Why are we so thin-skinned now?
Political correctness is probably one of the most obscure aspects of our lives, and to make it worse, what is correct to say is constantly changing. Looking back through history, it doesn't seem like people cared so much about political correctness. Perhaps there's a correlation between the rising maturity age and this, but I'll leave that up to debate.
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It's because of this stupid "Let's be nice to everyone!" fad. I hate it. Honestly, I used to be one of the most awkward kids at my school, then I went to military school for 2 years. The only reason that I'm not awkward any more is because people treated me like shit. There's a reason that self esteem exists, and it's because being socially awkward is a bad thing. We're so thin-skinned because people think that the way to solve social problems is to be nice to everyone. While it's not a bad thing to be nice, it's not a good thing to encourage negative social behavior. Side: New Age Fad
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I'm not entirely sure whose history you're referring to. But no matter what civilization you look at, its history has included a form of "political correctness"--whether it was subsumed in the general tradition of etiquette or some independent system. Look at Meiji culture, Victorian culture, Hunter Gatherer Culture (eg. the Ju/'hoansi of Dobe who once thrived in Botswana); they all had their own modes of what we identify as political correctness and they have been vastly more ritualized and specific than the political correctness found in the modern era, particular the kind of political correctness that complacent Americans and other "Westerners" argue against. I have something of a follow up question to the above point. Is there anything specific about political correctness that people are against? Side: New Age Fad
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Since you're relatively young (compared to me ;) and since you're not a natural born citizen, you probably are not aware of a TV show called, "Archie Bunker." Back in the day people could get away with stuff like that. Now.... It's kinda sad really. Everyone going around pretending to be nice instead of wearing their true colors. Side: New Age Fad
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Since you're relatively young (compared to me ;) and since you're not a natural born citizen, you probably are not aware of a TV show called, "Archie Bunker." Back in the day people could get away with stuff like that. Now.... The show wasn't called Archie Bunker. It was All in the Family or the spin-off, I forget the name. But now we have Eric Cartman who plays the exact same role. And the reason Archie Bunker was permissible was because he was supposed to be a parody, hence the humorous context of the show. Everyone going around pretending to be nice instead of wearing their true colors. You're clearly ignoring or are ignorant of reality if you think that this is the case. Side: New Age Fad
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From wikipedia article 'Euphemism': lame → crippled → handicapped → disabled → physically challenged → differently abled I still remember the use of the term crippled! I would say that disabled is the most accurate. Differently abled? They are not abled differently, they are unable! shell shock (World War I) → battle fatigue (World War II) → operational exhaustion (Korean War) → posttraumatic stress disorder (Vietnam War) Back in the 50s, n-gger [hyphen added to avoid controversy] was the common term for a black person (or rather, African American). What are they to be called now, I can't keep up! I read some stories a while back called 'Politically Correct Bedtime Stories', you can read some on the 'net and in book format. An outline of each story is given on wikipedia. Side: We're idiots
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