I don’t worry (much) about politically correct speech. If you’re saying stuff where you have to tread the thin line between your intention and how it sounds, then you might be better off just using the “stop and think, then don’t” technique. Does not apply to folks whose job is to think about / discuss such issues.
i keep thinking that lenny bruce would’ve just loved skewering pc – but it’s probably also just as well he didn’t live to see what social media is doing to the way people view the world…
I wonder if those who are on the receiving end of insensitive comments feel there is too much political correctness in the world. Seems that those who object to PC are its strongest, if not most clueless, practitioners. The golden rule, it never goes out of style.
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.It is NOT an excuse to spew nonsense, fake news, insults, etc.
Freedom of speech means that I can say that I don’t like the Islam (or any other religion) because islam is misogynistic and homophobe. Freedom of speech does not mean that I can simply insult all muslims. That is where political correctness plays a role.
Oh good Lord! If you’re so bugged by the whole “Political Correctness” lie, just follow your mother’s advice (which is all political correctness is): If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.
Who protects us from that guy? We outnumber him. Mockery and ridicule protect us from that guy. Voting with our wallets protects us from that guy. Stop feeding the beast and he starves.
Political correctness is the evil way to shut people up because some groups aren’t in agreement. All the protesting groups that have formed are causing trouble in the world…if you don’t believe what THEY believe, you’re not allowed to voice your opinion. So many people, companies, CAVE to their demands! Touchy thinned skinned whiny twits are causing our FREEDOM OF SPEECH TO DISAPPEAR SLOWLY! WE the people need to stand our ground and if you don’t like the rules, get out!
Ok, Pastis, this one’s right on the spot! This spot. Right here. X Stand right there and stand real still. The big blue guy will be here any moment now.
About 30 years ago, I offered my seat on the subway to a woman standing and burdened with a briefcase and purse. She stated loudly and clearly she didn’t want my “chauvinistic gesture,” she wanted equal pay for equal work! So I shrugged, and told her she could still want those things sitting down, and she might even ponder why common courtesy has become an oxymoron. She moved away from me.
I’ve been checking the real estate listings on Proxima Centauri b. The homes are lovely and the school system is great, but they have some rather strict restrictions on the number of human beings they allow on planet. Go figure.
Political Correctness has a buddy named Net Harassment. Only Net Harassment has a much lower I.Q. and seldom knows much about the subject in discussion. It’s simply loud and an expert at insults. Between P.C. and N.H…. the best thing one can do is never read a comment, ever and for goodness sake, never post.
Ooops… I just did both. /me pulls out the Troll Control, which I bought from “Gizmos R Us”. It doesn’t kill them or make them smell any better. It simply blanks my computer screen when it detects my blood pressure rising. Then it accesses Alexa to tell me a funny joke about people who live their lives hiding behind a computer screen. Very effective, and worth the price. :D
And so many comments fail to consider that by making everybody into one simple mold of your desires just crushes freedom, democracy, and the American Way. I mean, it worked pretty well for the Nazis until the rest of the world kicked the living crap outta those murderous turds. But if that’s the way some “Americans” want to go, we’ll oblige you once again and gladly. Nobody has crushed your freedoms – you still have firearm rights, you still can say and publish virtually any BS you can dream up, and nobody has put you into camps. On the other hand the Rump wants to put more people in camps (and in case you missed it American citizens have been rounded up by those morons and one just died in custody). So at least try and see that the concerns and comparisons between the Cheeto and Company to Shicklgruber are based on some factual comparative history before you keep tryin’ to make all of America about as diverse as mayo on Wonderbread.
If only we could insult people whenever we like without having to deal with the consequences. If only we could encourage and exercise prejudice without being called out for it. Damn this idea of courtesy and consideration!
You know what? What is being labeled “political correctness” is usually just the simple expectation of common courtesy. If your humor is mean and/or ugly, then it isn’t really funny, is it?
Politeness and political correctness are two different things. That’s why people who mistake them, from both sides, might act wrongly. People who confuse both and want to defend politeness will believe that someone who is against PC is someone who is rude and wants to be offensive. People who confuse both and are against PC may believe it gives them the right to be rude as a revolt against this PC oppression.
Political Correctness is just an attempt at censorship and control, a tool used by a community to get power over others by silencing them, by weakening their position, by demanding compensations… Sometimes, (often) the people who use it and benefit from it are not even part of the group that has been allegedly offended, and that’s a key point. Or they serve their own agenda first, before the interests of the group they claim to represent. That usually is the key to detect it.
