Why Does Political Correctness Only Apply To Dems, Liberals Or Progressives?....

[global1]

Seriously - why is it that when Dems, Liberals or Progressives say something that might just be a little biting - they either are thrown out of their job, a meeting or are made to publicly apologize? And why is it when these RW hate mongers, apologists and talking heads say something really off the wall in terms of political correctness - nothing ever comes of it? I'm thinking of people like Glenn Beck, Rush, etc.

Seems like political correctness is one-sided now - how did this happen?

[Petrushka]

1. Where did the concept of "political correctness" originate?

[lob1]

2. Don't you know you're not supposed to answer a question with a question?

[Petrushka]

5. LOL

[BR_Parkway]

20. Where'd you hear that?

[global1]

4. I Don't Know - But For The Longest Time Now I Seem To Be.....

watching every word I say and knowing whom I'm talking to before I speak. Most of all I don't rub my Repug friends faces in it by sending on 'e-mail chain messages' that criticize or make them look wacko.

I notice that they don't seem to care and pass on all sorts of outlandish 'chain e-mails' that criticize, damn or poke fun at the Dems or Obama.

There is a double standard out there and I'm beginning to really resent it.

[Gman2]

11. I follow Jesus advice, and let the fur fly.

Noone is going to cow me, on my speech. Try it and look weak.

[Chulanowa]

6. It's republicanese for "we can't say n*gger"

Seriously, tell them the shit htye spew is offensive and their reply is accusations of "political correctness" - You know... manners and social etiquette.

[ingac70]

3. Everyone expects Beck, Rush, etc to be bigoted assholes

Dems, Liberals and Progressives are of a higher standard

[global1]

7. So Are You Saying We Let Them Get Away With It?.......

and furthermore - what am I missing here? My Repug friends are smart and educated people. I would think that they would be more evenhanded and not tolerate the crap that comes out of the mouths of some of the RW talking heads. But they actually cheer them on. How is it we can see the double standard and the hypocrisy - and they seem to be oblivious of it?

I'm really struggling with this. Also - why do they gravitate to policies, opinions and leaders that actually is not in their best interest? I'm losing friends and becoming more isolated because I can't stand to talk or be with such people - and some of my best friends and my neighbor are Repugs.

Especially my neighbor. He recently had open heart surgery. The medical bills damn near bankrupted him. He lost his business because of the economy. He has 4 kids - two boys both in college and 2 girls - one in high school and one that will be starting high school in September. The boys could be put on the front lines in either Afghanistan or Iraq and be killed - yet he back BushCo and the war. His girls could be attacked and raped - yet he is a pro-lifer.

Everything about his life - calls out that he should be a Dem - but he is Repug - through and through - and I just don't understand why.

My other two Repug friends are relatively wealthy and suffer from the "I got mine - I don't care about you" syndrome.

I'm beginning to question myself and my beliefs - because I'm just incredulous that these people can take the bait and follow the Repugs - hook, line and sinker.

What gives? And really - serious answers only.

[Juche]

8. Why would you question your own beliefs

What about your friends and neighbor's behavior causes you to question your own beliefs?

As far as PC, I think part of it is that liberals hold themselves to a higher standard. Liberalism is by definition an attempt to expand the social, economic, political and legal system to be as inclusive and fair as possible. Conservatism involves a high level of tolerance and comfort with inequality and being ok with 80% of the population being excluded from membership in 'polite society'. So a liberal who says things that makes gay people feel socially unwanted or attempts to deny htem legal rights isn't going to get the same reaction from a conservative, who people expect that from. My biggest beef is that conservatives try to take credit for the work of liberals. ie, ending slavery was done by republicans, but the republicans were liberal in the 1860s. But suffice it to say, I think the fact that liberals actually expect better from themselves is why we apologize, and why people expect us to apologize. But then again a conservative who says 'nappy headed hos' also runs into problems.

Almost every social and legal advance that has made life more fair and just was pushed by liberals and opposed by conservatives. Women's rights, civil rights, gay rights, child labor laws, minimum wage, social security, medicare, unemployment benefits, worker protections, labor rights, environmental rights, human rights as part of foreign policy, energy independence, animal rights, prisoner rights, anti-torture legislation, etc.


As far as education, some of the most radical right wingers are highly educated. Michael Savage has a PhD from UC berkeley, one of the top universities on earth. Bill O'Reilly has a graduate degree from Harvard. Alan Keyes and Bill Kristol were roommates at Harvard. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are both supposedly incredibly intelligent. Being educated is no protection from authoritarian conservatism, since that mentality seems to originate from an overactive fear response, which shuts down rational thought and makes the world into a dangerous black/white world where good and evil are easily differentiated and strong actions must be taken to protect oneself including being blindly loyal to authority and hostile to outsiders.


Read the scientific paper "political conservatism as motivated social cognition"

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~hannahk/bulletin.pdf

Also read the book 'the authoritarians'.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey /


Both are free online.

[global1]

12. I Don't Know - I'm Tired Now - I'm Feeling Frustrated & Isolated From Some Of My Best Friends.......

and acquaintances. I posted earlier in the day the following:

"The feared and fearful have changed places since Jan '09. I know I feared BushCo and all they stood for. I was worried for this country.

My fear and the fear of many like-minded people subsided as I stood in Grant Park in Nov '08 and heard that Barack Obama would soon be in charge.

Unfortunately - as our fear subsided and we became less fearful - the opposite was happening on the other side.

Those that felt comfort under BushCo immediately became fearful at the thought of either a Dem or a black man in the White House.

Fear has flipped in this country - and this is most confounding for me - as I can see very clearly how things have changed and have gotten better - and don't understand the fear in the minds of those that don't think things are looking up. This is really confounding. I would like somebody to explain this to me.

