Do we really need political correctness?

[جوري]

I wouldn't ask the question if I didn't think it was absurd that certain social graces that should be naturally present in our nature are missing from the majority of people in the societies we inhabit. Obviously there's a huge culture clash between east and west. Some things are so absurd to talk about yet are being taught in work places in the U.S to foster a better less hostile work environment not to mention those snazzy ethics classes we'd to take in grad school (I'd say those are a necessity indeed) as there variations of the law and litigation that can follow and it is important to know if Euthanasia is the law of the land and when to unhook a person from a ventilator or not intubate or resuscitate, or hold against will as a threat to self or others etc.

I have been dumbstruck by the so-called anti-bullying laws that are instated of late, frankly because bullying is almost a favorite American/western past time. It seems the very crux of their so-called 'free speech' is to foster that kind of hostile menacing vilification of any group of people who are viewed as sub-human and conditioning children and from a young age to think that it is OK to do so and then wondering what went wrong when they've a massacre such as was at columbine but it is also strange on the account that something that should be second nature to people is now so outlandish that folks have to be reconditioned and re-taught how to behave like civilized human beings. In other words they'd set the baseline so low and now want to bring it to a different platform with strange new modifications.

Now, what gets me irked with these so-called laws is their misapplication and abuse. As an example: It isn't OK for me to say I despise homosexuality that makes me a 'homophobe' and no other description! & usually under some threat like being accepted say for religious beliefs or whatever it is that is deemed of importance to the individual an indemnity contract has to be drafted procuring those rights on the condition of the individual accepting something that one is otherwise incredibly averse to. Like in the 'Emperor's New Clothes' where the emperor and the people were forced to accept a farce under some threat or coercion rather than risk being labeled something that is demeaning or insulting when the truth is otherwise so rudimentary, staring if not slapping them in the face that even a child can point it out to the world.

So what's wrong with this picture? How do we move past what 'they' think without being the marginalized few when in fact we're the rightful few...

your thoughts..

 

[Hulk]

I can't really say much because I'm not from that society.

I think it's popular morality. If many people say it is wrong, it is wrong. If many people say it is right, it is right. It's silly but I think that's what it has come to. Instead of practicing simple adab, it has become adhering to "political correctness".

While I'm sure that on some level there is some "adab" involved, it also limits morality to what is "popular" instead of what is right.

 

[جوري]

well I find that adab is very minimally involved here. They teach adab now at work classes were forced on staff in succession and one of them covered these simple Islamic principles like Saying I am sorry, or opening the door for someone, or letting another person have their say or not backbiting. Imagine that.. backbiting is the bread and butter of all western institutions as it is in ours as well but to them it isn't a sin akin to eating your brother's flesh.. No to them when they adhere to the law it is under a threat and the bottom line of every threat is a dollar..
It is really unfortunate but that is the very being of this society and I presume any society where God doesn't play a role so something else has to and it has to de-evolve and in order for them to re-evolve to human beings (as they naturally believe themselves animals) is to re-educate and draft anew wider brush of accommodation using all the florid language & psychology they can muster.

I heard that line once at work when I protested backbiting. ''If being yourself works for you'' .. it is a given to cave in to base inclination and not be yourself because it isn't going to work is the message I basically received from that.

 

[جوري]

I also wanted to say that who decides 'popular opinion' is it the govt.? On forums? [Media-people tuning in to homosexual shows because that's all that's on tv?] schools? do they survey everyday folk for this so-called popular opinion?

 

[BadOlPuttyTat]

So you noticed also?
Political correctness is a way the weak can feel equal to the strong. People will call you what they think behind your back and you can't escape it.
I am not trying to be racist or "politically incorrect" here....

I am African and Hispanic and I know people call me a "******" behind my back. But the funny part is people think I am Japanese :mmokay: , which makes no utter sense.