And it’s a two edged sword. Because it also allows the true serial offenders, the true racists, mysoginists etc… to keep spouting their hatred and discrimination and claiming to be victims of politically correctness, by wrongly equating themselves to those people who got harrassed by the PC crowd for no good reason. That’s what has helped make the “fake news” trick possible. It’s cry wolf by irresponsible people serving their interests (at the minimum wanting attention, wanting to feel important by being knights in shining armor defending a cause) that allows the real wolves to sneak in.
The problem is not politeness or politicall correctness. It’s the lack of common sense, it’s greed, entitlement and self interest. These are the same reasons that bring people to get likes and repost when feeling outraged by a white person wearing dreadlocks or to keep selling guns to mentally ill people when there are weekly mass shootings or pollute and poison the earth for short term profit.
Political Correctness is a tool to silence people who have differing opinions. Intelligent people do this with reasoned, logical arguments and facts, and, others resort to pc and “cancellation.”
For some reason, this urges me to reread the original versions of Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The Old Testament, makes me think too of evil now-forbidden phraseology. Oh, again for those days of backlash to The Catcher in the Rye, Peyton Place, et. al.
I was expecting a commentary on how, inspite of the magical document that guaranteed freedom of speech to everyone, Big Bad Government, in an act of retribution, just purged itself of “insubordinate” staff for speaking truth when subpoenaed to do so. Instead, the fifth panel of today’s strip turned away from courageous relevance to recycled pablum, provoking comments referencing a sitcom from the 80s.
“Political correctness” means actually being racist/sexist/whateverist but not wanting to be caught at it. If you want to say something nasty about another human being based on their gender or skin color, go ahead. You’re free to do so. It isn’t political correctness that stomps on you, it’s the disapproval of the people around you who aren’t whateverist and find your attitude repulsive.
Most of what people call political correctness is common courtesy. Some people go too far with trying to control what others say but that’s because they’re human and the behavior curve has tails.
The thing about so-called “political correctness” is that it’s just another word for being polite, i.e. for respecting people’s wishes regarding their own personhood. For example, if your name is “Michael” and you don’t want people calling you “Mikey” — it is understandably agitating and hurtful when people continue to call you the wrong name because they can’t be bothered to respect your preference. Now when you’re dealing with the added layer of racial and gender, it’s even more important to respect the other person’s preference because there are years of judgement, negative connotation, and even potential violence related to someone disrespecting your preferred name. So if someone lets you know their preferred pronouns, or asks you to use the correct terminology when naming their ethnicity, just don’t be a dick. That’s all you have to do. Unless you’re the kind of person who insists on calling people by the wrong names because you can’t be bothered, Mikey. #endrant
Truth is that there are deep biologic and deep cultural differences in societies that are supposed equal. It just is not true but woe to those who point it out.
The kid in the crowd in “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, pointing out the Emperor was walking around naked was being impolite. The Emperor was still acting the fool, and the crowd ignoring what they were seeing for fear of being thought low class was Politically Correct.
Railing against political correctness is fine when you are in the majority. Then you can go about insulting minorities and marginalized groups with impunity. It’s the most selfish argument ever…to want to be free to use the N-word or the F-word and be insulting to others who have less power in society than you in the name of free speech.
Good illustration of this particular problem in America. To discuss it intelligently, however, we would need to recognize that our society (that’s us) is fostering a spirit of censorship to avoid offending others. But what if many of us Americans (to the left, to the right, moderates, etc.) are a bunch of thin-skinned people who are too focused on taking offense instead of concentrating on the topic of discussion and not themselves personally?
BE THIS GUY almost 5 years ago
Who shuts up whom?:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/04/schools-racism-mexico/
DanielRyanMulligan almost 5 years ago
exactly what i needed to see: more repression from the world
Sherlock Watson almost 5 years ago
If only we could unleash Archie Bunker on that big, fat, blue meathead.
Cameron1988 Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Goobermint*
DennisinSeattle almost 5 years ago
Pastis is feeling a little sensitive.
Concretionist almost 5 years ago
I don’t worry (much) about politically correct speech. If you’re saying stuff where you have to tread the thin line between your intention and how it sounds, then you might be better off just using the “stop and think, then don’t” technique. Does not apply to folks whose job is to think about / discuss such issues.
lordhoff almost 5 years ago
It’s just the government’s little helper.
