Political correctness: you’re probably doing it wrong
Freshman year was the first time I was exposed to the idea of political correctness in the public school setting. Before we began our first discussion about “To Kill a Mockingbird,” my English class was given a disclaimer about a certain recurring word that, if we felt comfortable doing so, we could say, but only in the context of this novel. I remember the first person that encountered it as we read out important quotes. As she came to the word she paused in a moment of uncomfortable silence, and then quickly muttered, “n word.”
After this precedent-setting encounter, the rest of us refrained from ever saying the word in its entirety. Noticing that we had all avoided this word throughout our discussions, our teacher told us that she was glad we all felt uncomfortable saying that word, because in the years she had taught, it hadn’t always been the case. It was a sign of a bigger change of attitude. So while we were technically allowed to say the word, we were praised for choosing not to. And thus we experienced our first lesson in political correctness.
Political correctness has adopted an increasingly negative connotation in the discussion of the universally hated “social justice warriors” of the Internet. There was a time when it was cool to be informed on social issues, and to enlighten others on the art of not offending anyone. However, as it has become apparent that one person cannot keep up with all of the nuances of all issues involving race, sexuality, gender, and anything else that could make a person “different,” the term political correctness has adopted an increasingly negative connotation.
It’s politicians like Trump or comedians like Bill Maher that have capitalized on and maintained the momentum of this confusion and frustration, becoming increasingly popular by using the term “PC” as an insult. They’re praised for saying what everyone else is afraid to say, and by doing so without apology, they take the power away from the social justice warriors who rely on shaming ignorance to get the point across. Because of this tactic, the majority of us have censored social media posts in fear of becoming the next target of one of these rants.
So if both those who disregard political correctness and those who aggressively enforce it are being less-than-productive in advancing social causes in any real way, how should we go about it? The answer to this question is in the dictionary.
“Ignorance” has adopted an evil connotation. If someone is ignorant, they must be a racist who hates the gays and kills vegans in their backyard. But in reality, someone who is ignorant is someone who doesn’t know something. If we work from this definition, the role of a social justice warrior should be to inform, not shame.
By collectively changing the way we handle the things we find offensive, the blatantly bigoted figures who use the fight against political correctness as a shield for hate speech lose their safety blanket. It might seem cool to back this “I don’t give a hoot” mentality as the task of staying woke in the eyes of the Internet becomes increasingly difficult, but try to remember “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Political correctness isn’t what you can’t say. It’s what you can say, but chose not to, because you know better.
Samantha Meyer/Prowler
