What is P.C.

[Jemisa]

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of sh!t by the clean end."

anon

[Mick-Talbot]

'them'

Who is 'them' ?

[dickythecook]

Jem, My little jack russel whose name apparently is not pc was upset when my post replying to your un-pc jokes was removed. All because he is called bradford

[magsmay]

Its only when PC is taken to ridiculous lengths that it becomes fatuous. Of course its unacceptable to call a black person the 'N' word because the word itself has connotations - but to call a small person vertically challenged or a prostitute a 'sex industry worker' -well its unnecessary. Where do you stop? at one point the native peoples of North America were 'red Indians' -then they were Native Indians,then that became politically (as well as geographically) incorrect then it was native of the Americas, Indigenous races and now Aboriginals - 'the 'N' workd became 'coloured' until hat was deemed PinC now 'Black' seems to be PC though not so long ago it was PinC .

[FredPuli43]

Wildwood: An American comedian, Reginald D Hunter, who lives here, reports that one thing he couldn't get used to was the British male's habit of introducing a friend by saying, for example "This is Jim, he's a stupid [C word]". Now, try going up to Jim and saying "You stupid [C word]" and think what response you'd get!

Reginald D Hunter is black, from the deep South. Equally he says that the N word is not taboo in his family. Far from it; it's used all the time, but "white folks" get very touchy about it. And with reason; when it's used by them it I not usually meant to be friendly or accommodating nor is it taken that way by the subject of it.

Tottenham FC is a soccer club with long-established Jewish connections. Its fans, Jews and non-Jews, have taken to calling themselves by what some Jews delicately call "the Y word". But other clubs have told their fans that while it may be used by Tottenham fans, it is not appropriate for other fans to use it, as it is offensive and anti-Semitic. Indeed, recently, the team has been subjected to anti-Semitic abuse which included it. Context and intent is everything.

[ummmm]

But it was white people that referred to black people as 'coloured' that's not how they referred to themselves.

So referring to race as they refer to themselves is not PC, it's good manners.

[Mosaic]

I think awareness of other people is good, but PC rapidly became a bandwagon used as a shibboleth and as an excuse by the crafty. Like feminism.

[sandyRoe]

I never thought 'Yid' to be considered offensive. If it is, is 'Yiddish' as a word not to be used?

[Zeuhl]

The key element in PC is the P word: political

Being good mannered, sensitive to other people's feelings, respectful, non-prejudicial, fair etc

They are simply 'correct'

and enacted by people who genuinely believe they are 'correct'

What brings that into disrepute is when it is formalised into a rigid set of do's and don'ts by people who may not believe, care or maybe haven't given the issues any thought but are just doing so in the interests of political conformity.

Being 'correct' is good
Being 'politically correct' is never good
.

[naomi24]

^^ Spot on Zeuhl.

[FredPuli43]

Wow, Sandy, try calling the next Jewish person you meet a Yid, and see what response you get! It's been an insulting term for a Jew for donkey's years. David Baddiel, a Jew, talking about the Tottenham case, used the phrase 'the Y word' rather than utter it. Nobody takes offence, of course, at Yiddish for the language nor at Yiddisher, meaning someone who speaks Yiddish (as in the song 'My Yiddisher Mama').

[Svejk]

Zeuhl, that is so well put. Surely nobody would argue with that.
That's exactly what I wanted to say but not having your eloquence I'd have just stirred the PC brigade to greater heights of indignation.

[Kromovaracun]

Political Correctness as it's normally defined, is not a real thing. It's border-line conspiracy theory nonsense.

My reason for saying this is that *every* supposed example of "PC gone mad" invariably turns out to be a non-story exaggerated purely for the purposes of raising the PC bogeyman. The most famous debunking is probably the 'banned Christmas'/Winterval episode, but there's also the 'you can't say baa baa black shee/pudding/whatever' which I've yet to see any evidence of at all.

Then of course there's the myth that racial/insensitive jokes are completely taboo and banned in all major media and public discourse - which is invariably said by people wilfully ignoring the examples of Little Britain, Peep Show or South Park - all of which have been runaway successes.

PC is not real. As far as I know, none of the supposed examples stack up when they're investigated properly, none of the supposed effects ever seem to be manifest. It's a gimmick for selling papers.

[ichkeria]

"Political Correctness as it's normally defined, is not a real thing. It's border-line conspiracy theory nonsense.
"

Exactly: PC, when used "seriously" is a term used by people who think they are being forced to do or say something which they aren't.
Arguably they are the "politically correct aware", perhaps even "delusional, illogical minority" :-)
On the other hand I might say that it is "politically correct" to call my Aunt Edna "well-built" rather than "fat". But in doing so I am not imagining that there is a network of PC-enforcing agents waiting to pounce on me if I don't (being pounced on by Aunt Edna would be bad enough)

I'd like to point out that I don't in fact have an Aunt Edna and that all the aunts I do have are perfectly formed :-) )

[David H]

That pretty well sums it up. Multiculturalism- a doctrine which promotes the idea all cultures are equal, regardless of crimes committed by some. PC is a method of persuading the masses certain views are wrong, being against gay marriage or immigration, or not believing in global warming. The main theme was written by Goebbels, and developed by Stalin. Not nice at all.