I have never used the word "autistic" in such a connotation, and I could probably count in one hand the times I've used that word in general. In middle school though, I used to jokingly use the word "gay" with a really laid-back group of friends; we didn't mean anything by it, we didn't even realize how the word entered our vocabulary, but within our group "gay" definitely had a slight, albeit unspoken negative context to it, maybe if just a subconscious one.
Knowing what I know now I realize that if a gay person had heard the way we used that word he might have felt offended or attacked, and that is wrong because when people feel that they don't belong anywhere, it is usually bad for society. I agree with people that say that society and culture as it currently stands is far from perfect, and people that are constantly offended should try to grow a thicker skin, but at the same time I realize that everyone is different, and just because it comes easily to me to be able to ignore politically incorrect, or even hurtful comments, it doesn't mean that everyone else can and we should be mindful of that. When it comes to politically incorrect people, I don't think most people realize how damaging some of our comments are, even when we don't mean anything by them, which is why we have so many people telling us to be more conscious of others. The reason, that the so-called "thought police" is more visible and active now than ever before is because the people on top have finally realized that when someone feels like they matter, that they are respected and that they have a place in our communities, they are happy and thus more productive and innovative; it isn't them trying to be all nice and more accepting, its a matter of dollars and cents, it would be nice if they were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, but they aren't. The idea of economic prosperity while bringing happiness to some people that are lacking it is not a bad goal to have at all though.
That said, I do believe that people should try and grow a thicker skin because the facts are that; the evils of our society won't get fixed anytime soon, and if we try to fix them by force it will have negative consequences on our communities, which is why I don't think un-PC people should change their behaviour just because, they should be aware of the impact that words can have on some people, and if they so wish to change their behavior they should do so, but they shouldn't change because they were bullied into changing, if who they are is someone that makes off-putting remarks which to them don't even register as negative who are we to tell them to change. We all have our own quirks which are hard to get rid of, and they are a part of us, if someone was constantly being belittled and told that the way they communicate even when they aren't trying to be negative is antithetical with goodness, they would just end up in the same place as the LGBTQ community that feels they don't belong anywhere, and in that situation who would really be in the wrong, the un-PC person or the PC police? Trying to be inclusive needs some necessary balance, you, of course, have to be understanding of the group's needs, but you cannot focus all of your attention on that group, nor can't you be overly critical of people outside that group, which is why I think our current methods of inclusivity aren't working. The perfect example is feminism, women have a lot of grievances with most aspects of our society, but we are putting a laser focus on them, while completely neglecting the needs of men, which is good for no one because many men are feeling ignored or even attacked in our society. Terms like male privilege, the gender earnings gap, mansplaining, manspreading are just hurting inclusivity efforts. How does the homeless guy benefit from male privilege? How does the college guy barely managing to pay his education benefit from the fact that the richest people on earth are male thus tilting the earnings gap? There are many challenges that the common man currently faces, but we do nothing about them, and if our society doesn't care about them, why should they care about trying to be inclusive? if they are feeling neglected how are they gonna care about the issues plaguing women?
When we are politically correct we are participating in the inclusivity efforts that our overlords instated(which is good) but if we take it to the extreme we will only hurt the cause, so we have to be mindful of that.
