How does one be politically correct in today’s world? To be honest, I’m not so sure. I don’t know if other people else feel the same way as I do, but I believe that we live in an overly sensitive society. People become offended very easily nowadays. This has led me to wonder what being politically correct means in the present day. How do we speak and act so we offend as few people as possible?
As a writer, I constantly have a battle with how to word things and what to say because I don’t want to offend too many people. After all, the goal is to have people come back and read my work, so I want to make sure I'm not coming across as rude. I’ve often thought of some things to write, but I wasn’t sure how much I could flower it up to be considered “politically correct.” At this point, I feel it does not matter what you say or how you say it. There will always be someone who is offended by it. Nothing will ever be perfect; you can’t please everyone. There’s also a difference between being insensitive and politically incorrect. A mild example of being insensitive versus politically correct would be using “old person” instead of “senior citizen.” However, we can all think of more extreme examples that are too inappropriate to include in this article. You get the point.
I think the majority of the people I know are politically correct. However, we cannot expect people to dress things up too much, but we can expect some decent respect. I hope “politically correct” is not evolving into sugar-coating things to the point where the point is completely hidden or that it takes five years to get to the point. I guess things should stop being taken so personally. A personal attack is usually geared towards someone and is not a general statement, article, song, Facebook post, etc.
Overall, being politically correct has not really changed. The key lies in the way people decode messages. I am not saying that every single person is sensitive or that being sensitive is a bad thing, but assuming that a general statement of some sort is directed at you may be a little overboard. Also, that’s just wasted energy. I am also not condoning insensitivity. It is important and professional to know that there is a line to be crossed.
