Happy Atheist Forum

General => Politics => Topic started by: MarcusA on June 04, 2023, 06:26:39 AM

Title: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 04, 2023, 06:26:39 AM
What's so correct about human thinking?
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 05, 2023, 07:54:37 AM
Political correctness is not so much about the thinking, but about lying about your thoughts - or simply never disclosing them - when they deviate from some orthodoxy or from what someone wants to hear.

It's "toweing the line" to make the groundless and the illegitimate appear factual and/or well-supported through the weight of lip service received.

There is another, more "current year" component to it, which has to do with protecting the thin-skinned from ever being offended, although... Yeah, when I say "current year," I suppose I should concede that "of course not" has been the preferred answer to "does this dress make me look fat?" regardless of the actual circumstances probably for as long as there have been dresses.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Recusant on June 06, 2023, 04:29:52 AM
*toeing the line   ;)
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 06, 2023, 07:55:37 AM
Asmo no speak. Asmo foreign. :grin:

Asmo also knows better, but does this kind of stuff regardless. Toe vs. tow, owe vs. own (that one begs for misunderstandings) legislation vs litigation, a few others. It's hard being a evil gray God. So many words...
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 06, 2023, 08:41:01 AM
It's not clothing that makes one look fat, but vision.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 06, 2023, 09:04:10 AM
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the fat what makes an person look fat.  ;D
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 06, 2023, 10:06:22 AM
Ask a blind person what fat looks like.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 06, 2023, 11:44:31 AM
In The Asmo's world, the blind gentleman is not particularly PC, so he'll probably tell you that it looks like you in that dress. :smilenod:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: billy rubin on June 06, 2023, 11:49:25 AM
i look fat in any dress.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 06, 2023, 12:09:27 PM
The Asmo looks fat in His ass. :sad sigh:

Ah, the many struggles of being a spherically-shaped being. Not even some really long legs to offset it all. :sadshake:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Recusant on June 06, 2023, 08:49:18 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on June 06, 2023, 07:55:37 AMAsmo no speak. Asmo foreign. :grin:

Asmo also knows better, but does this kind of stuff regardless. Toe vs. tow, owe vs. own (that one begs for misunderstandings) legislation vs litigation, a few others. It's hard being a evil gray God. So many words...

Indeed--despite that your entries here are nearly impeccable English (some objectionable usage aside  ;) ) and my note was in the way of minor assistance in that regard.

I usually manage to suppress my inner  :pedant:  copy editor but sometimes succumb. Only human, not a god like some.   :grin:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:11:34 PM
Recusant, what about a game of Tug-of-War? In that sport, you tow a line.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:18:14 PM
Asmo, there is an element of fear to political correctness but self-censorship is self-betrayal.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Recusant on June 07, 2023, 09:41:14 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:11:34 PMRecusant, what about a game of Tug-of-War? In that sport, you tow a line.

Yes, and a mule tows a line on a barge.
A tugboat tows a line on a ship.

The idiom "toe the line" has to do with meeting expectation, and has as its possible origin runners in a race stepping to the line to begin the race. "Tow the line," though a common error, is not only incorrect it carries a different (if perhaps adjacent) connotation.

I disagree with your statement regarding self-censorship as well.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: The Magic Pudding. on June 07, 2023, 10:16:42 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:18:14 PMAsmo, there is an element of fear to political correctness but self-censorship is self-betrayal.

I don't agree with this.
You can embrace your inner bastard or your inner ...angel.
I posit causing harm is bad, it is good to take reasonable steps to minimise harm.
I don't know everything about everything and everyone, so sometimes it is better to just shut the fek up.
I have biases, I don't accept my life's purpose must be to banish them absolutely, but don't think I should give them free reign either.



Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: The Magic Pudding. on June 07, 2023, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Recusant on June 07, 2023, 09:41:14 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:11:34 PMRecusant, what about a game of Tug-of-War? In that sport, you tow a line.

Yes, and a mule tows a line on a barge.
A tugboat tows a line on a ship.

The idiom "toe the line" has to do with meeting expectation, and has as its possible origin runners in a race stepping to the line to begin the race. "Tow the line," though a common error, is not only incorrect it carries a different (if perhaps adjacent) connotation.


The mast is cracking as the waves are slapping
All toe the line and tow the line lest we sink
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 08, 2023, 07:50:22 AM
Quote from: Recusant on June 06, 2023, 08:49:18 PMI usually manage to suppress my inner  :pedant:  copy editor but sometimes succumb. Only human, not a god like some.   :grin:
It is only good and proper to :pedant: when your :pedant: is superior. :smilenod:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Tank on June 08, 2023, 07:56:38 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding. on June 07, 2023, 10:16:42 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:18:14 PMAsmo, there is an element of fear to political correctness but self-censorship is self-betrayal.

