Political correctness has the ability to create a divide among peoples, but those with different views have the ability to help others learn and grow. Courtesy of Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
By Salvador Castillo
The concept of political correctness is one I’m glad doesn’t exist back home, because the jokes people make in the Dominican Republic are less than politically correct and where we even make jokes about how corrupt and crime-ridden our own country is.
It started with good intentions under the premise of preventing people from making purposefully racist remarks. But nowadays, political correctness actively seeks out most things people say and purposefully misconstrues them as “racist” in order to achieve a sense of self-righteousness and make themselves out to be a paragon of equality.
You didn’t really do anything other than make somebody else feel miserable. These people are commonly known as social justice warriors (and if you’ve seen their comments throughout the internet, you know just how bad they get).
However, I believe the root of all these issues lies in the modern progressive movement. It used to be about being inclusive of everyone, about ending segregation and not letting the color of your skin determine your status.
Yet it was through the internet that this idea was warped beyond its initial form. Through the idea of anonymity online, people took these ideals and molded them to fit their own version of how events and incidents should be viewed. They started labeling those who didn’t align themselves with their views as oppressive, and people who shared their views would come and join into this hostility-laden tirade.
But when somebody tries to point out the flaws in this system’s logic, they’re met with some pretty harsh opposition, even if they were simply making a constructive observation. Speaking not only as a minority, but also from a logical standpoint, this seems incredibly counterproductive.
Being inclusive does not mean that you ostracize anybody with a different viewpoint as you. You’re supposed to take those people in and learn from them. Someone who thinks of themselves as an activist would try to rationalize a compromise between the two groups involved in a dispute.
Being inclusive also doesn’t mean that you should get offended in place of the party you claim to have been offended. Let said party see whatever it was you saw with their own eyes and let them rationalize if it should be considered offensive.
I recall an incident that happened last year, where someone had an issue with a specific shirt line for “The Walking Dead.” Printed on it was the rhyme “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo; Catch a tiger by the toe,” which the character Negan recited in the show as a countdown to killing members of Rick’s group.
Most people wouldn’t have an issue with this rhyme, except this person found it offensive because the original version of the rhyme, which dates back to around 1820, had a racial slur about African-Americans in place of the word “tiger.”
People should stop placing personal opinions and feelings at a higher priority than they should be. It brings about a wave of people who feel entitled and try to flip most things that happen to them into a false example of them being oppressed.
