Political Correctness Prevents us From Having an Honest Conversation about Race and Racism

Thank you for choosing to present a great argument against my proposition. About a year ago, a youtube video entitled "10 Hours of Walking as a Woman in NYC" became quite famous and has since received over 40 million views. See (). For those who haven't seen the video, an attractive, younger woman walks around NYC for 10 hours to showcase her difficulties with sexual harassment or cat calling. In her 10 hours walking, she received over 100 catcalls from "men" on the street. How hard it must be. The video went viral, was reported on substantially in the media and used in many cases as a prime example of how men are still extremely sexist. To understand and question sexual harassment in our society is an extremely interesting topic that needs to be addressed and eventually abolished. Unfortunately, it never will. If you watch this video above you will notice something very interesting: of the 30 or so (with over 100 unknown ones they claim they videotaped in 10 hours) sexual harassing men, not one is white. Not one is Asian, Middle Eastern or South Asian. All of them are black or hispanic. Interesting. Does this mean that in general blacks and hispanics sexually harass women more than other groups? Maybe. Does this mean that these former groups are incapable of sexually harassing young women? Of course not. But the question stands, if we are going to single out "men" for these heinous acts within the video, is it fair to paint all men with the same brush? If there were a spate of shark attacks on a beach would it make sense to put up a sign saying "warning, beware of fish?" If we are truly concerned about ending sexual harassment against women, wouldn't it make sense to attempt to find answers to whether or not certain groups are more prone to sexual harassment? If all of the members within a study are from a certain group, why is it racist to point this out? Why is it racist to try and understand if certain groups are more prone towards a certain type of behavior? How does this help us define and fight the problem? The above example is one of many that can be used to show how political correctness stifles an honest conversation about race. I would define political correctness as a moral force which dictates societal behavior. This force began with good intentions. America has a contentious and bitter history with race, religious ethnic and gender relations. To begin paving the way towards a more holistic future, political correctness states that we need to begin with language. Words have power. Language is the carrier. If we can change the way people talk, so the argument goes, we will ultimately change discrimination once and for all. Good intentions. There are words in our society which cause offense and these words should be abolished. There was a time when black people were referred to as "negroes" or "colored." Black people collectively decided that these words were offensive and in the modern period, one would be hard pressed to find someone outside of the most racist parts of the south still using these words. Victory!!! Or is it? There is no doubt that having these words and many others viewed through a prism of sensitivity has done some good. One needs to watch what they say or they might offend someone. Who could argue with that? This is the good news. What has ultimately transpired since, is a mode of behavior which prevents people from viewing issues of race, ethnicity, religion or gender within any context. When an event takes place, political correctness dictates that it is discriminatory to view or correlate any particular group as having general characteristics. We must be blind or else view the wrath of the political correctness witch hunt. For the sake of the topic, let's solely focus on race. Since the days of lynchings and fire hydrants, the U.S. has made substantial strives in race relations. But race tension and race confusion are at an all time high. From events like Ferguson, Baltimore, to basic sociological questions which strive to pose any correlations between actions and race, the system is closed for discussion. Those who try to bring up race within any medium are "racists." Political correctness is to blame. Like in the example above and many others, political correctness makes it impossible to view race as a factor within any sociological phenomenon. To see people as different races or to even recognize the very idea of race, is to ultimately be racist. My opponent has done a great job of defining, what she believes to be, the benefits of political correctness within the context of language. She has argued that political correctness has opened up debate and make our communication more free. She has further argued that as a society we have become more accepting of peoples' mistakes when it comes to using non-Pc language. I would challenge her to find examples of where this is the case. As I will show, political correctness has contributed to a culture of fear and demonization where critics feel they are fighting racism by casting the big R word on anyone who has made an unfortunate mistake in their language use, making the climate one of fear and hostility over one of growth and understanding. I look forward to her rebuttal.