What we think of as our sensitivity is only the higher evolution of terror in a poor dumb beast. We suffer for nothing. Our own death wish is our only real tragedy.

-Mario Puzo

Sorry, am I not politically correct enough for you? The words “politically correct” are of maximum importance nowadays. Not only do you hear them anywhere but we also hear phrases that in some shape or form correlate to the usage of PC. These words have even gone as far as to influence our decision making when it comes to government elections. During our previous presidential election those two words became a prerequisite for our candidates, and when our current President Donald Trump revealed that he did not possess such characteristic, society was quick to make political correctness the main focus of every debate. Furthermore, as the usage of PC increases, its cousin ‘sensitivity’ sure rose along with him, and BOOM  we have a society full of offended individuals. The usage of political correctness should decrease since it is affecting our candidness, our language , and our education.

When did we start overthinking how to describe another human being? It truly places individuals in an awkward situation when asked to describe someone that might not be of the same race. A person of color was called “Black “ then became ”colored “, then “African American” and now it has become unnamable. We can no longer see race. The human race must now be colorblind and see past what separates every human being.  Instead of just deleting those harmless words why not delete the meaning that our prejudice minds have given them. We can see an example of such uncomfortable feeling in a study that asked white participants to describe individuals seen on images. Then, they compared the findings to those of a Black group and saw that the white participants hesitated to describe someone by their race or color while the Black group easily described them using racial terms.(Norton)  Why should some races feel bad about labeling and calling a person by what they are. If a hispanic can describe someone as black or white, a black can describe someone as hispanic or white, then why can someone that is white call a hispanic individual hispanic and a black individual black when using the terms for description. 

Even when asking society to dial back on the sensitivity, I am not supporting rudeness but rather bluntness. I am asking for people to outgrow their stereotypes. Why does every white person has to be racist, why does every black person has to be a criminal,  and why does every hispanic person has to be illegal. Now don’t confuse my words, I don’t want you to be blind. If an individual happens to be a criminal, racist, or illegal and happens to be part of said group then why should we punish the labeler for being realistic and calling it like they see it. Instead of raising a generation of sugar coated people we should be racing the next saviors to a world that only seems to go downhill.

While PC goes further than just avoiding racial terms, we see that much of its usage is judged by race. Currently affecting the workplace we see PC causing a relaxed yet fabricated reality. I continue to emphasise that candidness is rare nowadays. We see bosses who avoid firing a mediocre employee in fear that they might get accused of racism due to the employees background. Vice versa, the employee fears asking for a raise since the employer might think he is using the race card. (Robin) Any human that possess common sense should be able to see that the PC way is no way to conduct an office environment. Would you rather know what a person thinks or do you just care for the politically correct version they have of you?

It has gone too far. Even as it began political correctness had its negative reactions. Those words ultimately mean censorship and most people do not want to be a part of it. We see such negativity in phrases such as “ it is a product of someone’s paranoid imagination”.(The Myth of Political Correctness) If it’s not wanted then why have it? Throughout the years, society has become more lenient towards such proposal,and now it has completely accepted its terms. An individual who fights for PC’s elimination is now a rare site and the majority would do anything for a standardized politically correct society to rise above the “putrid, hateful America”  that they live in. My hope is for it to remain hateful or “truthful” which is the way I see it. 

Political correctness being the new norm, has caused the newer generations to develop a very fragile skin to say the least. While society has progressed when it comes to freedom of speech, the acceptance of it has only gone backwards. Individuals nowadays will even go through the trouble of viewing something uninteresting or hurtful just to be able to comment and use “offended”  to excuse their dislike. The source “Welcome To The Thin-Skinned Generation, Where Everything is A Bloody Problem” states, “As soon as I press send on this post, I will have already offended several people. Angry reply emails are likely to start filling my inbox…People today have been trained to seek out a reason to be offended.”(Singh) The writer includes these few sentences to make the point that even a post based purely on opinion can greatly upset an audience. If as a reader you have the choice to indulge in any reading of your liking why read something that does not interest you or something interests you for the wrong reasons? Like the source says, we are trained to seek out a reason. 

You sure keep missing by a long shot! We can see the searching within the examples given by our source “ Free Speech versus Sensitivity”. The examples provided testify to such overreach. Apparently, the english phrase “killing two birds with one stone” is offending the animal, and the great christmas song “Baby is cold outside” is concidered rape.(Habibinia) Society is willing to change years of language both oral and body to fit our prejudice society accordingly.  We have to blame our human nature as well. Strong feelings motivate us and cause us to push through the unthinkable, but why choose hate over any other feeling. Social and language improvements in our society have slowed down and gone in reverse, thank the Lord for technology, our antisocial best friend. We already see language being affected. Nowadays we must remain within the barrier of vagueness and whoever crosses over to the descriptive side is dead meat. I ask of you to think it through, is it worth all the cultural damage we are causing?

Should we worry about our education. Are we at risk of becoming mediocre? With this control of ideas learning sure seems different. We study broad and peaceful topics and leave the hurtful yet important topics for quick discussions. Students can no longer debate their ideas since someone might get offended and cause a bigger issue. The common “locker room talk” must now remain behind closed doors since anyone who hears you on campus might have a problem. To me this all sounds scary. People are scared of  government spying, telephone privacy and vampires amongst other stupid stuff and yet I still believe that a more important issue is the restriction that is being placed on our speech. In the source we find the sentences ,”You might think politicians speak in too much coded language, designed to cloak their true positions and to avoid offending everyone. But let’s be clear: The opposite of political correctness is not unvarnished truth-telling.”(Hannah) Well most sure support that way of thinking since many Americans don’t even understand what is being said when politicians use technical terms and language. Aside from that, a person can lack PC and still be a person who cares for others way of thinking. If you make the assumption that anyone who lacks PC offends others then you are just as bad as the unpolitically correct individuals you are judging. Not ever apple is green even if you wanted them to be. 

All in all, this society is in need of change. Unfortunately it takes each individual to alter their ways to be able to truly make an impactful difference. I urge you to think about all the things that are on the line and if they are worth losing. I know I would never give up language, education and cadidness for the mere fact that others might feel bad about it. Just imagine being in a raft. Twenty people are currently on it, there is space for 30 more, and there are 100 people in the water. If you go by thinking in the good Samaritan way then everyone will get in the boat making in 130 when its capacity was 50. If that happens the raft with fill up with water and sink. So I ask again are you gonna let them get in the raft or are you controlling admission?