Kveldulf almost 5 years ago
Relax. Political Correctness is just another fad. It will pass when uptight people regain their sense of humour.
And the current tendency to revile gun owners will give way when peaceful people finally realize they do not live in a peaceful world.
And maybe, just maybe, a few people on each side of the political divide will acknowledge the right of the other side to believe as they will.
Johnny Q Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Paradoxically, the anti-PC crusade has always embodied a reverse “political correctness” in itself!
gopher gofer almost 5 years ago
i keep thinking that lenny bruce would’ve just loved skewering pc – but it’s probably also just as well he didn’t live to see what social media is doing to the way people view the world…
socalvillaguy Premium Member almost 5 years ago
I wonder if those who are on the receiving end of insensitive comments feel there is too much political correctness in the world. Seems that those who object to PC are its strongest, if not most clueless, practitioners. The golden rule, it never goes out of style.
Pony99CA almost 5 years ago
Since when has politics ever been “correct”?
Orcatime almost 5 years ago
Truth in art.
Radish... almost 5 years ago
Does anybody say the left thing always, or is that not politically correct?
kaffekup almost 5 years ago
Remember when trump said, “I don’t have time for political correctness!”
Guess who takes instant umbrage if you don’t say the exact right thing about him…
Yontrop almost 5 years ago
It seems like everybody Is taking Rat’s cartoon serious? This is Rat talking here.
Gent almost 5 years ago
The real Political Correctness is a one eyed monster. For it turns a blind eye towards some things.
SNVBD almost 5 years ago
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.It is NOT an excuse to spew nonsense, fake news, insults, etc.
Freedom of speech means that I can say that I don’t like the Islam (or any other religion) because islam is misogynistic and homophobe. Freedom of speech does not mean that I can simply insult all muslims. That is where political correctness plays a role.
Breadboard almost 5 years ago
The PC Police are the new Brown Shirts … Croc Power !
Aladar30 Premium Member almost 5 years ago
We are doomed.
Ignatz Premium Member almost 5 years ago
But objecting to what someone says is ALSO free speech.
treutvid almost 5 years ago
BE NICE!! YOU A-HOLES!!
cdward almost 5 years ago
Oh good Lord! If you’re so bugged by the whole “Political Correctness” lie, just follow your mother’s advice (which is all political correctness is): If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.
jimchronister2016 almost 5 years ago
We need to slap the B. S. OUT of political correctness! And Just tell the truth!
matthew almost 5 years ago
Who protects us from that guy? We outnumber him. Mockery and ridicule protect us from that guy. Voting with our wallets protects us from that guy. Stop feeding the beast and he starves.
Ellis97 almost 5 years ago
Political correctness won’t leave us alone.
Reader almost 5 years ago
Has someone been reading Democracy in America?
Zebrastripes almost 5 years ago
Political correctness is the evil way to shut people up because some groups aren’t in agreement. All the protesting groups that have formed are causing trouble in the world…if you don’t believe what THEY believe, you’re not allowed to voice your opinion. So many people, companies, CAVE to their demands! Touchy thinned skinned whiny twits are causing our FREEDOM OF SPEECH TO DISAPPEAR SLOWLY! WE the people need to stand our ground and if you don’t like the rules, get out!
avalonrd Premium Member almost 5 years ago
And then there’s Vindman….
witten.homer175 almost 5 years ago
Who is telling us what is pc, the NY media?
Darque Hellmutt almost 5 years ago
Ok, Pastis, this one’s right on the spot! This spot. Right here. X Stand right there and stand real still. The big blue guy will be here any moment now.
Willywise52 Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Say not.Just do.
tripwire45 almost 5 years ago
And that’s about it.
JohnSmith3 almost 5 years ago
You are a bold man, Mr. Pastis. And I can definitely respect that.