I call blacks "******s" all the time and I call white people "paperskins" and "doughboys" all the time. I don't hate them nor do I have ill thoughts towards them but it is because that is who they are.
According to the dictionary midget means a person of short stature".
If your 3 feet your a "midget" which makes you a "dwarf" which makes you a "shorty" which makes you a "little person". Everytime I see a "little person" I think "midget". So political correctness is just a form of oppression and ludicrous behavior.
We are who we are no matter how negative it is. Nothing you can do about it and nothing you can do to wipe it from peoples minds.
If the word exist and has a definition and YOU ARE THAT DEFINITION then YOU ARE THAT WORD.

 

[Who Am I?]

No long rant today, but I will say that I despise political correctness in all forms. I think that it has contributed to the degradation of our society. It is part of the vast conspiracy to "dumb down" the world...

 

[Hulk]

Imagine that.. backbiting is the bread and butter of all western institutions as it is in ours as well but to them it isn't a sin akin to eating your brother's flesh.. No to them when they adhere to the law it is under a threat and the bottom line of every threat is a dollar..

I was surprised about this. I think there were some people on this forum(non-muslims) who were surprised that backbiting is a major sin(or a sin at all) and said that "it is a hard law to follow", "everybody does it". Well just because everybody does it doesn't make it right.


I guess this is what happens when a society doesn't have a firm grasp of what is right and what is wrong. It tends to sway with "trends", some call it "progress".

I also wanted to say that who decides 'popular opinion' is it the govt.? On forums? [Media-people tuning in to homosexual shows because that's all that's on tv?] schools? do they survey everyday folk for this so-called popular opinion?

I personally think that a big chunk of it comes from pop culture, or as you call it media-people. The "cool" people who are influential not because of their upright character or intelligence but because of their "entertainment" value.


I think a lot of us are somewhat lacking in "brain" stimulation so the minute some "influential" character says some "intelligent" line we all come biting and swallow whatever crap comes after. This is why it is now "cool" to be atheist, because all the "cool" "intelligent" people are atheist, and we have a lot of new young atheists who are think they are the most logical people in the world and that anyone who believes in religion are idiots.

 

[جوري]

, because all the "cool" "intelligent" people are atheist, and we have a lot of new young atheists who are think they are the most logical people in the world and that anyone who believes in religion are idiots.

You've hit the nail on the head especially so with that statement-- and if you'll allow me to quote one Christian writer on the ten reasons people accept the theory of evolution as a fact:

As one who writes and lectures often on the topics of creation and evolution, I frequently am asked the question: “Why do people believe in evolution?” Often the question is phrased in what are intended to be complimentary terms: “Why is it that so many obviously intelligent people believe in evolution?”




To suggest that many people today accept evolution as true merely because they have been taught to believe it does not tell the whole story, however. Intellectual pride enters into the picture as well. Who among us does not want to present at least the appearance of being smart and well educated? Over the last century, we have been led to believe that if we wish to be considered intelligent, then we should believe in evolution, because intelligent people all over the world believe in evolution. As Henry Morris well stated the issue: “[T]he main reason most educated people believe in evolution is simply because they have been told that most educated people believe in evolution!” (Morris, 1963, p. 26).
Consider the hypothetical example of two college students discussing their professors and courses. One of the students, Joe, asks his friend, Mark, the following question: “Hey, Mark, do you believe in evolution? My professor says all smart folks do.” Honestly, what is Mark supposed to say? If he says, “No, Joe, I don’t believe in evolution,” by definition he has admitted to being outside the sphere of all the “smart folks.” On the other hand, if he says, “Yes, Joe, I do believe in evolution,” he may be admitting to a belief based not on an examination of the evidence, but on the idea that he does not wish to be viewed by his peers as anything but “smart.” Undoubtedly, many people today fall into this category. They do not accept evolution because they have seen evidence that establishes it as true. Rather, they believe it because doing so places them in the same category as others who are considered to be well educated and intelligent.

http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=273

and you can see it reverberating all throughout this forum from our atheist members:
http://www.islamicboard.com/comparative-religion/134312544-origin-god-7.html#post1520878 (see also my reply to him)
and you see it outside this forum with such so-called studies that render 'intelligent people atheists'
http://freethinker.co.uk/features/atheists-are-more-intelligent-than-religious-people/
who runs these studies and what kind of control or population or statical power they confer is of course in the realm of the unknown.. it is merely enough to put out that atheists are 0.06% smarter than the religious and who doesn't want that 0.06% especially when phrased with such authority?

