My Semester in Review

My call to change has to do with the idea of political correctness. I believe that political correctness started out with good intentions as a means to ensure equality for all people, but now is used by political parties as a crutch and restricts people's rights of speech and expression.

This topic is talked about in my family often and is something I have found myself thinking about a lot when it comes to our country's society and politics. Fairly recently, TV star and chef Paula Deen, was forced to apologize for saying the "N" word years ago when she was younger. This control was all done in the name of political correctness and I thought it was so ridiculous! Back then in Paula Deen's younger years in the South, the "N" word was not a bad word. Why then were TV and news officials forcing her to apologize now? Like they have never said a bad word before? This story of how political correctness was used as a means to restrict really bothered me and has been in the back of my mind since then. It sparked my call to change project.

Over the course of the semester I wrote two blog posts about how I felt political correctness had become a problem and why it needed to change:

An Irrational, Incurable Disease

Intolerant of Intolerance

To recap, I feel that when used correctly, political correctness can protect minorities and other groups. But in our society today, it restricts people from speaking truth about morality and expressing their beliefs and opinions. It has become largely about dancing around a subject in order to not hurt anybody else's feelings. It is the biggest irony in our society. It is essentially intolerant of intolerance.

During my Call to Change presentation, I point to three main historical periods where we see a focus on equality: the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the Gilded Age. After touching on those periods, I focus on our period today and how that focus of equality has turned to political gain and restriction.

When discussing this topic with other classmates and peers, many agreed that political correctness had gone out of control. A few disagreed and felt that it still served its original purpose. But most believed that something needed to change. A few gave their opinion that the way to change this dogma in our society is to focus on speaking truth but tactfully.

In my presentation, I focus on the idea that political correctness in itself largely affects the way we communicate in our society. I also acknowledge that my communication in my presentation might come across as politically incorrect, but I need to be able to speak my ideas and call for action.

UPDATE:

Thank you for the comments! In response to these, I would like to echo the comment that political correctness does come with its own set of unspoken "rules." This is what makes it unfair and irrational. It can be used differently, even as a weapon, by certain groups who feel they have something to prove. To expand further on my call to change, in the future, I think something that could be done in schools is to have group demonstrations or talks where the children learn more about each other's differences and be comfortable with talking about them. Classroom exercises where the children are highlighted because of their differences, and are proud of them, could be useful as well.