The Bill of Rights, Amendment I states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (Bill of Rights). These rights were basically protecting what people say, and write, however, we are slowly loosing those rights. We have to worry now about offending someone because of our language, or saying something that is considered politically incorrect. A quote that has made a big difference in my perception when dealing with people is “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. (Lydgate) As I grow older, I see this to be so true. If you look around, you see people being offended more and more. When you please one group, then another group will be offended. There is no way to please everyone, even with claiming terms are politically correct/incorrect. We are in a vicious cycle of using a word in the proper context, it being misused, being changed to a politically correct word, then the word being misused again.…
The government has transformed into a police, authoritarian state, and citizens have had all rights revoked. Speech is restricted, thinking is against the law. Today, virtually all non-physical interaction, meaning digital communication in all forms, is monitored by the government. Speech itself, although guaranteed in the US Constitution, can be limited and have extreme effects on a person's life. Edward Snowden worked for the government, and found disturbing evidence of invasive spying on citizens by the NSA. He then exposed this program to the world, making him a fugitive and forcing him to flee to Russia. Freedom of speech is slowly being eroded…
In the article “The Culture of Shut Up,” author Jon Lovett ponders the current state of public dialogue in the age of the Internet. Lovett is a Los Angeles based writer and a former speech writer for President Barack Obama (13). The author suggests that the internet, which provides for exceptional access to diverse public speech, will inevitably include speech that is offensive. Lovett’s opinion is that people must resist the urge to punish such speech, if people want to allow a range of voices to be heard and makes his argument majorly effective by using humor and providing popular examples of where people have been told “to shut up”.…
He states that political correctness doesn’t just harm individuals as they can be harassed and persecuted for what they way, but he says that it has broader consequences on the cultural mindset. Other reasons include, “Declining educational standards, increasing secularism, the police not being allowed to do their job, and inability to secure her [America’s] borders, a diminished America in the world theatre and reluctance to smash the evil of currently rampaging Islamism— all of it is rooted in politically-correct ideology.” These ideas are some of the reasons behind the author’s…
Imagine a young boy with autism who struggles to interact socially. Other children consider him unintelligent, and they have no trouble making him aware of their opinions. They call him names like retarded, dumb, and ignorant, but he cannot change the condition he has, so he withstands the insults. Even though the other children never strike him with their fists, the harsh words they use are just as intense. Politically incorrect terms, like “retarded,” that are used to hurt others are degrading, impudent, and should not be used.…
In the essay, Goodman discusses the modern misuse of words that evoke Hitler and the Nazis. He suggests that those who are desensitized to hate words are introduced as being too readily used in many environments. In addition, the essay also brings out the fact that hate words are being loosely used by many politicians tells us that desensitization of hate words are prevalent can extend even to important social figures as well.…
Political Correctness, by definition, is the avoidance of forms of expression or action that potentially could be perceived as insulting. Political Correctness goes hand in hand with something social media names as “trigger warnings,” which is something a post, picture, website, ect. is tagged with when it could be upsetting to someone who has struggled with the content written about. In theory, Political Correctness and trigger warnings are a very good idea. They avoid terms that are impolite or unkind, such as the n-word, and ideas or concepts that could possible cause someone mental trauma, such as discussing rape or self-harm graphically. The way Americans are using these things, though, could be described as potentially harmful to the…
For the past twenty or so years information has largely been stored in digital form, providing the current generation of digital natives with access to more and more information in recent years. With this new flow of information available to the public has come increased censoring by the government. However, this is not a new issue as some might believe. Since the first primitive government was established information has been shielded and manipulated from the every day citizens of the world by those in power. The cause fought against information censorship enjoys the same past. For as long as information has been censored there have been those who have fought against it (Newth, 2010). This issue has arisen particularly in the United States, as some believe access to any information that exists is a right protected by the Constitution.…
Freedom of speech is part of the first amendment which states, “You are free to say almost anything except that which is obscene, slanders another person, or has a high probability of inciting others to take imminent lawless action.” (Patterson, 2008, p. 98) With the freedom of speech it is necessary to put certain restraints into place. The government cannot restrict what people say unless there is a clear and present danger to other people from the voicing of the statement. The freedom of speech was originally intended to give people the right to voice their opinion without being taken to court for it as long as it did not hurt anyone. Currently freedom of speech is viewed as a way to allow people the chance to speak for themselves. By allowing this government is allowing people to have a say in their governance and not ruled by the government without their input. This allows us to have a say in our government and what is represented by us. In 1927, Fiske vs. Kansas was a case that helped to invalidate state laws that restricted expression. The events that changed freedom of speech over the years are the burning of the flag court case, the “pentagon paper” publishing, and other such events throughout the years.…
If the world ended up exactly how the Mayans thought, we would be dead. If the world ended up exactly how America though 200 years ago, we would all have white picket fences, and family`s would be all white; husband, wife, son, and daughter. We would all live in peace and harmony. But that's not reality and in this quote the author explains how society always changes it`s standards, “That's the way politics works sometimes. We try really hard to persuade people that we're right and then people vote. And then if we lose, we learn from our mistakes, we do some reflection, we lick our wounds, we brush ourselves off, we get back in the arena, we go at it. We try even harder the next time”(__).…
Throughout history ideas such as social conformity and political correctness have been highly apparent in most societies. This has slowly and more recently became a problem that many individuals worldwide struggle with. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 speaks a large amount about what Bradbury feels governmental censorship could ultimately lead to. Creativity and originality play a major role in propelling society forward and is the main cause for such diverse and rich cultures around the world. Creativity and letting a mind wander at times can be extremely beneficial and lead to amazing things such as new inventions or even groundbreaking discoveries. Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451…
In today’s society, social norm violations are what hold American culture, while separating us as distinct individuals. We have unwritten rules of how we are expected to behave in a certain way whether it’s in a public or private gatherings. They can change throughout time “Norms are transmitted through a process of socialization, by which every member of society is subtly trained to appreciate and follow these norms.”(Williams,2011) because of these unwritten rules we have a different minds set as time passes, if we travel a few decades back in time, the way we dress or behave can all be violations. By observing and committing a norm I have realized that the power of society pressures us to behave in a certain matter for…
Nicholas Barber believes that we have become too politically correct. He argues that we have become too sensitive and that we censor our right to speak our minds, most commonly known as freedom of speech. I agree with Barber that we have become too politically correct,…
Being politically correct is incredibly important to society, because a lot of it is just not being offensive towards other people. The term politically correct originated from Communists and Socialist in the mid 20th century to insultingly to language that was in the party line. At the start of the 1990’s being politically correct became a huge deal to people in America and the UK , it sort of showed the rejection of racism, homophobia and everything else offensive(It’s Time to Get Real About). Although there seems to be quite an unclear line between stating an opinion and being downright offensive.…
We live in an age of freedom, at least that’s what we’re told. We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to express ourselves any way we can. But how accurate is that statement? How far can we actually go before our freedom of speech is taken away from us? What kind of sensitive information do we have to talk about before the government shuts us up? Of course, in countries like America and the United Kingdom, we don’t think about this. We see countries like China, and North Korea, where their freedom of speech is completely taken away from the people. We sit back and feel sorry for these people, but how free are we? Are we just living in a state of delusion? How much censorship is used in the media today, and how long has this been going on? We as people are beginning to see that the information in the media is not reliable anymore, some of us believe everything that comes out of our television set. Is censorship in the media slowly and silently taking away our freedom of speech?…