Truth is atheism like any other man made ideology is a great tool of Satan:

So long as you keep a certain percent of the population fooled with whatever, atheism, materialism which aren't necessarily exclusive, erroneous religious beliefs with which Gods are men or idols or magical to blind the masses, then he has accomplished the task which he had millenniums perfecting and with this new dawn he has convinced the 'logicians' that he doesn't exist all together.

Sahih International
[Satan] said, "Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.​

7:17 to top

Sahih International
Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You]."​

 

[GuestFellow]

› describes someone who believes that language and actions which could be offensive to others, especially those relating to sex and race, should be avoided

› describes a word or expression that is used instead of another one to avoid being offensive

I support political correctness, as long as it it in accordance with the definition above. It can be abused, I acknowledge that. Chocolate can be abused too.:skeleton:

 

[جوري]

I support political correctness, as long as it it in accordance with the definition above. It can be abused, I acknowledge that. Chocolate can be abused too.:skeleton:

I don't agree that, this is the definition of political correctness. To me it is a substitution of terms to make sure a new culture is all inclusive of things we wouldn't otherwise include and exclusive of things we should.
What you're speaking of are social graces and people still lack that even with this new culture of 'political correctness'
It is natural as you described in your other thread to not want to hurt someone's feeling. A whole culture has been created around hurting people's feelings, especially people deemed undesirable just ask times magazine and U.S news who have published almost identical articles against Muslims.
No political correctness isn't about that as that particular culture of bullying and hurting others is very much alive and well. I am talking about substituting terms to make things that should otherwise be abhorrent into popular main stream by beautifying it and then feeding it to an entire new generation.
Terms for instance like Sharia and Islamic law are vilified constantly, banned even, openly without batting an eye lash as to why. It is just wrong and not challenged, meanwhile terms like democracy are glorified held high on a pedestal ( & you can't speak against it) in fact you do and it might be against the law especially if you're promoting some other ideology. It is made so that it is almost antithetical to good to be against those principles that they propose which are otherwise arbitrary but meant to promote one particular agenda.

 

[Muezzin]

People should just... not be buttheads to each other, and should treat each other with respect. Adults shouldn't need to be reminded of this. It's common sense, surely?

Unless someone replies that it's a dog eat dog world. But really, that's daft. Have you ever seen a dog eating another dog?

 

[Who Am I?]

People should just... not be buttheads to each other, and should treat each other with respect. Adults shouldn't need to be reminded of this. It's common sense, surely?

Unless someone replies that it's a dog eat dog world. But really, that's daft. Have you ever seen a dog eating another dog?

Right, I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

There are three simple rules to live by:

1. Love God
2. Love Yourself
3. Respect your fellow man

That's it. If you do those things, you'll be OK. Don't worry about rules and regulations and all that. Just live by those 3 rules and you'll be fine...

Oh, and I did once see my dogs eat a dog-shaped animal cookie. So technically, they ate another dog...

 

[Muezzin]

Right, I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

There are three simple rules to live by:

1. Love God
2. Love Yourself
3. Respect your fellow man

That's it. If you do those things, you'll be OK. Don't worry about rules and regulations and all that. Just live by those 3 rules and you'll be fine...

Fair enough.

Oh, and I did once see my dogs eat a dog-shaped animal cookie. So technically, they ate another dog...

By that logic, eating a gingerbread man would make you a cannibal.

 

[Who Am I?]

Fair enough.


By that logic, eating a gingerbread man would make you a cannibal.

Well then it's a good thing I have never eaten a gingerbread man...

 

[GuestFellow]

What do people mean by respect?

In France, most French people think the Niqaab is disrespectful. Should a Muslim women remove the Niqaab because it is disrespectful/insensitive to other people's fweelings and emotions?