Politically Correctness is Politically Incorrect in itself

I'd like to use this definition of political correctness if that is alright. American Heritage Dictionary politically correct adj. Abbr. PC Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. I think it is a little more clear than the one that you had proposed because for me it involves much more than simply describing ideas or beliefs. In fact, your definition actually excludes the situation that you were characterizing as offensive. Wishing someone a happy holiday or a merry christmas is much more than describing a set of ideas. So I hope we can agree to use my definition, and I will agree to focus this argument primarily on language, since that is what it appeared you are most distraught by. Now that I have outlined the framework I'll respond to your assertion first, before presenting my own support of politically correct language. To begin, I have never heard of a situation where someone was prevented from "express your religion or beliefs" due to political correctness. I have heard of a few situations where a local government was not allowed to recognize one religious holiday without due recognition to all religious holidays. This is not the same as what you are asserting. No one has stopped anyone from celebrating Christmas. (I'm using the Christian religion here, because that is the only way in which this critique could be situated as you'll see from my later arguments.) If it got to the point where people were forbidden from worshipping or celebrating Christmas, it would no longer be political correctness. At that point Jon Gibson would be right to call it a "War on Christmas." Until then, it is simply an attempt to not allow the dominant religion to force itself on everyone in the country, state, county, township, whatever. Folks who aren't Christian shouldn't be forced to subsidize Christmas displays. That's political correctness on a policy level. To give you the benefit of the doubt, I'll assume that you're talking about a personal level using the terminology Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. If you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, how does that prohibit you from expressing your own religion or beliefs? Is Christmas not a holiday? The point of politically correct language is that it is all encompassing. Even atheists will celebrate the New Year, which is included in "Have a Happy Holiday." So I think that it does absolutely no damage to the Christian speaker to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. To further this discussion, I think it is a positive thing to recognize the existence of other holidays. This country may be majority Christian, but that does not mean that it is a "Christian Nation." There is a first amendment freedom of expression clause, which means that folks are legally able to choose their religious identity. Even though, this is not a Christian Nation, non-Christian folks are still largely excluded from public life. We've never had a non-Christian president, and you can count the Senators that are non-Christian on a hand. This creates a whole society that ends up working against the interests of non-Christian folks. Our work day is clearly not geared toward Muslims who have to pray five times a day. We adapt and tolerate, but it's far from an attitude of genuine inclusion. This current "War on the War on Christmas" is simply an attempt to compound the privilege of Christians and further entrench Christian supremacy in this society. I feel that it is a much better thing to recognize the existence of other religious traditions and religious holidays and not further marginalize folks who aren't Christian. Further, I think there are many more benefits to political correctness that go beyond the issue of religion. It's politically correct to not use racial slurs or sexist jargon. Is that also keeping people from expressing their beliefs? If that offends racists and sexists, I'm alright with that. Dominant groups should not be afforded the additional privilege of using language to further lower the self-esteem of marginalized groups. Instead, this nation of "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of many, one) should work to build as inclusive a society as possible. Politically correct language is one part of that. The broader project, which was outlined in my proposed definition, is the overthrow of structural impediments to realizing this society that allows people the freedom to define themselves and not suffer any setbacks because of how they choose to live.