Politcial Correctness

[naruball]

the_lonely_gamer_123 said:

naruball said:

I think most people simply don't get it if something doesn't affect them. As someone who grew up been made fun of for being gay, who constantly kept hearing from the media that gays are perverts, whose parents thought that gay equalled doing drugs or being a prostitute, hearing my friends say "oh that's gay" for something that is terrible annoys me beyond words.

You might think that words are meaningless, but just because you have a tougher skin or most likely because those words have nothing to do with you, it doesn't mean that others aren't affected. You might dislike LGBT communities or organizations but it's thanks to them that many gay men have significantly better lives over the years.

It's like joking about AIDS or cancer. If you or your family/close friends have/had neither, it's no big deal. If you've went through it and it was hell, it might affect you differently.

Sure, some times I say the "r" word without thinking and then I realize that the brother of a friend of the group is mentally challenged. Well, it might be an inconvenience, but since I know that it bothers them, I avoid it. I much rather feel like I have less freedom than hurt people even unintentionally.

Hmmm, didn't think about it that way. Obviously I didn't mean to offend you. To be likened to druggies and prostitutes just because of sexual orientation by anyone is terrible, let alone your parents. There are some positives in political correctness, considering 20-30 years ago it was thought that gay people were the ones to blame for AIDS, things have definitely come a long way since. I'm not anti-LGBT, I just don't like the constant judging and prejudices that rise from abusing political correctness, which is not a knock specifically at LGBT organizations/communities. The abuse of political correctness occurs mostly in a racial or religious context, and not a sexual orientation context.

Interesting you bring up cancer. I see calling someone a cancer (often done in sports to explain premadonnas, for example, Terrell Owens is a team cancer) is just the same as saying "oh, the bus came 2 minutes early, that's so gay". Either use of the word shouldn't be deemed as being inconsiderate or homophobic I don't personally think.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I definitely agree with you to a great extent. This political correctness annoys me too. Even from LGBT when they go overboard. And I'm not overly sensitive. My straight friends and I call each other f****ts all the time. But I do hate the "that's so gay" expression. When for example, I say "oh, maybe you shouldn't do that; it might hurt his (a common friend's) feelings". And they respond with "gayyyy" (as in, "dudes don't worry about stuff like that". Well I'm gay and I can't help it), I seriously wanna punch them in the face.

Anyway, I think that political correctness is by and large bad, but because of it more good than harm is caused. No one is born a racist, a hompophobe, etc. It's all influence from the society and if people are not exposed to hateful remarks in their everyday life, I believe that they won't repeat those mean statements. As I said, I think jokes between friends are fine, but in the media unfortunately  one needs to be forced to be more careful. For example. when I talk to my supervisor I can never say such jokes because it's simply unacceptable. Interviews are part of their job.