Political Correctness is counterproductive

"You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but for the purpose of this debate you must provide proof of this actually happening." Briefly: -Our oversensitivity has led us to turn something as silly as the "Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas" debate into a heated, multinational, political and religious argument. This has cost taxpayer dollars, led to boycotts, and furthered the tension between religions and political sides: http://abcnews.go.com... http://reason.com... http://www.politicsdaily.com... http://en.wikipedia.org... -Affirmative action has set all kinds of precedents for discriminatory practices. http://plato.stanford.edu... -Political correctness has placed many restrictions on language, expression and education, which is harmful to an allegedly free society: http://pirep.org... http://news.cnet.com... And those are just a few examples of how it has been damaging to us. "It is obvious that you are not black, otherwise you would not care of characters being believable." I don't need to be black to understand the point here. Huck Finn is *anti* racist. Students reading it would be given a glimpse of how black people were/are treated and how obviously wrong it is. "...in the next round I expect a similar evidence of a black person fighting for the preservation of the N word in the book." Micahela Angela Davis, a former editor at Essence magazine and social commentator, decried the revised book. "I think this is problematic on so many levels. It's not just history, it's literature, so it's art," Davis told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "When we get into really censoring art and censoring literature, we open up a Pandora's box. If a teacher is not prepared to have a social and historical conversation and place this masterpiece in context, is she prepared to teach that text? When we get into changing words, unwriting history, rearranging art, we start to put our democracy in danger. This is not making it palpable, it's censorship." http://www.blackvoicenews.com... "Absolutely no changes. The current society needs to know what white America thought about black America at that time, as some would like the world to forget." -Hardy Brown, editor of Black Voice News. http://www.sbsun.com... "You have NO RIGHT to say what diminishes Black people IF YOU ARE NOT BLACK." According to your profile, you are white. If you believe I cannot have a valid opinion because I'm not black, you mustn't have one either. "I guess by treating people equally and not pointing out their differences you mean..." I mean exactly what I wrote. If we are *truly* treating everyone equally, there is no need to tiptoe around everyone's feelings. If people were always hired (just as one example) based on their skills, rather than on their race or religion or gender, we would all be on an equal playing field, thereby removing a lot of the literal power behind offensive language. "My dear, NONE of the books have been banned (apart from Mark Twain) and hardly any of them have been censored. Please go back to the link you have provided and re-read the information. Almost NONE OF THEM have anything to do with political correctness." I'm not sure where you get that idea. I did indeed go back and read it again. First of all, the name of the list is Top 10 Censored Books, which should tell you something. Second, several of them were removed for having "offensive content" or using language that didn't sit well with some. If that list doesn't satisfy you, however, perhaps these will: http://www.ala.org... http://banned-books.com... http://www.huffingtonpost.com... "I hope the link I have provided would help you understand what I mean by "lack of knowledge"" I would actually prefer that you answer my questions. "1) Define prevention of racism through knowledge and wisdom and I bet you a nickel you will arrive to the same conclusion as mine. The only difference is that you want to get there without the use of political correctness. Freedom of speech as you call it." I do agree that communication is vital, but I think the most important factor in reducing bigotry is education. Political correctness is damaging to education, for reasons I have already gone over. "2) You are saying that there is another way of reducing racism and a ban on using a language offensive to others makes it harder. Ridiculous." Why is it ridiculous? I explained my argument, so if you'd like to refute it, please do. Simply stating it is ridiculous does nothing to bolster your case. "1) Find a way of defeating racism (good luck)" I'm not talking only about racism, just to clarify. I certainly don't have all of the answers, and I don't think bigotry can ever be completely defeated. I do think, however, that taking a position of true equality and putting a focus on education will serve to reduce overt bigotry. "2) Prove that PC makes it harder to implement it (again, good luck)" I believe I already did. We have taken to rewriting history and censoring literature in an effort not to offend. This makes honest communication and education difficult.