There are huge groups of modern Americans that are slightly obsessed with political correctness. At this moment, the President of the United States is something of a shockwave to political correctness, to put it lightly. The verbal streams from President Trump and the tweets that are sent out on a daily basis seem to have no filter. This has sent a rift through the usual political correctness that people in America are used to. Although it is unusual, is it necessarily a bad thing to be politically incorrect?
It seems as though people think that if you are speaking in a politically correct way, therefore, you are allowed to say whatever you want. Just because someone is being politically correct does not mean they are right in what they are saying. Saying something in a nice way doesn’t make it any less critical in many cases.
The saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” simply is not true. This is why political correctness is necessary, to a point. Recently, people have started to go overboard with what is necessary to be politically correct. The vast majority of people think that everyone must be politically correct in order to be “correct” in their opinions. This is not the case at all. No one in America should feel forced to stay silent instead of speaking his or her mind on a topic because it isn’t politically correct or the popular opinion. No one in America must be open to every way of life. Yes, this is the land of opportunity and multiculturalism. Those two ideas do not mean that just because we all live under the same roof that we must believe the same thing. If we did, we wouldn’t have multiculturalism. We would merely be another country that tells its citizens that they must all be the same. Why is there so much unrest after this election? There are differences in mindsets, but that’s why there are two parties of government. Political correctness has gone farther than telling someone, “you shouldn’t use that word or term. Its offensive.” Its grown into a mindset and a scale for what is or isn’t “right” in America.
If you aren’t convinced the political correctness hasn’t gone too far, consider this. Just because someone calls someone “black” instead of “African American” does not make them a bad person and it does not make their opinions any less valid. Most people have never even stopped to think that the term “African American” is incorrect. It is not politically correct at all. Not every person of color in America is from Africa. When will we stop labeling people and just start calling everyone in America, “Americans”? The issue is that we as Americans have grown complacent when it comes to seeing people for who they are and not by their skin tone.
I’m not saying there is no room in our society for political correctness. No one should go around spouting off insults to one another. There is no need for that. However, political correctness does need to go so far as to telling Americans how to feel and think. It is time that we as a nation start focusing on how we speak our minds, not on if our voice is louder than the person next to us.
