The article I chose to write about
is “Stop being Politically Correct!” written by Erin Havel. She begins the
article by calling us out to stop being politically correct and start being
respectful. Erin explains how the term “political correctness” originated from
the 20th century. She says how she is fine with it, but she’s not ok
with people not being polite or respectful to others.
In the article Erin seems fed up and
frustrated at the term political correctness because many of us today misuse it
to our own benefit. She says that it is “misguided” when we pin out that all
Muslims are terrorists, or all African Americans are criminals, and etc.
Erin uses logos and ethos when she speaks
on how we teach our children not to call each other names or bully anyone
because they are not like us or look like us. It is logical for us to teach
them these things, but in reality children learn these things from the
environment that surrounds them. They are not born to be racist or bully
people. It has a lot to do with how they live and who is raising them. The
point she is trying to get at is that, it is hypercritical of us to be teaching
are children to not be racist or bully anyone, then we go around the corner and
do everything we just taught our children not to do. Erin is right when she
says we have done this to almost every minority. We would push them down to
make ourselves more leveled up because it makes us feel better.
Erin then goes on speaking of how
political correctness has nothing to do with religion, she uses reasoning here
by saying we need to educate ourselves rather than criticize an entire
minority. If someone hurts us we should speak on that person, not look at their
ethnic background or their religion and generalize them entirely.
In the ending Erin uses more reasoning
when she says that saying goodbye means saying goodbye to good manners, yet we
should talk to people and learn from them instead of stereotyping them because
she believes it will lead to a more peaceful world. Political correctness exists
for us to coexist.
Qaher, first of all, good critical analysis. I thought you hit on all the most important posts. Do you support political correctness? I think Erin is mistaken in saying that political correctness harms minorities since political correctness is actually trying to protect minorities that would usually be demonized by the mainstream society. However, I do think she has a point about how some people use political correctness to stereotype. It's easier to speak up for a more generalized idea of diversity without actually differentiating how these cultures are different. I don't think a lot of minorities get to speak for themselves since Congress is made up of the mainstream culture. This is unfair to minorities, no matter how good the intentions of the mainstream society. In my opinion, it should be required that the percentage of a minority or group has to be legally represented in Congress, like it is in England's Parliment.
ReplyDeleteMary, I do support it. But she does have a point when people use political correctness to generalize certain minorities. I only support being politically correct if the person being politically correct has knowledge on what he/she is speaking about. To come up and say things that are not true and be critical of certain things the speaker has no idea about is what I am against.
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