Pc

[Master_Ginn]

So, i've been thinking and i've noticed that most college students are democrats, and are almost always PC(politically correct). Well i just wanted to see what everyone thought about that and why.

[ET Warrior]

Well it's pretty much recognized that youth have a much stronger tendency to be more liberal than older people, so it's not a surprise that more college kids are democrat. However they also have a higher tendency to NOT vote, which balances it out.

 

As far as the political correctness goes, I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean that democrats are more pc than republicans? Or just college students?

[Master_Ginn]

I'd say college students are more PC. I don't know if they're more accepting. Or just want to fit in?

[SkinWalker]

I don't think more college kids are liberal.

 

I think that right-wing nutters believe that anyone who doesn't think in the same extremes that they do is automatically a "liberal."

 

But if college life is a seed for liberalism, then perhaps it has to do with education and the application of critical thinking.

[Hiroki]

Heh, I can tell you that I'm not a liberal. No way in hell.

[toms]

Young Liberals/Old Conservatives

 

It seems fairly natural that young people are more open to new ideas, more sceptical of authority and less set in their ways and less jaded.

As they grow up their views and ideals can get soured by bad experiences. They get exposed to more and more of the world's "problems" in the media. They start to worry about their own mortaility. They get more commitments and debts and so worry more about taxes and things.

I'm 28 and even I now find that, whereas i once cared nothing about tax rates and kids hanging round on corners I'm now getting more worried about such things.

I'm still a liberal (or at least a libertarian) but i'm less idealistic, more jaded and i accept that neither is totally correct and you need a balance.

 

I'd say that the more scared you are, the more right wing you become.

 

But, as was posted in another thread, there are actual differences between the brains of liberal and conservative voters... so it isn't all about changing attitudes. Certain types of people are more likely to vore certain ways just because of who they are.

 

Political Correctness

 

God i HATE the words!!!!

 

Even more the phrase "political correctness gone mad!!!" which is bandied about in the right wing UK press every single day about almost any issue.

 

Its a nonsense phrase that means very little, and is just a way to attack people.

 

I think what it is supposed to mean is "taking your damn liberal views to extremes", but it is applied to almost anything, from important issues to rule son the sixe of bananas.

 

The general principle behind it is that you are aware of other groups feeling and try to take them into account and be equal, but it doesn't seem to be anything more than a dirty word anymore.

 

I always find it odd that the same conservatives(republicans) who are always denouncing political correctness when it is used to do things like positive discrimination or gay marriages are happy to use similar reasoning to denounce video games.

 

I've always found it odd that republicans support less government, less tax, less interference and red tape for business, more freedom to carry guns, but are all for as much control over what we do and see as possible.

 

PS/ Hiroki, what does that mean? Why not? What would be so terrible?

[Master_Ginn]

Well i know a lot of my teachers that are fresh out of college are very PC, and democratic. I don't have a reasoning but it's just a little wierd. Cause they all think the same thing.

[Crazy_dog no.3]

I hate political correctness. Of course that doesn't mean I go up to black dudes and say "get out of my way nigger", but let me explain.

 

It's inconvenient. When I was in secondary school (known as High School in America), a good majority of us threw the word "gay" around alot. Most of it was not used in a homophobic way, rather it meant "lame" or "man acting unmasculine" or it was just used as an offense, like saying "son of a bitch" or "motherf*cker". But PC people took offense to that, even though we were usually not using it to discriminate anyone.

Same with "motherf*cker". It doesn't mean someone f*cks mothers. Chinaman isn't normally used in a racist way, rather a way to desribe someone from China. Same with Jap or Paki.

 

It should be a matter of context. Like some people get offended by nudity even if it's in a non-sexual context (Schindler's List)

[ET Warrior]

I'm actually fairly offended by people who use the word gay as an insult. I can understand if you call SOMETHING gay when you're mad at it that doens't really offend me as much as if you call someBODY gay, because that's insinuating that it's an insult to be refered to as a homosexual, and THAT upsets me.

[ZBomber]

Originally posted by ET Warrior

I'm actually fairly offended by people who use the word gay as an insult. I can understand if you call SOMETHING gay when you're mad at it that doens't really offend me as much as if you call someBODY gay, because that's insinuating that it's an insult to be refered to as a homosexual, and THAT upsets me.

