What are the detrimental effects of political correctness on society?.
This paper is on the detrimental effects of political correctness on society. It starts off by discussing where it emerged; elaborating on how it went from a general Marxist ideology to a less radical modern version. What is remarkable is the various ways it can be injected into our mindset. Two key versions exist: social and economic political correctness. Social political correctness is more aligned to reconstructing languages to boost social harmony while economic political correctness attempts to do the same through economic legislation. There are examples, starting in the middle of the paper, of how political correctness can be harmful.
"Airport laptop seizures anger Muslims " is the title of the November 7th Detroit online news article Detnews examining what is seen as Detroit Metropolitan Airport's discriminatory policies against Muslims. "Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, a frequent traveler who wears a robe and the traditional amamah headwear of a Shi'a leader, is accustomed to scrutiny at international airports " (Detnews, Nov 7, 2008 para.7). After careful analysis of the article's underlying message, it is clear that it is attempting to demonize airport security officers for imparting special attention to Muslim passengers. Their reasoning being, security officers should detain and search everyone equally, and not discriminate based on looks. Such desires to change airport security policies are part of what has now come to be known as political correctness. But can this be taken too far? Where did political correctness emerge and what, if any, are its detrimental effects?.
Political correctness is a term used to describe the attempts to minimize offenses against racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, age and disabled groups. In a way, it represses languages, ideas, and belief systems. Put simply, it is using terms and fixing behavior in ways more acceptable and less hurtful than straightforward approaches.
