Political Correctness: Is it Morally Acceptable?
Political correctness has gained a bad reputation in the media in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president, a man who has repeatedly and forcefully expressed his dislike for it. The media now believes that political correctness has “gone mad” when it is misused and results in no political change, rendering it useless. Political correctness is the idea that words and deeds that can upset marginalized groups (of race and sexuality) should be avoided. The idea originally served to maintain social harmony, but it now seems to be dividing civilizations. Where then did everything go wrong? The usage of political correctness in contemporary society will be examined in this article, along with its potential benefits and drawbacks.
Political correctness is present in all forms of media, but it is more prevalent in social media, where it makes people worry that their freedom of expression is being restricted. The right to criticize your government and express your opinions without fear of retribution or censorship is known as freedom of speech. While there are certain genuine restrictions—for example, we may be detained for committing a hate crime—having an unpopular viewpoint will always have social repercussions online. Social media allows voiceless persons an opportunity to “fight back” against injustice, often via public shaming, but does doing so restrict their right to free speech? Consider Justine Sacco’s situation as a symbol. She worked in public relations and tweeted;
Arriving in Africa. I hope I stay free of AIDS. I’m joking. “I am white!”
Her tweet quickly became a global sensation, she received hundreds of death threats, and her company was under pressure to terminate her. Sacco, a South African herself, meant the tweet to parody people’s ignorance of Africa, but because of her low profile and little following of 170 people, she was misinterpreted, and the situation completely flipped her life upside down;
“Unfortunately, I’m neither a South Park character or a comic, therefore I had no business talking on the pandemic in such a politically incorrect way on a public forum,” said Sacco.
The Sacco incident amply demonstrates the influence that political correctness and persistent social media have. Even if Sacco’s situation was a miscommunication, would her harsh shaming have been appropriate even if she had intended it? Would the tens of thousands of threats to her life have been justified? While most people do not want individuals with objectionable beliefs to speak out, in order for us to really enjoy the right to free speech, we must enable others to say anything they want. From there, it is up to us to decide whether we want to teach and educate people or denigrate and disgrace them.
Political correctness is deeply engrained in both our daily lives and the business realms, where it is often used as a tool for financial gain. It’s difficult to travel very far in June—LGBT Pride Month—without seeing a rainbow pride flag. Some of the largest companies, like Nike, H&M, and Adidas, were promoting pride. Shelves were piled high with stuff with the hazy promises of a gift to charity and awareness, whatever that is. While it’s true that these major companies are clearly in it for the money, which is to be anticipated, there was something odd about Adidas’ support in that they sponsored the World Cup. The fact that the most recent world cup was held in a nation with stringent anti-homosexuality legislation, namely Russia, is the problem here. For instance, Russia’s federal statute, popularly known as the “gay propaganda law,” purports to shield children from homonormativity and is titled “For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values.” It’s difficult to overlook the hypocrisy. Since the 2022 World Cup is scheduled to be held in Qatar, where it is against the law to be homosexual and the government forbids anyone from advocating for LGBT rights, it is also difficult to explain as an accident. When it makes financial sense, companies like Adidas love to wave their rainbow flags and demonstrate their allegiance, but they haven’t yet defended LGBT rights when it actually counts and may lead to change. It’s challenging to satisfy everyone, and for these businesses, it may be challenging to choose when to heed the demands of a politically correct culture and when to keep quiet. It reaches a point where it’s difficult to determine whether any of us really embrace or believe in any of these beliefs, or if doing so would be too troublesome.
There is a clear age gap in the political correctness discussion that has to be addressed. Although baby boomers are sometimes depicted as lazy alt-right racists and millennials as excessively sensitive hippies, is it really impossible to hope that older generations would share the same modernist views as the majority of today’s youth?
It should go without saying that older generations have different standards for what is and isn’t objectionable since they are older. Many older liberals will draw the line when topics like slut-shaming or gender fluidity get too alien and grow defensive when the topic becomes personal. Even as children, the environment our parents grew up in changed dramatically. Older generations were reared on extremely disparate views of minorities that were shown in movies and television, views that some now would find amusing and others would find repulsive. Age-related discrimination is still unacceptable, but the generational divide isn’t as wide as you may imagine and can simply be bridged.
In conclusion, political correctness has a significant impact on our lives that we often fail to see. For all of us to succeed in the contemporary world, we must all work to achieve consensus. While political correctness is sometimes abused and overpowering, when it is used effectively, it may help our ignorance of what is and isn’t suitable, which is frequently what we need. Whether you like it or not, everyone is progressing, but some just more quickly than others.
