“ Due to the extremely controversial nature of this trope we are enforcing a No Real Life Examples, Please! policy”
Is it ironic that this is being applied to this page or is just another case of me not fully understanding irony? Either way I honestly don’t think avoiding controversy with this topic is going to help anyone. But I’m not here to argue about that so I digress.
I just wanted to put this out there: screw political correctness, it belongs in the garbage.
Adam
Ran into this amusing old Hershey's commercial mocking political correctness:
- As part of its "Change is Bad" campaign in the late 90s, Hershey's ran an ad
with a little boy getting a See 'n Say-esque toy with "Politically Correct Nursery Rhymes". The "Politically Correct" part comes in by censoring the Old MacDonald rhyme by, among other things, renaming the title character "Age-Challenged MacDonald". The kid is clearly unimpressed.
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Problem with examples of 'actual PC', started by nzm1536 on Jun 3rd 2011 at 10:24:26 PM
Alphabetizer of Pages
- Clone High: In the beginning of "Snowflake Day", this is one of the first things heard:
Mr. Scudworth: I can hardly believe it's only been a year since the United Nations abolished religious holidays in favor of the non-offensive, all-inclusive, Snowflake Day!
So this trope can also be named "Right-Wingers Complaining About Basic Human Decency"?
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If you genuinely think that Political Correctness can never go too far, then that is very sad. Also, the world is not black and white; many moderates (irrespective of their leanings) are also against excessive political correctness. It's not just right-wingers.
Edited by Tharthan
Yes, in the same way Fair for Its Day is left wingers complaining about everyone on earth not being instantly and indiscriminately tolerant of every "oppressed" people.
Take a wild guess why one is locked, and the other has strict instructions for what should be considered a stretch.
The trope Fair for Its Day is about saying "This used to be acceptable before but isn't anymore". But the trope Political Correctness Gone Mad is about saying "Waaahhhh!!! I dOn't lIkE Thi S sO iT's eVil!!"
~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)
Saturday Night Live provided another example a season or two ago with Levi Wokes (tried to post a link but couldn't get it to work).
Edited by RichardX1
Can we maybe adjust the following example listed under Live Action in "works complaining about political correctness"?
"The David Zucker film An American Carol points out many of the fallacies, ill-logic and over the top rhetoric used by those who approve political correctness. "
It's pretty obviously flame-bait as it's currently worded.
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Sopranos: Columbus Day — the "native american protests piss of italian americans because it's by now just a celebration of italian heritage, not a celebration of subjugating the native americans" seems to miss the point of *why* it's now just a celebration of italian heritage — because the whole "genocide the injuns" schtick got real unpopular due to protests.
One to add for Live Action TV parodies:
- The Colbert Report: Early episodes have David Cross playing Colbert's liberal foil, Russ Lieber. While Colbert always argues for acting on pure impulse, Lieber is so obsessed with being politically correct that he can't seem to advocate any action at all.
You should ask for to be added here
- Samnation satire YouTube's stricter rules and guidelines at the time of the video with the character Neutral Non-Offense. The co-host pixelated and voice censored due to being possibly offensive, the show lacking in material to avoid offending viewers and Neutral Non-Offense frequently paranoid that the mildest of his comments may offend people.
One for the Films Live action:
- Russian trailer (and the film localisation in general) for the Captain America: Civil War removed all mentions and insignias related to Russian army and Moscow, going so far to actually paint out badges on the actors themselves.
One for the Music section:
- Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors have been asked by PETA to change their name on the grounds that it promotes animal cruelty.
About the stinger at the end involving "breasted Americans". I don't know what most people think when they read that, but personally, it doesn't really sound like a PC term. Wouldn't "female Americans" make more sense? Because "breasted" doesn't directly refer to one's gender, it just means one has breasts. (keyword: directly) Also, if it's a joke referring to how men are obsessed with women's breasts, it's important to know that there are men who prefer other body parts, like the buttocks or the stomach (hence the term "buttock-gazing American" I previously listed.) Not to mention, there also exist men, such as myself, who acknowledge women as people, instead of just pieces of meat.
Edited by NNewt84 Hide / Show Replies
I think it's a joke, because breasts attract a lot of obsession.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
It has been removed again
Working on cleaning up List of Shows That Need Summary
For the section on Discworld Dwarves (being parodied/literature) there should really be something about Dwarves considering height and technical species irrelevant, being more of a cultural identity, as the main reason they don't care.