 

Agreed. And then all of the sudden everyone thinks you like guys just because you don't hate homosexuals.....

[Spider AL]

Agreed. And then all of the sudden everyone thinks you like guys just because you don't hate homosexuals.....

This is pretty much the problem. You're either in one camp, or another, no pun intended. Of course it can also be the same in reverse. I've been in the company of a gay guy who was getting a little too friendly with me, and when I informed them in no uncertain terms that I was straight, they and one or two of their friends started treating me as though I was some sort of homophobic Hitler. Straight guys don't have the monopoly on prejudice, apparently. I mean, the word "straight" is faintly derogatory too. It conjures up images of a besuited conservative with a tidy corporate office. Hardly a nice thing to call someone. I object to it.

 

Anyway... I don't think calling something "gay" as a derogatory term should be censored. Censorship is pretty much always a bad thing, it invariably de-skills and insulates society to the extent that mad dictators find it easier to take over our countries, etcetera. Words only have the power that we give them, and in all cases, affecting free speech at all is a BAD idea.

[El Sitherino]

Originally posted by Feanaro

Well i know a lot of my teachers that are fresh out of college are very PC, and democratic.

gee... maybe it's because if thing they say offend a student and these claims are well based they can lose their job, of course it's only because they're liberal they have to be overly corteous of others.

 

PC is okay to an extent, I get upset and bothered though when people pushed to have beef added to the list of unnacceptable things on tv and in movies, because it could offend people from the Hindu religion and vegetarians.

[txa1265]

Originally posted by SkinWalker

I don't think more college kids are liberal.

 

I think that right-wing nutters believe that anyone who doesn't think in the same extremes that they do is automatically a "liberal."

 

But if college life is a seed for liberalism, then perhaps it has to do with education and the application of critical thinking.

Pardon me for nitpicking, but since I've read a bunch of thread postings and can clearly see that you are:

- Very intelligent

- Well informed

- A clear and rational thinker

- and very liberal

 

I wanted to address something in your post. A couple of other postings seems to imply that your view of the political spectrum is:

- right wing nutters

- moderate republicans (who agree with most democratic views)

- democrats

 

I just want to clarify ... remember that there are:

- right wing nutters

- Republicans party-ites

-'true' conservatives

- moderates

- people who are too stupid or lazy or apathetic to have a stance

- 'true' liberals

- Democratic party-ites

- left wing nutters.

 

In my opinion, the best dialogues occur between the 'true' liberals and conservatives (or the other option that morphs some of each - the libertarian, which is what I'd consider myself).

 

Why?

 

- Party-ites are non-debaters, they take the stance and fight.

- Nutters for both sides are just a PITA. White guy doesn't get job - reverse racism due to failed preference policy of the left. Black guy gets arrested - racist lazy cops profiling. See? Easy answers for everything - seldom the truth.

 

Again - I see you like to fashion yourself as a critical thinker, and I see the potential, but open yourself up a bit more to alternative viewpoints and self-realization.

 

Mike

[Crazy_dog no.3]

Originally posted by ET Warrior

I'm actually fairly offended by people who use the word gay as an insult. I can understand if you call SOMETHING gay when you're mad at it that doens't really offend me as much as if you call someBODY gay, because that's insinuating that it's an insult to be refered to as a homosexual, and THAT upsets me.

 

Well, what can I say. Not one of my high points. But it happened nothertheless.

[rccar328]

I think that it's kind of assumed that college students will be democrats...because so many professors are democrats. Reality, though, shows otherwise. I know that in my school, as well as in the schools of several friends that I have spoken with, there are large followings in groups such as Young Republicans, and aside from political organizations, many students tend toward Republican beliefs.

 

As for political correctness, I haven't noticed a whole lot of it, but I personally despise PC - while at some level it may seem like a good thing to hide our true feelings in the interests of protecting the feelings of others, political correctness ultimately does nothing more than make people constantly affraid of offending someone, almost to the point that simple interaction with strangers becomes a risk. It also super-sensitizes people, basically making them psychological wimps who can't take an insult. In that kind of situation, there is no way of knowing how any given person will react should someone's true feelings shine through, given that they have no past experience in dealing with possible insults (or perceived insults).