Bookworm almost 5 years ago
About 30 years ago, I offered my seat on the subway to a woman standing and burdened with a briefcase and purse. She stated loudly and clearly she didn’t want my “chauvinistic gesture,” she wanted equal pay for equal work! So I shrugged, and told her she could still want those things sitting down, and she might even ponder why common courtesy has become an oxymoron. She moved away from me.
jal333 almost 5 years ago
I think we are confusing “political cruelty” with political correctness at this point in the chaos.
aerotica69 almost 5 years ago
I’ve been checking the real estate listings on Proxima Centauri b. The homes are lovely and the school system is great, but they have some rather strict restrictions on the number of human beings they allow on planet. Go figure.
johnschutt almost 5 years ago
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Snoots almost 5 years ago
Political Correctness has a buddy named Net Harassment. Only Net Harassment has a much lower I.Q. and seldom knows much about the subject in discussion. It’s simply loud and an expert at insults. Between P.C. and N.H…. the best thing one can do is never read a comment, ever and for goodness sake, never post.
Ooops… I just did both. /me pulls out the Troll Control, which I bought from “Gizmos R Us”. It doesn’t kill them or make them smell any better. It simply blanks my computer screen when it detects my blood pressure rising. Then it accesses Alexa to tell me a funny joke about people who live their lives hiding behind a computer screen. Very effective, and worth the price. :D
Display almost 5 years ago
And so many comments fail to consider that by making everybody into one simple mold of your desires just crushes freedom, democracy, and the American Way. I mean, it worked pretty well for the Nazis until the rest of the world kicked the living crap outta those murderous turds. But if that’s the way some “Americans” want to go, we’ll oblige you once again and gladly. Nobody has crushed your freedoms – you still have firearm rights, you still can say and publish virtually any BS you can dream up, and nobody has put you into camps. On the other hand the Rump wants to put more people in camps (and in case you missed it American citizens have been rounded up by those morons and one just died in custody). So at least try and see that the concerns and comparisons between the Cheeto and Company to Shicklgruber are based on some factual comparative history before you keep tryin’ to make all of America about as diverse as mayo on Wonderbread.
Herb L 1954 almost 5 years ago
Make America Hate Again ;(
lanman03 almost 5 years ago
If only we could insult people whenever we like without having to deal with the consequences. If only we could encourage and exercise prejudice without being called out for it. Damn this idea of courtesy and consideration!
ekken almost 5 years ago
If the blue fatty stomps on you, then who stomps on him?
Caldonia almost 5 years ago
Political correctness, aka being kind.
Squoop almost 5 years ago
Why can’t we all just get a bong?
stellans Premium Member almost 5 years ago
You know what? What is being labeled “political correctness” is usually just the simple expectation of common courtesy. If your humor is mean and/or ugly, then it isn’t really funny, is it?
buer almost 5 years ago
Politeness and political correctness are two different things. That’s why people who mistake them, from both sides, might act wrongly. People who confuse both and want to defend politeness will believe that someone who is against PC is someone who is rude and wants to be offensive. People who confuse both and are against PC may believe it gives them the right to be rude as a revolt against this PC oppression.
Political Correctness is just an attempt at censorship and control, a tool used by a community to get power over others by silencing them, by weakening their position, by demanding compensations… Sometimes, (often) the people who use it and benefit from it are not even part of the group that has been allegedly offended, and that’s a key point. Or they serve their own agenda first, before the interests of the group they claim to represent. That usually is the key to detect it.
And it’s a two edged sword. Because it also allows the true serial offenders, the true racists, mysoginists etc… to keep spouting their hatred and discrimination and claiming to be victims of politically correctness, by wrongly equating themselves to those people who got harrassed by the PC crowd for no good reason. That’s what has helped make the “fake news” trick possible. It’s cry wolf by irresponsible people serving their interests (at the minimum wanting attention, wanting to feel important by being knights in shining armor defending a cause) that allows the real wolves to sneak in.
The problem is not politeness or politicall correctness. It’s the lack of common sense, it’s greed, entitlement and self interest. These are the same reasons that bring people to get likes and repost when feeling outraged by a white person wearing dreadlocks or to keep selling guns to mentally ill people when there are weekly mass shootings or pollute and poison the earth for short term profit.
triathlete1066 Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Political Correctness is a tool to silence people who have differing opinions. Intelligent people do this with reasoned, logical arguments and facts, and, others resort to pc and “cancellation.”
zeexenon almost 5 years ago
For some reason, this urges me to reread the original versions of Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The Old Testament, makes me think too of evil now-forbidden phraseology. Oh, again for those days of backlash to The Catcher in the Rye, Peyton Place, et. al.
William Taylor almost 5 years ago
Ah, the big, blue PC meanie! Home and biggest fan of the magical words “racist” and “sexist”!!!!
Keno21 almost 5 years ago
Political Correctness; when fascism matters.
