Social Question

JLeslie's avatar

Is it politically correct to say...?

Asked by JLeslie (65746points) June 16th, 2017 from iPhone

Is it politically correct to say someone is…

Uneducated?

Less educated?

Black?

Hispanic?

Indian? (Native American?)

Mexican?

Muslim?

Christian?

Fundamentalist?

Is it ok sometimes and not others? Do you think your definition of when it’s ok might be different than other people, and still all of those people want to be respectful and politically correct?

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7 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

Of course, considering the politically incorrect versions (retard, nigger, spic, redskin, rapist, terrorist, child molester, klan wizard)

Jon_Letko's avatar

Those words are just descriptions. If someone is a black Muslim or a Mexican Christian, how else are you supposed to describe them?

That being said, context is everything. Just because the term “uneducated” is an acceptable descriptor doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be repercussions for using the term in certain situations. If, for example, you call someone uneducated to their face, they could easily take than as an insult. In which case, being “politcally correct” might be the least of your worries.

tinyfaery's avatar

Context is everything.

Aster's avatar

Yes, those terms are politically correct. I have a close friend who is Mexican and she speaks of Mexicans and how they lived when she was a child in Mexico and tells me what they cooked and how she cooks. I also hear people constantly speaking of themselves as, “black.” Fundamentalists speak of themselves using that term with great pride. And we all hear of Christians saying , “I’m a Christian” with a special glow.

PullMyFinger's avatar

Some people will always be judgmental and dismissive, while others will never stop being oversensitive and offended by everything that moves.

The fact is, on a grand scale of 1 – 1,000, if we took the traits and characteristics of each person….place of origin, personality, appearance, intelligence, level of honesty, loyalty, gender, temperament, sense of humor, religion (or lack of it), respect for others (or lack of it), personal hygiene, natural talent, etc., assigned each trait a number, then threw them all into a pot and stirred the damn thing, some of us would average-out to a 791, others maybe an 865, with the rest of us landing somewhere in the middle.

My point being, in the grand scheme of things, nobody is anywhere near highly superior (or deeply inferior) to anyone else on the planet.

Throw in the relatively short amount of time that each of us gets to live, and I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would waste a moment of their time foolishly judging anybody else, or being overly-offended by random, ill-informed comments, which for some reason are mindlessly thrown around single day, by people who should know better.

(Hey, even Einstein and JFK cheated on their wives…..)

Signed,
PullMyFinger (827)

Strauss's avatar

I think the larger issue is generalizing and stereotypes. If one —-(insert racial or ethnic group here) is (insert unfavorable descriptive here)— we must not assume that all members of that particular group fit the same description.

Pinguidchance's avatar

I don’t know about political incorrectness but if someone was an ineducable believer they’d be in a dark place.

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