As a Turkish person, I grew up in a place where the concept of political correctness literally does not exist. Calling homosexuals, people of color, or women names is not only completely acceptable, but also regarded as a part of street culture in the Turkish society. Therefore, using the words which I can’t even write here without censoring is so normalized that even a slight mention of speaking in a politically correct way would meet with a loud laugh, at best. Some may argue that the situation is not that extreme in every part of Turkey, especially not in some universities in Istanbul, the largest city. Well, compared to United States even the most politically aware universities are not really aware of political correctness. Simply because, Turkey hasn’t even ended explicit racism, sexism or homophobia, let alone dealt with the implicit.
Political correctness is not comprehensible in Turkey because Kurdish civilians (people of color in Turkish context) are struggling to be alive in Southeast Turkey, rape victims are being forced to marry their perpetrators and politicians are even trying to ease this with new laws, and homosexuals don’t exist, according to Turkish people -- therefore, their rights are not even on the agenda.
It is safe to say that the United States has come a long way regarding racial, gender, and LGBT issues compared to Turkey so, today, the universities are able to start a conversation on speaking in a politically correct manner. After all those years of explicit oppression, marginalized groups are finally speaking up and using college campuses to address those silenced issues. Before coming to the United States to study, I hadn't really met a Black, Asian or a transgender person. I was unaware of the concepts of cultural appropriation, trigger warning or gender neutral pronouns, but I was very aware of Brown University's sensitive atmosphere. I knew that I should be talking in a politically correct way, but I didn’t how because I was very unfamiliar with America’s racial context. That is why, at first, I chose to keep quiet in order not to say something wrong or offend someone. Through the year I have engaged in many conversations about PC with both my American and my Turkish friends and thought a lot about its purpose and function.
According to my experiences, I can say that political correctness is neither the worst thing nor the best thing, ever. It is very important for starting a conversation and including the ones who were once excluded in the conversation. We are all sharing the same environment, therefore, everyone’s opinions matter and we should all feel a responsibility to be sensitive about one another’s feelings and opinions. Personally, I feel a responsibility to educate myself on those social issues regarding people of color and LGBT people even though it doesn’t have a direct benefit to my life simply because it is the right thing to do (and I know “the right thing” can be very subjective). Your words are an extension of the system so speaking in a politically correct way becomes an important matter and a part of that "right thing."
Now, political correctness is all about learning about communication through communicating. Therefore, PC loses its function when it starts to hinder communication instead of opening it. It becomes a problem when people choose not to talk at all due to fear of meeting harsh criticism and objection. Then, instead of solving problems, PC creates new ones by perpetuating the implicit prejudices. The key thing to this problem is tolerance -- by not just one side, but both of the sides of the conversation.
I am coming from a very different country with very different problems and context. If I have said something that offended you please know that I didn’t intend to hurt you. My words are a result of my ignorance, and I’m here to learn. And I know that you are tired of teaching, but I don’t have any other reliable source and if I’m showing an effort to learn you should show an effort to teach and try to tolerate me.
On the other hand, if you get angry with me because of what I have just said, I should show the same tolerance to you because I know that your ancestors, your family and perhaps you have been through a lot. I know that you are angry, not at me, but at the system that has created this hatred and these prejudices in the first place.
The other thing I want to touch on is the everlasting quarrel between polıtıcal correctness and freedom of speech and the chain of critique. When someone is criticizing you because you are speaking politically incorrectly, don’t claim that your right to freely speak is violated because their criticism is also included in the freedom of speech unless someone physically tapes your mouth. That being said, I am against censoring of any kind of publication or speech. Everyone should have a platform to express their opinions even though these opinions have a potential to offend many people. The solution is not to silence them for the sake of political correctness but to criticize, object or even protest to express what you believe is right.
There are many questions and problems to be addressed about this topic. Who decides what is politically correct, what are the limits of freedom of speech, if there is any or should there be rules and regulations for PC on college campuses and to what extent. All are valid and important questions but if I start to talk about them, this article won’t end so I’m going to shut up (and I just censored myself).
To conclude, I want to say that the idea of political correctness has emerged for a good cause but, without a doubt, it is moving away from its original purpose and the key is to maintain the conversation by trying to tolerate one another.
