This may seem like a bad time to bring this up, what with the immense tension in the air and the clear promotion of religious and racial discrimination that is rife within the current administration. And then there's the subsequent rise in hate crimes and threats.

I would argue, however, that these things are what makes now a better time than ever to talk about this subject because we have got to learn to talk to people without a predisposition to assume the worst--even when many people fulfill the stereotype that we're trying to learn to not paint everyone with.

Is that confusing? This is all confusing. Because I think we probably all have that right-wing uncle that we fight with on a daily basis on Facebook, or someone in our life whose viewpoint we just cannot agree with. We've just come away from an election season! And the craziest one yet--certainly in my short life, but also for many of our longest-serving and most experienced voices of reason.

Opinions are flying, tempers are flaring, and feelings are getting hurt.

And among the people with whom we disagree on various issues, we probably all know at least one person who instantly resorts to saying that political correctness is harming us more than it's helping us.

Google defines Political Correctness as follows:

The avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.

So, when I hear people complaining that the PC mentality is hurting us, and that one of the reasons people love Donald Trump so much is because he has no filter and doesn't abide by PC standards, I find it a little hard to wrap my head around. Are there really people who love racial slurs so much that they hate the idea of that piece of their freedom of speech being taken away? Are there really people out there who are scared that they won't be able to make fun of gays or Mexicans or Muslims or Black people without being shamed for it? That their stereotypes and racially-charged jokes won't garner any more laughs?

And in my head, I really want to say, "To hell with these people. We can't allow that garbage in our society if we want to be as progressive as we need to be to have a more equal and equitable society."

But, as pro-PC people, we have to be inclusive of all viewpoints. We have to think about things from a different perspective in order to understand both sides. And with that, we can come to a compromise.

Here's my idea:

Folks should absolutely try to be more sensitive to how the words they say impact certain groups of people. We are living in the twenty-first century where racist, sexist, or homophobic slurs have no place. Doing away with this kind of language is the least we can do, and it's the first step in moving forward.

On the flip-side, everyone should calm down a bit. Not every person who might say something mildly insensitive does so intentionally, and they may not even realize they're being offensive. It's fine to want to help educate folks, but attacking them and immediately calling them a racist or sexist doesn't help anything. No one is going to listen when they like they are being attacked. People might be open to being politely educated when we notice they've said something that might be perceived as insensitive, but when our volume goes on blast, ears are bound to tune everything out.

And it makes those labels lose power and meaning .

I'm reminded of a time in my life where I was called racist. The situation took place when I was working at a video store next door to a restaurant. My store and the restaurant had a marketing idea; they gave out a buy one get one free rental coupon to people who bought a meal, and my store gave out a buy one get one free meal coupon to people who rented a movie.

One day, I was in the back of the store putting returns away when a group of middle school-aged boys came in and grabbed a stack of the coupons from behind the counter and took off. It was annoying, but I let it slide since the coupons had no monetary value so it wasn't really theft in the traditional sense.

Ten minutes later, another young boy came in and tried to grab one of the coupons. I informed him that I could only give the coupons to people who rented a movie. He left, seemingly okay with it, until his mother stormed in and immediately accused me of being racist; she insisted I wouldn't give her son a coupon because he was black, where the other boys got coupons because they were white. This was absolutely not the case, and she refused to hear me out. It was hurtful to be called a racist, especially being the equality-driven and equity-minded person I am. And I wished she would have heard my side of the story before jumping to that conclusion.

The point is this: We live in an incredibly turbulent time where there absolutely is still racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and misogyny around every corner. But we can't fix anything when we assume everyone is attacking any one of our various identities. People, for the most part, are good and want everyone to get along. And we can't fix anything when we divide ourselves up by refusing to hear one another out and don't try to understand.

Of course there are people who won't hear it. There are people who will never stop using slurs, who have hate in their hearts and shut their ears to different viewpoints.

But on the other side, there are people who assume someone even talking about (not even insulting; just speaking about) a lifestyle or race or religion that's not their own is being racist, xenophobic, homophobic, etc.

We should all just agree to assess before assuming, consider context, and politely educate where necessary. And we need to talk to each other to reach a conclusion. Only through civil dialogue can we come to understand one another and move forward together.

...but keep any slurs out of your mouth, and constantly keep yourself informed on updated acceptable terminology.

We can definitely live with some modicum of peace when we don't assume the worst about each other. We may even find common ground upon which we can get through this and move forward.