 

In a way, it's like anti-bacterial soap: if you are constantly cleaning your environment with products that kill 99.9% of germs, eventually, that .1% will get you, and your immune system will be so un-used to dealing with germs that it will not be able to deal with it.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

[Acrylic]

I hate political correctness. People these days are afraid to say "black" or "Asian". Thats sad.

 

We are who we are, they are who they are. No need to make everything so PC. Im white, and does it look like I take offense to being called "White"?

 

NO!

 

Cuz thats what I am.

[Hiroki]

Originally posted by txa1265

- left wing nutters.

 

Wieners, Liberal Wieners is what they are called. Right wing nutter was given to Republican extremists because they seem to almost enjoy making war...Liberal Wiener was given to the Democrat extremists because they are often afraid to go to war, even when it IS the right thing to do.

[El Sitherino]

Originally posted by Hiroki

Wieners, Liberal Wieners is what they are called. Right wing nutter was given to Republican extremists because they seem to almost enjoy making war...Liberal Wiener was given to the Democrat extremists because they are often afraid to go to war, even when it IS the right thing to do.

ah, the internet, making generalizations fun. [/sarcasm]

 

and no, acrylic, it's not about not saying black or asian, it's about not saying nigger or chink, nip, or gook. I don't think I've ever met a person who's offended by saying black, or asian, in fact it's often said black or african american, or asian or asian american.

[lukeiamyourdad]

I'm glad I'm in Québec.

 

People here prefer marching for humanitarian reasons then political ones.

 

People here have a strange uncanny respect for each other.

Sure there's always some insults but people seem to take things pretty lightly and don't react violently unless it's seriously insulting.

 

I call respect what some people call political correctness. Though it is strange US people are more keen on complaining for small mundane things.

 

Then again in this era they seem to be a bit...more conservatist in general then the rest of the western world.

[Hiroki]

Yes, I know it was a Generalization, and yes, it IS fun. Sorry, it is just my way to treat everything as a joke, in some way.

[CapNColostomy]

This thread reminded me of something pretty cool.

 

"You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American english is loaded with euphemisms. Because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth. So they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse.

 

I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum, can't take any more input. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap.

In the first world war that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables. Shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was 70 years ago.

Then a whole generation went by. And the second world war came along and the very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to be as hard to say. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock ...Battle fatigue.

Then we had the war in Korea in 1950. Madison Avenue was riding high by that time. And the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion. Hey we're up to 8 syllables now! And the humanity has been Squeezed completely out of the phrase now. It's totally sterile now. Operational Exhaustion: sounds like something that might happen to your car.

Then of course came the war in Vietnam, which has only been over for about 16 or 17 years. And thanks to the lies and deceit surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Still 8 syllables, but we've added a hyphen. And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I bet you, if we'd still been calling it shell shock, some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I bet you that.

But it didn't happen. And one of the reasons is because we were using that soft language, that language that takes out the life outta life. And it is a function of time it does keep getting worse.

 

Give you another example. Sometime during my life toilet paper became bathroom tissue. I wasn't notified of this. No one asked me if I agreed with it. It just happened. Toilet paper became bathroom tissue.

Sneakers became running shoes.

False teeth became dental appliances.

Medicine became medication.

Information became directory assistance.

The dump became the land fill.

Car crashes became automobile accidents.

Partly cloudy became partly sunny.

Motels became motor lodges.

House trailers became mobile homes.

Used cars became previously owned transportation.

Room service became guest room dining.

Constipation became occasional irregularity.

When I was a little kid if I got sick they wanted me to go to a hospital and see the doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization. Or a wellness center to consult a health care delivery professional!

Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy sub-standard housing in the inner cities. And they're BROKE! They're broke. They don't have a negative cash flow position. They're ****in' broke! Because a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area. So many people are no longer viable members of the work force.

 

Smug, greedy well fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill people anymore, they neutralize people or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The pentagon actually measures radiation in some thing they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos. Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part of it to us, do they.

