Political Correctness

[Zoop]

tndXr-oQxxA
Thoughts?

[Rudolf]

From another thread


Probably because he takes political correctness at its surface appearances? That is he understands political correctness in the same way as the right does: those darn people not letting others make rape jokes etc. His 'criticism' is identical to the reactionary's. What he fails to realise is that accusations of political correctness serve to control public discourse, specifically to drown out the voices of the marginalised.


That was actually before i heard Žižek's position on political correctness but 5 mins into that video and im pretty confident with it.

[GLF]

This is a brilliant man. Every time he opens his mouth he says something that makes so much sense.

I despise political correctness for much of the same reasons. I also think it keeps the tension. It's a border that one cannot cross. How can we unite if we are separated by social borders? These are far more potent and effective than national borders, and political correctness is but just one such border.

Now there is a difference between hate speech and being non-pc. But I am of the opinion that the non-political working class should not be silenced in any way, shape or form under the present system and that capitalists (liberals) have no room or moral authority to say what is or is not acceptable.

Under communism, I would feel differently. Obviously political correctness could not exist under communism. People who truly harbor unhealthy sentiments that sow division and run counter to communist ideals would be treated humanely in facilities. Unless of course it takes a political form - that's where I draw the line (it's to the gulags with ya! :mad:).

[Cyborg Communist Wizard]

Very well said me friend. Although I would not send people too the gulags for simple disagring .

[Burzhuin]

One of first old American communist give me simple definition of political correctness: 'Political correctness is LIE!'

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

I despise political correctness for much of the same reasons. I also think it keeps the tension. It's a border that one cannot cross. How can we unite if we are separated by social borders? These are far more potent and effective than national borders, and political correctness is but just one such border.
Anti-"PC" fosters divisions in the class by tolerating racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Working class revolutionaries absolutely must challenge those ideas without being dismissed as "PC".

[Counterculturalist]

I like to point out to right-wingers who complain about "political correctness" that their favorite epithet can be just as easily used against them. For example, the euphemism "race realism" is the politically-correct term for blatant racism.

At the end of the day, the whole framing of "political correctness" is all wrong. We don't oppose bigotry because it's offensive, we oppose it because it stands in the way of the liberation of humanity and must be obliterated - not couched in softer terms. It's the effects of bigotry on people's lives, not the words, that matter. Those who complain about having to "watch what they say" to appease "PC culture" would do well to understand that they won't just be forced to shut up. They'll either join us or be fucking smashed.

[Rudolf]

Anti-"PC" fosters divisions in the class by tolerating racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Working class revolutionaries absolutely must challenge those ideas without being dismissed as "PC".


But we would get dismissed as PC because it's used as an accusation in order to delegitimise speech. You can go to someone who would normally be considered PC, who would even talk positively about political correctness, and the moment you start critiquing them saying that what they think and say has racist, sexist, etc implications and they will accuse you of political correctness, implying it's "gone mad" and go down the exact same lines of reasoning as those who never pretend to hide the reactionary elements of what they say. I've noticed this recently especially when pointing out transmisogynistic discourse around trans women's partners by supposed 'progressives'.

I think instead we need to look at it as a hegemonic reflex like 'AllLivesMatter' but generalised.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

But we would get dismissed as PC
I was responding specifically to Location C, who seems to be supporting an anti-"PC" stance in a revolutionary forum.

[Rudolf]

I was responding specifically to Location C, who seems to be supporting an anti-"PC" stance in a revolutionary forum.


Yeah but their post's reeaallly shit :laugh:

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Mmm. So, as a starting point, I want to say that I'm coming from a place of trying to organize with ostensibly "apolitical", primarily young, low-wage workers. What I've concluded is that it's actually, in a way, important to be "better at being PC" - better at an actually intersectional understanding of oppression - than, to go for a cheap shot, the middle-upper class university students with whom it tends to be associated.
OK, I get it that some of you are probably like, "Wait? You want to be a more uptight self-righteous word-cop?" But - no! - quite the opposite. The real problem with "PC" people is not their concern for the minutiae of power in interpersonal relations, but their utter lack of self-reflexivity in this regard. The language, norms, and subculture that so often accompany (and almost always accompany in discourse) "PC" are tied up with the strata of professionals (and future professionals), and constitute a harmful appropriation of the ideas of, primarily, Black and WOC feminism. Rather than being put at the service of liberation, "PC" politics in the hands of (mostly white) liberals become a means of delineating position. Rather than being a tool (and an important tool!) for understanding class constitution and confronting directly the contradictions that create intra-class division, it becomes a means of distinguishing between the "insiders" - the future employees of think-tanks, unions, NGOs, etc. - and the "backward" rabble.
Of course, the thing is, the rabble aren't actually any more "backward" on the whole; anti-racist and anti-sexist politics among working class people just looks and sounds different.

[SpaceGhost]

Under communism, I would feel differently. Obviously political correctness could not exist under communism. People who truly harbor unhealthy sentiments that sow division and run counter to communist ideals would be treated humanely in facilities. Unless of course it takes a political form - that's where I draw the line (it's to the gulags with ya! :mad:).
I agree with this, I believe that a common mistake made in "democratic" societies is that people often say that "The freedom of speech of a fascist should be protected, because if you do not then you are a fascist yourself. And by protecting the speech of a fascist, it preserves democracy."