Essay On Political Correctness

Words: 1860
Pages: 8

Society’s Good Intentions with Political Correctness Just because something has good intentions, does that make it a good thing? The initial response to that question “yes.” But I’m asking you to stop and think about the question. Just because something is good for one, does it really make it good for everyone? Think about every war that has ever happened. Both sides have good intentions, but it’s their own perceptions of good intent. One war in particular has been raging for a very long time. I’m talking about the war of equality. The weapon of choice is a little something called political correctness. What is political correctness? Also referred to as PC, it can be traced back to around the beginning of the 19th century. But PC, as we know it, really emerged in the late 20th century. Utilization of the term exploded in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. I think James Le Fanu defined it the best by saying “Political Correctness is an idealist philosophy that seeks to make the world a better place by wishing it to be so.” He describes PC as having two essential characteristics. …show more content…
It seems that the vast majority of the population dislikes it and what it stands for. Is it something about our psychology? Most of us say things behind closed doors that we would never dream of saying in public. It’s ok for a comedian to be racist and inappropriate because it’s in the name of comedy? On the other side of the microphone, it’s ok for people to laugh at racial jokes, but on the street it’s a different story? “Words can’t be bad, but people and their intentions can be bad.” That quote is from a famous comedian named George Carlin. It’s one my favorite quotes and it sums up all the flaws with the idea of political correctness. So although it has good intentions, PC has a very adverse effect on the world as a whole, all the way down to the individual peon. I believe we’ve had