Is it just me or do examples like Elf seem to be less about political correctness and more about being accurate?
The entry claims Elf's advertising using the word "holiday" is PCGM, but to me it just makes sense since anyone can watch the thing even if they don't celebrate Christmas. Being more inclusive seems like the logical choice.
It just seems like Political Correctness Gone Mad Gone Mad.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
CHOUGHTUMBLRCOUGH! Sorry. Had something in my throat.
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... What about Tumblr, exactly?
Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.
He's referring to the social justice warriors on Tumblr. It's not on the page because this is No Real Life Examples Please.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
The change of the meaning of the term "political correctness" is fairly extreme. Do people feel it's more accurate, and helps the page?
My alignment is Chaotic Cute.
- "Blackboards in school being renamed 'chalkboards' to avoid offending black people. The marker variant, called a whiteboard, remains untouched, although, some do call them "Wipeboards", as you can wipe the writing off... but then again, you can do that with blackboards, too."
Markerboards?
Edited by 69.172.221.8
Wereboar
The 'blackboard' -> 'chalkboard' issue stems from a grain of truth, but has nothing to do with political correctness. In some areas, boards used in schools and similar establishments are dark green, so calling them 'blackboards' was considered a bit silly. And funny as it sees, this may be an issue when the public schools makes a tender for the board supplier. The term 'blackboard' may imply that the board must be black, thus limiting the range of prospective suppliers.
Wouldn't that whole "Freedom Fries" fiasco be an example of political correctness?
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Does that make everything the left wing does examples of political correctness?
No to all three. The "freedom fries" thing wasn't an example of anything but ridiculous stupidity.
Actually, "Freedom Fries" was the exact opposite. It was an attempt to eliminate connotation with a whole nation with intent to make them 'unmentionable' (much like eta caste in old Japanese class system). It's worse thing than any racial/national slur.
I'd like to propose a new entry for the Literature section: the short story Harrison Bergeron. I won't spoil any details on the actual story, but I'll take the opening paragraph to set the scene: "The year is 2081, and everybody is finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law, they were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else; nobody was better looking than anybody else; nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General."
Since it's impossible to grant everybody genius I Qs, physically ripped bodies, and killer looks, the Handicapper General forces everybody to wear "handicaps" that impair any mental and physical ability above the lowest common denominator. The "average intelligence" of people is borderline retardation, with anybody above that IQ bracket forced to wear earpieces that randomly disrupt their thoughts with loud noises at random intervals. Anybody more stronger or agile than the weakest citizens is forced to wear bags of lead weights, bringing athletes down to the level of cripples. And anybody considered "more attractive" than average is forced to wear masks - the prettier they are without the masks, the uglier the mask is. All in the name of assuring nobody is capable of "competing" with each other, no less. The title character was taken from his parents by the Handicapper General for having intelligence, strength, and attractiveness FAR beyond the average citizen, and let's just say his "handicaps"... well, let's just say they don't do him any favors.
This pretty much takes Political Correctness Gone Mad to it's greatest extreme, and deliberately plays it for horror rather than comedy, by ensuring equality for all with iniquity for most.
Edited by MaddKossack
Interesting contrast—this page has a lot more explaining "of course this doesn't apply in real life" than Culture Police.
Both of these, I would say, border on YMMV territory—if *you're* offended by it, you're a lot less likely to consider it Political Correctness Gone Mad/Culture Police.
Surely the reason not to refer a tar baby is that tar is black and this is what it was referring to?
Just because it's a African American folk tale has nothing to do with it.
"Most of the complaints for Indians aren't made by Indians..."
It's not like they don't speak up for themselves, though:
http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net/
http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stharm.htm
Speaking up for themselves is irrelevant to political correctness.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how -Neitzsche (I know)
Oversensitivity actually hurts that.
Edited by doomsday524 He who has a why to live can bear almost any how -Neitzsche (I know)
The idea of "banning" Christmas to avoid offending people of other religions (and atheists) always confused me. To me, if you're an atheist, then the idea of Jesus's birthday shouldn't bother you, since it means about as much to you as Santa Clause does to me. Jews celebrating Chanakah never bothered me. Don't mean to sound whiney or preachy, but I'm just saying...
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Banning Christmas in public places is probably what you mean. If it's ONLY Christmas that's being displayed, then there's a problem with that because it's more than likely that it's people who have non-Christmas winter celebrations that don't feel acknowledged. And since you aren't an atheist, you're very likely wrong on how they feel abut celebrations.