Phydeux almost 5 years ago
The Blue Meanie.
bunrabbit99 almost 5 years ago
“political correctness” just means be polite – don’t hurt others by saying something ignorant.
jhnnywalkr almost 5 years ago
Sorry Pastis, but this is some bs.
Boxcar Credenza almost 5 years ago
Stephan is being so brave with this meaty examination of speech. [eyeroll]
DanFrank almost 5 years ago
I was expecting a commentary on how, inspite of the magical document that guaranteed freedom of speech to everyone, Big Bad Government, in an act of retribution, just purged itself of “insubordinate” staff for speaking truth when subpoenaed to do so. Instead, the fifth panel of today’s strip turned away from courageous relevance to recycled pablum, provoking comments referencing a sitcom from the 80s.
aphasia219 almost 5 years ago
“Political correctness” means actually being racist/sexist/whateverist but not wanting to be caught at it. If you want to say something nasty about another human being based on their gender or skin color, go ahead. You’re free to do so. It isn’t political correctness that stomps on you, it’s the disapproval of the people around you who aren’t whateverist and find your attitude repulsive.
bmaenpaa almost 5 years ago
Use these words…“Perhaps it’s your interpretation that makes it offensive”…“You might want to have that looked at”
tinner2000 almost 5 years ago
People now days are a bunch of oversensitive FOOLS.
willie_mctell almost 5 years ago
Most of what people call political correctness is common courtesy. Some people go too far with trying to control what others say but that’s because they’re human and the behavior curve has tails.
JohnDough almost 5 years ago
See the First Amendment. If that doesn’t work, see the Second Amendment.
Jimmy90403 almost 5 years ago
What is popularly known as “political correctness” is nothing more that thoughtfulness and common courtesy.
gigagrouch almost 5 years ago
People demand Liberty, but too often take license.
GregZimmerman almost 5 years ago
Oh, please.
WCraft Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Well, the PC monster would’ve absolutely hated today’s “Peanuts Begins!”
Sailor46 USN 65-95 almost 5 years ago
Freedom of speech is often miss used when not used in conjunction with free thought.
np312 almost 5 years ago
The thing about so-called “political correctness” is that it’s just another word for being polite, i.e. for respecting people’s wishes regarding their own personhood. For example, if your name is “Michael” and you don’t want people calling you “Mikey” — it is understandably agitating and hurtful when people continue to call you the wrong name because they can’t be bothered to respect your preference. Now when you’re dealing with the added layer of racial and gender, it’s even more important to respect the other person’s preference because there are years of judgement, negative connotation, and even potential violence related to someone disrespecting your preferred name. So if someone lets you know their preferred pronouns, or asks you to use the correct terminology when naming their ethnicity, just don’t be a dick. That’s all you have to do. Unless you’re the kind of person who insists on calling people by the wrong names because you can’t be bothered, Mikey. #endrant
np312 almost 5 years ago
What I mean about the threat of violence: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/26/2018-deadliest-year-transgender-deaths-violence/1378001002/
Zykoic almost 5 years ago
Truth is that there are deep biologic and deep cultural differences in societies that are supposed equal. It just is not true but woe to those who point it out.
Sisyphos almost 5 years ago
Laugh while ye may. Big Bad PC’s gonna get you, sooner or later! PC smash!
Purple-Stater Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Your fellow citizens pointing out that you’re being an asshat does not equate to being silenced by the government.
Schadenfreude almost 5 years ago
What’s all the fuss about personal computers
mjb515 almost 5 years ago
The kid in the crowd in “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, pointing out the Emperor was walking around naked was being impolite. The Emperor was still acting the fool, and the crowd ignoring what they were seeing for fear of being thought low class was Politically Correct.
nomomaniacs almost 5 years ago
Railing against political correctness is fine when you are in the majority. Then you can go about insulting minorities and marginalized groups with impunity. It’s the most selfish argument ever…to want to be free to use the N-word or the F-word and be insulting to others who have less power in society than you in the name of free speech.
wordsmeet over 3 years ago
Good illustration of this particular problem in America. To discuss it intelligently, however, we would need to recognize that our society (that’s us) is fostering a spirit of censorship to avoid offending others. But what if many of us Americans (to the left, to the right, moderates, etc.) are a bunch of thin-skinned people who are too focused on taking offense instead of concentrating on the topic of discussion and not themselves personally?