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Political correctness causes more pain than it heals

By David Wanderi

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. View more opinion on ScoonTV. 

With the new year well underway, it’s safe to say that PC culture is still reigning supreme. Every day it feels as if a new word is considered a slur or offensive towards a specific community or group of people. Granted, many of them probably hold specific weight and historical pain. However, it feels as if people are getting more offended by certain words or actions every day. With all of this anger spreading on both sides, the side of the offenders and the side of the offended, it leaves me with one question: how did we get here? 

People being offended by certain words or actions has been happening since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, in our Western society, tensions seem to be growing instead of declining. You would figure people would get along better with more respectable rules, but the opposite is happening. What series of events led to the current climate we’re currently in? How did everything get so offensive? 

People have been unhappy about PC culture for years, but it wasn’t effectively exploited until our former president Donald J. Trump came along. With statements like “When you see the other side chopping off heads, waterboarding doesn’t sound very severe,” or “We’re rounding ’em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice,” President Trump exploited the politically correct climate. 

There were many normal people who didn’t care for political correctness, they just wanted a change of politics. The former president used PC culture against the very side that pushed it; liberals. When you look at President Trump’s past statements, it is clear he purposely said things that weren’t politically correct to help his campaign. This occurred to the extent where many of his statements were literally comical. It’s hard to think someone like him was able to win the election, but it goes to show that people care what you say.  

Personally, I find a good amount of the statements the former president said to be at the very least problematic. At worst, they were downright offensive. I believe someone at the distinguished position of commander-in-chief shouldn’t talk in that manner. However, what I think doesn’t matter because people voted him in. 

If political correction is supposed to be beneficial for all, then why were so many Americans willing to vote for a man who detested it? I would argue because many people no longer believe it is positively helping anymore. You won’t find many people who want slurs that were used in the past to describe Jews, gays, blacks, women, or disabled people to come back. And anyone who does is unspeakably misguided. But past the overtly obscene rhetoric we stopped using as a society, many people don’t care for political correctness. 

The PC mob has even dictated a lot of the media we see in our current age. Even liberal comedians like Bill Maher have spoken out against the quote on quote “woke mob.” In his interview with David Marchese of the New York Times, talking about the subject of political correctness, Bill made a clear distinction between liberal and PC people. “The difference is that liberals protect people, and P.C. people protect feelings.” With that single sentence, Bill Maher described the so-called ultra-woke left in a nutshell. They are people who are more concerned with their feelings being hurt than actual change happening.  

The old adage “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is far from true. Words can hurt people in a plethora of ways. They can incite violence, reinforce stereotypes, cause social division, and much more. No matter what you think, what you say affects people. However, the over-policing of what is being said isn’t bringing the desired change. 

This should be the main take-away for the far left. Although many might have good intentions with their politically correct mandates, people aren’t reacting or changing in a positive way. Instead, they’re flocking to the next controversial figure like Andrew Tate or former President Donald J. Trump. 

Protecting people’s feelings isn’t the same thing as protecting people. We should have a society where people are allowed to disagree and have controversial opinions. This holds true even if some of them are offensive because censoring or hiding from these viewpoints doesn’t stop them from coming out. If anything, they actually fuel the fire. 

Nuanced conversations need to be had and feelings are going to be hurt, but the conversation doesn’t stop at the point of pain. They should continue until both parties can reach a civil conclusion, even when they don’t agree.

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David Wanderi

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