The+Death+of+Political+Incorrectness

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__** The Death of Political Incorrectness Literally Turning Students into Hitler **__
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With the advent of the political correctness movement, accusations of Hitler's reincarnation have risen noticeably.

__** A Brief History of Political Correctness and Its Evolution **__

Political correctness has roots dating back to World War II and originally mocks those who ignorantly took their party’s official line without regard for the consequences (Feldstein 4). However, the modern political correctness (PC) evolved to encompass progressive contemporary ideologies such as feminism and homosexualism according to D'Souza (44).

In a way, being PC now means that “one must be pro-feminist, pro-gay rights, pro-minority, mistrustful of tradition, scornful of Dead White European Males, and deeply skeptical towards the very idea of a masterpiece, because it implies that one idea, culture, or human being can actually be better…”. As a result, the movement encourages sensitivity and open-mindedness; however, its nature remains fundamentally censorious and causes harm to growth and expression in academic settings. PC turns political incorrectness into taboo and scares both students and instructors into silence as schools implement speech codes in a bid to appear more PC.

**__PC's Influence Inside of Schools__** Despite its importance, the PC movement stifles this necessary conversation between peers through discouragement of certain types of opinions. According to D’Souza, this discouragement ranges from “reprimand” to “expulsion” of students on campuses such as in the University of Connecticut and enforces itself in the form of speech codes, and she extends that even educators fear the potential consequences of having an opinion as they choose to censor themselves “rather than risk being drawn into a vortex of accusations, sensitivity indoctrination, or censure…” (44).

For another example, Conor Friedersdorf reports in The Atlantic Daily that Marquette University stripped John Adams of his tenure for expressing his personal opinions through a blog post. Duignan and Gann postulate similarly to D’Souza and liken the use of methods like speech codes to indirect censorship as well (8).

The push for political correctness within schools results in censorship, which ultimately hurts students' abilities to express themselves and grow through intellectual discourse.

__** PC's Influence Outside of Schools **__

An example of PC’s unhealthy extension into areas outside of academia includes body image. The PC movement encourages positive body image in hopes that people find happiness with their bodies. It enables slightly to morbidly obese women to take pride in their bodies despite not being slender. On the surface, this seems great and healthy; however, this comes with unexpected consequences. The newfound pride leads to an inflation of ego in some cases that deludes its host into deflecting any criticism towards his or her health as fat-shaming.

For example, coverartistlol626 on Twitter tweeted:

It’s 2015. If doctors don’t know how to operate on fat bodies. Then they shouldn’t be doctors. We have enough resources an equipment to deal with ‘obese’ patients. There is no need for the medical community to continue fat shaming. (Coverartistlol626) Excess fat has a definite negative effect on a medical professional’s ability to perform medical procedures. According to plastic surgeon Dr. Lily, weight, like smoking, creates a quantifiable increase in risk factor for surgery in the form of decreased resistance to stress from anesthesia and surgery, increased rates of infection, and heightened technical difficulties for surgery like prolonged operating time (Vrtik). Prolonged operating times directly translates into an increase in the amount of time the body remains cut open, which directly places more stress on the body and improves rates for infection and complication during operation. Furthermore, when 75% of women have an unhealthy relationship with food and have bodies that consistently appear symptomatic of an eating disorder, it seems dangerous for the PC movement to give people an excuse for their health, like the usage of fat-shaming, instead of allowing or forcing them come to terms with it (Nauert, “75 Percent”).




 * __ How Does Body Image Tie into School and Why Does It Matter? __**

If the PC movement’s message extends far enough to serve as a tool for ideological agenda setting and to encourage unhealthy behaviors or mentalities outside of academia, then it does not seem like a stretch to see negative consequences in academic institutions themselves as a result of PC’s influence.

While I understand the importance of sensitivity and cultural open-mindedness, especially among one’s ethnically and physically diverse academic peers, I find it difficult to rebut the idea that D’Souza, Duignan, and Gann suggest when the movement causes the creation of rules in universities that explicitly forbid the expression of certain opinions.

D’Souza, Duignan, and Gann suggest analogousness between the PC movement and censorship within the academic setting, and it follows that this ultimately harms intellectual growth since PC hinders discourse, a huge aspect of growth in academic settings. As a result, it affects students, like myself, enough to cause concern for intellectual investments.

If political correctness is already symptomatic of these characteristics of censorship and still being allowed, then at what point will it stop? It's a small and slippery slope for students and faculty when political correctness is involved, and it has the power to change an environment for growth and learning into a hug-box of stagnation. If the movement is allowed its unhindered growth in academia, then students can expect to have their rights encroached upon and freedom of expression eventually stripped.

When a movement manages to prove itself harmful in areas outside of schools, I believe it remains fair to assume that PC has the potential to harm education when it has an active track record of encouraging censorship.

Related Pages: Is Ideology Dead?

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__** References **__ -D'Souza, Dinesh. "'PC' so Far." Commentary Oct. 1991: 44-46. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. -Duignan, Peter, and Lewis H. Gann. Political Correctness: A Critique. Stanford: Hoover Institution, 1995. Print. -Feldstein, Richard. Political Correctness: A Response from the Cultural Left. Minneapolis: U of Minnisota, 1997. Print. -FitzSimmons, Lee. "On the Importance of Intellectual Discourse." - Archives of Past Articles by Lee Fitzsimmons. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. -Friedersdorf, Conor. "Stripping a Professor of Tenure Over a Blog Post." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 9 Feb. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. -Mears, Bill. "California Ban on Same-sex Marriage Struck down." CNN. Cable News Network, 2008. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. -Nauert, Rick. "Politically Correct Workplace Can Boost Productivity." Psych Central News. 6 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. -Nauert, Rick. "75 Percent of Women Have Disordered Eating." Psych Central News. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. -Ridgway, Shannon. "Let’s Talk About Thin Privilege." Everyday Feminism. 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. -Vrtik, Lily. "Factors Affecting Your Surgery." Dr Lily Vrtik, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.