 

And some of this stuff is just silly. We know that. Like when the airlines tell us to pre-board. What the hell is pre-board? What does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance ... CRIPPLES! Simple honest direct language. There's no shame attached to the word cripple I can find in any dictionary. In fact it's a word used in Bible translations. "Jesus healed the cripples." Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have cripples in this country anymore. We have: the physically challenged. Is that a grotesque enough evasion for you? How about differently abled? I've heard them called that. Differently abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They say: "We're not handicapped, we're handy capable!" These poor people have been bull****ted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition somehow you'll change the condition. Well hey cousin ... [masturbatory hand gesture] ... doesn't happen! We have no more deaf people in this country. Hearing impaired. No more blind people. Partially sighted or visually impaired. No more stupid people, everyone has a learning disorder. Or he's minimally exceptional. How would you like to be told that about your child. He's minimally exceptional. Psychologists have actually started calling ugly people those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient!

 

And we have no more old people in this country. No more old people. We shipped them all away and we brought in these senior citizens. Isn't that a typically American twentieth century phrase? Bloodless. Lifeless. No pulse in one of them. A senior citizen. But I've accepted that one. I've come to terms with it. I know it's here to stay. We'll never get rid of it. But the one I do resist. The one I keep resisting, is when they look at an old guy and say, "Look at him Dan, he's ninety years young." Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word old to describe someone. To have to use an antonym. And fear of aging is natural. It's universal, isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die. But we do. So we con ourselves. I started conning myself when I got in my forties. I'd look in the mirror and say, "Well...I guess I'm getting ...older." Older sounds a little better than old, doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. I'm getting old. And it's okay. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won't have to die. I'll pass away. Or I'll expire, like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure.

 

I'm telling ya, some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit ...

... makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill."

 

Quoted from a George Carlin HBO special, although I can't remember which one.

[El Sitherino]

Originally posted by CapNColostomy

Quoted from a George Carlin HBO special, although I can't remember which one.

it's from the "you're all diseased" and I agree, and for added effect another Carlin quote. "people are f**king stupid"

[CapNColostomy]

Originally posted by InsaneSith

it's from the "you're all diseased" and I agree, and for added effect another Carlin quote. "people are f**king stupid"

 

No, it's not from that one. It's from the one before Jammin' In New York. Late 80's-early 90's.

 

[edit] it's from Doin' it Again. And that pretty much sums up what I think about pc language at least.

[toms]

Originally posted by Crazy_dog no.3

It's inconvenient.

 

 

When I was in secondary school (known as High School in America), a good majority of us threw the word "gay" around alot. Most of it was not used in a homophobic way, rather it meant "lame" or "man acting unmasculine" or it was just used as an offense, like saying "son of a bitch" or "motherf*cker". But PC people took offense to that, even though we were usually not using it to discriminate anyone.

Same with "motherf*cker". It doesn't mean someone f*cks mothers. Chinaman isn't normally used in a racist way, rather a way to desribe someone from China. Same with Jap or Paki.

 

PErsonally i'd say that you were using them in both a racist and a homophibic way.

 

It doesn't matter that you aren't saying it to one of the people concerned, that has nothing to do with it. It is that all of those words have come (through derogatory usage) to mean something negative. You yourself said you use "gay" to mean something negative.

 

I know that before i even knew what a homosexual WAS, i knew that something that was "gay" was something that was weird or bad, because everyone at school (who probably also didn't know what a homosexual was) called anything that sucked "gay".

 

So by simply using it in that fashion you are implying, and teaching a generation after generation of kids, that to be "gay" is to be weird and worthy of scorn.

 

The same goes for the terms jap and paki (and chinaman depending on the use). It isn't the litteral meaning of the word, it is what they have come to mean and represent. As far as describing someone, it wouldn't literally make much difference if you reffered to them as "a jap" or "japanese" or whatever... but one has a derogatory meaning attached to it and the other doesn't, one is insulting (becuase of said attached meaning) and the other isn't.

 

Why is it incovenient for you to use the one that has no negative meaning and isn't going to insult someone (or perpetuate the impression they are inferior)?

 

Even if it is inconvenient, so what... it's still considerate and nice.

 

This has nothing to do with political correctness, it is about politeness.

[Spider AL]

This has nothing to do with political correctness, it is about politeness.

That's what the PC brigade said too. Personally I couldn't give two figs what people call each other, it's not going to change anything. And I'm just fed up of the natural progression from "trying to be nice" to... "OMG you can't call that CHALKboard a BLACKboard, because that's racist!"