I guess we disagree fundamentally on that point.
@fretfulmother - What makes you believe that the words Non PC environment means a person is a racist, sexist or homophobe? I donât see the connection. Remember just because you believe something that does not make it true.
@Proudpatriot - how about this, why donât you tell me what you consider to be a ânon PCâ environment?
âI guess we disagree fundamentally on that point.â
And that effectively ends the conversation. It wouldnât be PC to discuss it.
OP, as to one groupâs measure of free speech/âcommitment to viewpoint diversityâ on campuses, the Heterodox Academy rated the USN&WR top universities.
http://heterodoxacademy.org/resources/guide-to-colleges/
The chilling effect on free speech couldnât be more clearly demonstrated than by this thread. Perhaps unwittingly (or perhaps not), the intolerance of open dialogue on any topic is the opposite of Voltaireâs enlightened motto that âI disagree with what you say but will defend to my death your right to say it.â It was once the hallmark of an educated adult, but clearly is not adopted by some prior posters. Fortunately, civil liberties advocates still follow it.
@fretfulmother I would be happy to do that.
To me a Non PC environment means people do not subscribe hidden meaning to every word someone says so that anything anyone ever says can be construed as racist, sexist or homophobic.
Now I would like to ask you to tell me specifically what it is about the words Non PC that makes you automatically assume the OP is racist. It is terribly unfair to the OP.
First off, Iâm unsurprised that the conversation went in this direction, it seemed inevitable.
I wouldnât go as far as calling a Non-PC person racist, sexist, etc. HOWEVER, In my experience people who complain about PC culture have no interest in listening to the struggle or pain that people have endured. For example, itâs the type of person that plays video games and calls people f**s or n**s and then tells them âget over it itâs just wordsâ. Or the type of person that tells rape jokes and then just ignores you when you try to explain to them how prevalent rape is (which is a particularly important issue with respect to college campuses) and how itâs really not a funny thing to joke about.
I just want to clarify Iâm not saying that OP is this person, BUT I think thatâs the type of person who fretfulmother was thinking of, but she took it a bit far by assuming OP is that person
Iâm sitting here wondering what the F word is? :-?
Those are not ânon-PCâ people. Those people are just jerks.
I am a ânon-PCâ person, but I donât tolerate anyone like that.
Derogatory term used generally for LGBTQ people
Well like I said, in my experience most people that complain about PC Culture just want to keep making offensive jokes at other peoplesâ expense and not work towards a deeper understanding of why somebody might get offended at that topic.
Keywords: my experience
How about people who deny that racism exists and whose response to the Black Lives Matter movement is to dismissively declare âAll Lives Matterâ and who are unwilling to consider or recognize struggles faced by minorities in this country? Is that non-PC or jerks?
@doschicos I see our minds are in the same place lol.
@philbegas That is where conversation becomes important. Many people I know are critical of the PC culture and itâs micro aggressions and dog whistles which are viewed as a means of stopping discussion rather than furthering it. They would never dream of using such terms as you alluded to and really do believe a person should be judged by the content of their character not by the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. People may differ on what that means but dialogue leads to understanding while name calling leads to division.
I think there are extremists on both sides and that even at liberal minded schools, you can have dialogue with the majority of students if you come to the table willing to discuss AND listen. I think people get hung up on hearing about a few isolated instances and the more conservative ânewsâ outlets and blogs like to whip that into a fervor and exaggerate the atmosphere on campuses. If you buy into that, you are becoming part of the problem and division. Iâve given two examples in this thread of liberal minded schools - Colorado College and Harvard - who have/are having symposiums with a broad range of political viewpoints being expressed. I searched for neither but heard about one in a discussion with a student and came across the other in my daily readings. I sincerely believe that is not uncommon.
@lvvcsf
But see, theyâre assuming that everybody that sees the merit in âPC cultureâ believes in validating every single micro-aggression possible but they donât. Thereâs varying levels of it.
I completely agree that just calling everything a micro-aggression hinders progression, but calling everybody oversensitive does the exact same thing.
IMHO making a whole thread about this was just to try to look edgy.
@Proudpatriot - thank you for that explanation. From my POV, if someone refuses to use language that is preferred by a given group, or construes such requests as censorship, that is a way of erasing the identity/request of someone who is usually in a position of relative social weakness.
So as an example, letâs say a person says, âIâm going to always use âheâ as the general pronounâ and thinks that in a non-PC environment, they could do that without people saying that it is sexist. Well, I would say that it is sexist (whether people say so or not) and to insist on doing it is to ignore women who feel marginalized not hearing themselves reflected in everyday speech.
Other examples -
Suppose someone says, âI donât want to have to discuss what kind of bathroom a Trans kid will use because thatâs a silly/distracting topicâ and thinks that in a non-PC environment, no one is going to complain about such a statement. However, if there are Trans people around, their experiences/needs have just been erased or minimized rudely.
Suppose someone says, âletâs discuss whether xyz people are worse at math,â and in a non-PC environment feels no need to explain that s/he is not out to actually make that claim in advance - well, the xyz person majoring in math sitting RIGHT THERE canât help but feel insulted or at the very least, like s/he has to defend his/her knowledge of math or ability to compete.
Iâm not sure why I ended up being the lightning rod in this conversation. So far there have been three ad hominem comments directly to me, to my mind very unfairly. Iâm not the only person, even on this thread, who thinks that non-PC is used as code for âlet the chips fall where they may as I say whatever flies into my headâ. The OP began his question with an assumption about liberal environments and has given no indication, except wanting to discuss âBlack Power,â of desiring to listen to what others might have experienced.
There is another word for those people @philbegas . Those people are jerks. That has nothing to do with Non PC.
Funny things going on in this thread though.
Non-PC people are defending themselves against generalization
Non-PC people are generalizing PC people
Oh the irony.