Why Trump may be winning the war on ‘political correctness’

[AZ Progressive]

Article from the Washington Post

In an October poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University, 68 percent agreed with the proposition that “a big problem this country has is being politically correct.”

It was a sentiment felt strongly across the political spectrum, by 62 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 81 percent of Republicans. Among whites, 72 percent said they felt that way, but so did 61 percent of nonwhites.

“People feel tremendous cultural condescension directed at them,” and that their values are being “smirked at, laughed at” by the political and media elite, said GOP strategist Steve Schmidt.

“Driving powerful sentiments underground is not the same as expunging them,” said William A. Galston, a Brookings Institution scholar who advised President Bill Clinton. “What we’re learning from Trump is that a lot of people have been biting their lips, but not changing their minds.”

[flamingdem]

1. This is an important insight

We lose Democratic party supporters when people get ridiculous about being PC.

One can see this kind of PC policing here at DU. Rather than giving the benefit of the doubt, even if slightly offended.. alert!!!

[firebrand80]

2. You really have to give people space

Society is changing, but not everyone evolves at the same speed. You end up pushing away people that are inclined to agree with you.

Cut someone a break if they improperly use one of 75 gender classifications.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Someone needs to tell me what this "PC boogeyman" is they're fighting

I thought "PC" was about reminding folks why it's inappropriate to toss out words like 'spic', 'fairy', 'dyke', 'dumb broad', etc. in daily conversation, or why telling Jew jokes around the water cooler might be offensive to your colleagues (despite it being commonplace a generation or two ago)...

[Nye Bevan]

5. It's more this kind of thing:

'Brainstorming', the buzzword used by executives to generate ideas among their staff, has been deemed politically incorrect by civil servants because it is thought to be offensive to people with brain disorders.

Instead staff at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) in Belfast will use the term 'thought-showers' when they get together to think creatively. A spokeswoman said: 'The DETI does not use the term brainstorming on its training courses on the grounds that it may be deemed pejorative.'

Sources inside the department said there was concern that the term would cause offence to people with epilepsy as well those with brain tumours or brain injuries.

But the Campaign for Plain English complained that the decision had 'reached the point of real ridicule'. 'You do sometimes wonder if some people haven't got anything better to do with their time,' said spokesman John Wild. 'Do they just sit down and search out enough words until eventually they can say: "I can make that out to be politically incorrect"?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jun/26/uk.politicalnews

[sufrommich]

6. Citizens of Ireland can't vote in U.S. elections.

How is this relevant?

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. The question was about what people mean when they say "political correctness"

and when they mean is not, on the whole, avoiding the insults that Blue_Tires gave an example of in #3, but the kind of thing Nye Bevan gave an example of in #5.

There will be some people who do actually want to be able to use the insults, but when 62% of Democrats, and 61% of nonwhites, think political correctness causes the USA problems, it's not about the genuine insults, but about the more ridiculous stuff like 'brainstorming'. The Guardian writer called that 'political correctness', and that's a fairly good indication that it went too far.

[Blue_Tires]

8. Guess it will always mean different things to different people..

[philosslayer]

17. If someone has a particularly good idea...

It becomes a "golden shower"

[SolutionisSolidarity]

13. PC has moved far beyond that.

Now it's all about microaggresions. It is no longer enough to avoid actively insulting people; now every thing you do must be examined for unconscious bias lest you be equated to a modern day Hitler. At least that's what it's like on the Internet. People are much more accommodating in meat space.

[Blue_Tires]

14. The innernettes are shit anyway...

and should not be used as a microcosm of public discourse...

[Democat]

11. "White Tears", "White Privilege", "Microaggressions" and other voter turn offs

Look around DU and see why even many Democrats have turned against extreme political correctness

[Nuclear Unicorn]

16. Once upon a time, "Democratic" meant "of the people."

Now it has become a platform for a self-selecting few moral scolds trying to use (social) media to bully majorities into catering to private agendas.

[WillowTree]

22. Or really offended, for that matter.

There is no right from any source to never be offended, but way too many people seem to think there is. I hear and see things that offend me all the time. I choose my battles. Sometimes I fight back, sometimes I ignore, considering the source. But I do not attempt to silence unless something is genuinely hateful (not what gets egregiously labeled as "hate speech" too frequently). There is just something sickeningly wrong with trying to muzzle people just because we agree with them.

[demmiblue]

4. Who knew that being a racist, bigot and misogynist (who considered "dating" his own daughter)...

would be in vogue?

Using the PC label as an attack is just a cover for those who have the same tendencies. And, yes, there is a certain demographic that is infected with the anti-PC virus.

[sufrommich]

7. This. nt

[Solly Mack]

10. Yep.

[LittleBlue]

21. According to the poll, 68% of nonwhites feel the same way

It's universal across all demographics.

[DefenseLawyer]

9. Ah the good old days when everyone liked a good racist joke.

While I agree that we can go too far in stifling controversial speech in the name of sensitivity, that's not what bothers the Trump crowd. They're just pissed that you can't be overtly racist at work anymore.

[Nye Bevan]

15. Most people who complain about "PC" are not nostalgic for overt racism and sexism.

It's more about stuff such as banning words like "blacklist" and "niggardly" because of their perceived racism, avoiding terms like "manhole cover" because it is supposedly sexist, and trying to rename Christmas trees "Holiday trees" because of the danger of offending non-Christians. And avoiding the term "master bedroom" because of its perceived connotations with slavery.

[DefenseLawyer]

24. I didn't say anything about "most people"

I said "the Trump crowd". I'm quite certain that most people are not in that crowd.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

18. I used to think sexually demeaning a woman's professional accomplishments was

the province of RW misogynists.

Then I read the comments of people who claim to be Progressives about Megyn Kelly.

[whatthehey]

20. But sensible people can see a middle ground

I haven't the slightest desire to tell racist jokes and think Trump is a blowhard bigoted caricature, but I don't want to have to mangle the language with invented neuter pronouns, walk on eggshells around potential "microaggressions" if I don't "validate" every possible group's feelings of oppression even when I haven't the slightest clue what or why they are, and have to worry about misinterpretation of completely unbiased terms which sound like they might be biased ones.

Folks also tend not to be too keen on supporting groups who cheer for "tears" from people like themselves simply based on having the majority complexion.

[DefenseLawyer]

23. Trump is not appealing to "sensible people"

I agree with you completely as it relates to some of the "PC run amok" situations you describe and I don't mean to suggest that everyone who bristles at that (and I am among those myself) longs to bash Jews in the break room. However, I would still maintain that you and I are not the audience that Donald Trump and other republicans are talking to when they talk about the evils of "political correctness". He's talking to people that don't like having to curb their racist/misogynist views in public. Those that have outdated views on race and gender don't want to say "People hate my ideas"; they'd rather say "Elites use 'political correctness' to put us down"

[romanic]

12. I dislike overly PC-nees and identity politics

but I dislike Trump even more than a sniveling internet crybaby.