Talk about a 'bizzaro' world.

Seems to me if we just talked to each other and listened - maybe we can come to some happy medium where we can all get along."

But when one tries to talk with the Repugs - they either don't want to engage in a dialogue or they don't want to listen to other opinions. I couldn't get my Repug friends to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 or Sicko. I even bought them their own copies. At least I take the time to listen to some RW talking heads and try and understand where they are coming from.

I'm almost feeling like I'm in the movie - Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the updated version Invasion. It's like the Repugs are unemotional. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep for fear that I may wake up one of them.

I'm just perplexed - because I don't understand them or their beliefs and am trying hard to understand.

Thanks for your analysis and the links.

[Juche]

17. The fear is based on different things

Liberal fear was more about constitutional violations and unnecessary wars.

Right wing fear seems more based on a fear of ambiguity and change, which is partly why they can be so dogmatic, so terrified of novelty and so dependent on authority figures like the military and police. In the last few months they've seen a trillion dollar stimulus package and an attempt to dramatically reform the healthcare system with a black liberal leading the way. They have also seen the american public vote in democratic politician by gigantic margins, going from 45 seats in the senate in 2005 to 59 seats (not including Specter) in 2009. They feel things are changing, and because conservatives are mentally very sensitive to fear, they need as much consistency and control as possible to feel secure. Now they fear the country is going 'socialist' and there is nothing they can do to stop it. When Glenn Beck says "I love my country and I fear for it", he actually means it. "His" country has a very black & white line between socialism/capitalism, and he thinks that line is being violated. As it stands, about 20% of the public live in a state of deep seated fear, and they cope with the fear by craving consistency (aka upholding the status quo), having strong authority figures (a strong police and military), and by black/white divisions between good and evil. And now they are seeing advances they consider evil (aka socialism), things are changing, and they can't do anything to stop it. A bunch of people who are emotionally fragile, have very black/white thinking and are sensitive to change and fear (20% of the public) are being made to undergo things they don't like and having their coping mechanism stripped from them at the same time, and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Conservatives come across as angry bullies, but deep down inside they are terrified of everything because they have a very crystalized, fragile worldview that is constantly under attack. Every tinpot dictator is the next hitler. Every minor social advance (gay marriage, ending segregation, etc) will destroy civilization. Every minor government program is communism. They are always the victim of somebody.

Violence is sadly inevitable in this situation, and I think the violence is going to get worse in the next year.

[Gman2]

19. Ding ding ding. Every human studies cause and effect, almost from birth

This, to feel secure. These theories of how physics works is important to us. It is intimately tied to our fear of LOSS OF CONTROL. Our number one fear. Those that have put their faith in America being GODS COUNTRY, and we own the earth, are as thrown as those told the earth is round. Or those that writhed in agony, as the gregorian calendar was revised, and the pope took a few or their days, posthumously. The real problem is: that provincialness, and pollyanna'ness, is whats uncompetitive about america, and untimately, what is wrong. I am an engineer, and could not fathom any teabagger, or town hall shouter being inteligent and learned enough, to put aside myths, when it is time. They are sad, and pathetic.

[Gman2]

13. Politics has become a team sport. They cheer any utterance.

Use your opponents claims against them. That is the game. We talk about fundamental justice and fairness. Of COURSE, they are going to use that. At least we can use that to drive right into our meat and potatoes. When they confront us. We confront them on sexual daliances, freak shows and strange quirks, as they claim to be puritans and eunichs. How are they going to recover? I would much rather face questions about my humanity, and be given the perfect opportunity to teach. View it as a blessing. We rock. We, are on the side of the angels. Be proud.

[Petrushka]

14. SERIOUSLY: Where did the concept of "political correctness" originate?

After I asked that question (upthread), a google.com search came in handy. Now, FWIW, I'm a little more aware how "political correctness" can undermine one's freedom of speech.

You might not agree with your so-called "friends"--and you might be too (**uh**) nice to say anything offensive in their presence, but that isn't their problem, it's yours. Seriously!

As Noam Chomsky said: "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

[Gman2]

16. It got started in earnest when Newt started his equivocation campaign.

He is the master of the sophistry. He made stigma word lists. He made words off limits. He is the one that designed the opportunity to declare us all hypocrites. The problem with the charge is, that it paints us all with one brush. So, it is the shadow argument for slave reparations. Am I to be branded for every word said by everyone else? So, they can be shown to be hypocrites. We need to use every opening of that charge, to show WHY WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE democrats, are held to that higher standard. Cuz WERE BETTER HUMANS.

[Petrushka]

18. PC goes back further than Newt . . . all the way back to the 1920s or, maybe, before! (eom)

[Gman2]

9. It doesnt, They use PC against us, cuz we make moral claims.

We hang them ny the balls, for their self righteous claims. Differing value systems. We hate screwing the employees. They hate screwing. See how that works.

[EFerrari]

10. Because they own the media.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

15. Guys like BecKKK, Flush and the Kid Diddler are allowed.......

....right-wing radio (which is just about every station now anyway) is protected as a den of hate mongering bullshit. Look at Imus. He said what he said on an outlet that was not inside that bubble, which is why he got chucked. Now he's on WABC, where it's par for the course. I can only imagine he's gotten worse.

[Lagomorph]

21. Hate crimes...

hate speech, GLBT issues, affirmative action, all progressive issues. Some of America's favorite hobbies have been outlawed.

[Vidar]

22. Because we fall for it.

[zbdent]

23. Usually, when someone says "At the risk of sounding politically incorrect ..."

get ready for some pure assholish statements that really show how badly the person's mentality has degraeded ...

[SemiCharmedQuark]

24. Yep. It's right up there with "I'm not racist/sexist/homophobic, BUT" or "Some of my best friends

are"