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

So, my argument is as follows: Political correctness is the concrete needed for any sort of open national discussion for anything. It"s about respect. In the past, disputes, disagreements or discussions which deliberately involve the reference or analysis of different societal groups or races have frequently ended in violence. That is because a knowledge or acknowledgement of different groups has been missing. People have been stereotyped, villainized or referred to in derogative manner that causes sensitive issues to be mishandled which results in an discussion turning into an argument, for emotions to escalate and then for conflict to ensue. That is because when people feel hurt, or mis-represented they get defensive and show anger, further widening whatever social voids where there in the first place. That is why political correctness is so important. It"s about using terms that minority groups feel comfortable with. It"s about avoiding that escalation of anger by using the words that don"t upset people. That"s not hard, to abandon past terminology that is associated with insults or that people just see as offensive. Secondly political correctness is a form of public pressure for national debate. No one will hold people directly accountable for political correctness in their personal lives. Who we do hold accountable for it is politicians, government officials and celebrities. For two reasons. Firstly, because these people are the officials. They have chosen to have a position that they have; to become a national figure. No one forced them to appear on that national TV show, or to join a party. They must accept the consequences of being held accountable in a way that we would not hold casual comments of personal conversations under scrutiny. That leads on to the second reason which is that it is because these people represent the rest of the society that we need the system of political correctness. They hold huge influence and public opinion flows from them. So we need to make sure the respect starts there. The pressure to be politically correct makes us a civilised society. If the example leads from there, if the message comes that it is not acceptable to cause unnecessary offence, the message that "hey we come in peace, we just want to have a democratic talk to solve our differences" then is spread throughout the rest of society. We can"t solve prejudice in a day, no one is claiming that. We start by making sure that our societal superiors, anyone who speaks publicly, show that vital respect. Thirdly, it"s really not difficult. Sometimes, people paint this as a vast web of words that is constantly changing and that someone cannot possibly begin to comprehend. If someone wants to talk publicly about a national issue, all it takes is a little research to find out what is acceptable. Something that in its self that means a lot, and builds bridges of communication between different groups. As for the occasional mistake, someone who is clearly trying to mean well but accidentally uses the wrong word, then that is forgiven. As a society we actually become quite forgiving when we see it was a genuine effort. So, no it does not inhibit open discussion but allows it on a public level. It"s platform for open discussion and without it discussion will become arguments and mass arguments always end in violence. That applies for when talking about race or and racism, sexism or any other form of discussion. Thankyou for reading my argument, I await your response.