As an atheist who grew up devoutly Christian, it doesn't bother me that other people celebrate Christmas with public affirmations of their faith. It doesn't even bother me when they play up the religious imagery of Christmas or other such holidays. What I don't like about (some) Christmas talk is that ordinary Christians who talk to me about it usually assume that I buy into the same worldview that they do, that my views on Christmas things are the same as theirs because the way they think is natural and correct. Without acknowledging the possibility that Christmas might mean something else to me, they imply that my view is something "other" or "deviant," and I don't like that.
Having said that, I'm not sure what you mean by "banning" Christmas. If you're referring to incidents where the word is replaced with Holiday or some other euphemism, I take issue with your definition of banning. It's simple courtesy to say that, as while not everyone celebrates Christmas as such, the idea of a holiday season occurring around that same time with shared customs that transcend religion is much more universal. It's an inclusive term that reduces the potential for alienation because of unwarranted assumptions about the other person's beliefs. It's not perfect, but it's unquestionably well-intentioned.
Also, one minor thing; Your phrasing (the idea... shouldn't bother you) misses the point somewhat about tolerance and Political Correctness in general IMO. It's not about whether one person is right about subjective things, it's about you accepting that they're allowed to feel that way, and then accommodating them as far as is reasonable. You don't get to decide what it's acceptable to be offended by, you just get to choose whether you will respect the wishes of those who claim offense, or whether you won't.
Hope this clarified things, and without being patronizing or otherwise douchey (I sometimes come off that way even though I mean nothing like it).
There are varying levels of it written into government policy at least in government workplaces. The tolerance policies technically prohibit me from wishing a fellow Christian a merry christmas (in fact, they prohibit dialog that would allow me to determine I'm speaking to a fellow christian in the first place.) Its often ignored though.
And I agree some of it is sensitivity. Government has a way of pushing further and further with a program or policy so when we see a municipality take down a nativity display, it sets us on guard. What we have to remember is that the very presence of that nativity scene was probably putting the rest of you on guard to begin with.
Oddly, we are allowed to put up religious iconography in our own cubicles as long as nobody complains (I have a construction paper cross that was given to me by a coworker's daughter.) I think that's why we usually ignore the speech policy (its weird and I hear conflicting reports.)
As a student rabbi, I have absolutely no problem with most Christmas decorations, carols, or Santa. I'd prefer it if carols that mention Jesus and Nativity scenes stay out of public schools and public buildings, but deck as many halls with boughs of holly as you want. And I hope my Christmas will be merry, just as I hope everyone has a "Happy Hanukkah", whether or not they actually celebrate the holiday. Which is why I respond that way whenever I receive a "Merry Christmas," and I hope no one is offended by that.
With regards to your cubicle, I don't think that is odd at all. After all, that's your space, and you should be free to decorate it with anything that is not actually offensive/hurtful to others. I think it's a bit like how you can put up whatever Christmas display you like on your lawn even though the public can see it.
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
Someone listed an example from Thursday Next under Webcomics. I moved it to Literature.
It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
Rilkar
"Tokyo is cracking down on sexual depictions of minors in anime, and passed a bill that will prohibit showing anything close to illegal sexual acts, homosexuality, or girls wearing school uniforms."
Does the bill actually say this? I've only read summaries of it.
There was an episode of Xena which was banned because Xena hit the sacred Wookie.
Edited by Dagobitus
I disagree. I think it should be Political Correctness Gone Challenged Mentally.
Edited by Soupdragon
There's also a rather pervasive tendency for some commentators to cite instances of over-the-top health and safety legislation. Because it is politically correct (as in the best move) to be seen as doing something. Not strictly this trope however.
Government Conspiracy: they are deliberately calling "Political Correctness" "Health and Safety". because they want to discredit REAL Health and Safety and abolish it.
I really don't understand the distinction between the two "types" of political correctness gone made. Can anyone provide a clearer explanation?
Commodore
Cut (again):
- Of course, Kurt Vonnegut meant it as a satire of people who didn't understand the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of results—in effect, mocking those who thought that affirmative action and the world of Harrison Bergeron were the same thing.
. Short version: that's just one theory at best, and very far from an "of course".
Edited by Zeke
FiveMinute.net: because stuff is long and life is short
Per TRS
, this was split into Political Overcorrectness and Political Correctness Is Evil.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.