, but for sake of argument if it were, could someone of prominence say in the United states: Asians are smarter then Africans.

If we were to take empirical evidence then that statement might seem to be true.

Does Genetics give some Races abilities (Physical Strength, Mental ability) in one area and weaknesses (Small Stature, Certain diseases) in others.
Seems like it could be true, but it also seems to smack of something socially offensive to say or think.

Politically Correct

It has come to a point that some people are afraid to speak up for fear they are going to offend someone. It is true no matter what you say your going to offend someone. I believe that PC has gone on for so long we have seen things like common sense die. We are so worried about offending someone we put away common sense and do things totally idiotic. Oops I should not have said that I may have offended the idiots in this world. Am I politically correct? Heck no and I do not want to be. If your a idiot for doing something I am going to tell you "you are and idiot". I believe that we all are equal in life. We all have bones, blood, muscle, brains and skin. We are millions of individual cells working together to make us. We are all on this planet. We are all individuals. Why can we not work together and do some good and not worry if his skin is darker or she has a higher IQ? America used to be a big melting pot where everyone was an American. NOw you have these Native americans over here, the italian americans over there, the african americans yonder and asian americans back there. Give it time and the PC train will divide us even further. But that is just my Danish american view.

Politically Correct - Page 3

Political correctness is sometimes the furthest from common sense you can get. I believe that most of it is based on offended people looking for ways to not have people offend them. The thing is anything can offend someone.

Politically Correct Politics Business Civil & History - Page 3

"Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions." Sir Leslie Stephen - (1832-1904), literary essayist, author Source: The Suppression of Poisonous Opinions, 1883

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"Political correctness is really a subjective list put together by the few to rule the many -- a list of things one must think, say, or do. It affronts the right of the individual to establish his or her own beliefs." Mark Berley - Source: Argos, Spring 1998