I don't agree with this.
You can embrace your inner bastard or your inner ...angel.
I posit causing harm is bad, it is good to take reasonable steps to minimise harm.
I don't know everything about everything and everyone, so sometimes it is better to just shut the fek up.
I have biases, I don't accept my life's purpose must be to banish them absolutely, but don't think I should give them free reign either.

Well said.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 08, 2023, 08:11:50 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding. on June 07, 2023, 10:16:42 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:18:14 PMAsmo, there is an element of fear to political correctness but self-censorship is self-betrayal.

I don't agree with this.
You can embrace your inner bastard or your inner ...angel.
I posit causing harm is bad, it is good to take reasonable steps to minimise harm.
I don't know everything about everything and everyone, so sometimes it is better to just shut the fek up.
I have biases, I don't accept my life's purpose must be to banish them absolutely, but don't think I should give them free reign either.
I agree with you disagreeing, provided we are talking about the same political correctness.

Self-censorship is hardly betrayal. In fact, it can often serve you far better than the opposite. It has its time and place. In my case, that time and place is often alongside the complete lack of censorship. For instance;

Assuming we are in an adult discussion about some issue, I will certainly not treat you as too weak to hear my opinion as it is, even when it breaks from the standing orthodoxy on the subject, but nor will I question the chastity of your mother as a debating, literary or other tool unless it is somehow directly related to the subject matter at hand. Being rather on the self-serving side, I will also try to avoid the Wrath of the Machine, unless I'm confident enough in my ability to live on my particular hill.

This only relates to the latter kind of political correctness I talked about in my initial response. Still, that is the "whole" scope of how most people seem to understand the term today. It's actually more about being nice than politically correct in its original Marxist-Leninist sense or something near to it.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 08, 2023, 08:44:09 AM
Okay, self-censorship is the betrayal of the artist in you.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 08, 2023, 08:52:53 AM
Yes, it is probably that. I would still not go so far as call it "betrayal," more a disservice to your artistic integrity, and that only where applicable.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 08, 2023, 10:16:24 AM
My mother on her deathbed
told me, Never change,
and I intend to.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 08, 2023, 11:08:00 AM
Me..? I stopped listening to mine (in the sense of following advice "just because mother") sometime in my teenage years. Have for the most part done alright for myself, both in spite of and because of it.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Recusant on June 08, 2023, 04:39:46 PM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding. on June 07, 2023, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Recusant on June 07, 2023, 09:41:14 PM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 07, 2023, 07:11:34 PMRecusant, what about a game of Tug-of-War? In that sport, you tow a line.

Yes, and a mule tows a line on a barge.
A tugboat tows a line on a ship.

The idiom "toe the line" has to do with meeting expectation, and has as its possible origin runners in a race stepping to the line to begin the race. "Tow the line," though a common error, is not only incorrect it carries a different (if perhaps adjacent) connotation.


The mast is cracking as the waves are slapping
All toe the line and tow the line lest we sink


Heave-ho!  :mustache:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 08, 2023, 05:57:48 PM
Censorship, cancel culture, is a disservice to art.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: billy rubin on June 08, 2023, 08:14:11 PM
what about the display or sale of things depicting people being harmed?

this problem has a number of complx issues

paintings of battling soldiers

snuff films

use of experimental results obtained from nazis vivisecting jews
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 08, 2023, 09:45:40 PM
Morality is not a one-size-fits-all sort of deal.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: billy rubin on June 08, 2023, 11:16:23 PM
then neither can be censorship, wouldnt you think?
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 09, 2023, 03:13:43 AM
Censorship is a judgement call. "Judge not, lest you be judged."
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 09, 2023, 07:16:25 AM
Quote from: MarcusA on June 08, 2023, 05:57:48 PMCensorship, cancel culture, is a disservice to art.
Cancel culture ought to have its picture framed right beside "disservice" in a disctionary. It hurts artists, employers, people in general and what's more, it hurts its own causes.

Quote from: billy rubin on June 08, 2023, 08:14:11 PMthis problem has a number of complx issues
I think this about describes it. It's a matter of context, although I think that we can "talk" (also in form of images and such like) for the purposes of exchanging ideas about pretty-much anything.

Quote from: billy rubin on June 08, 2023, 08:14:11 PMwhat about the display or sale of things depicting people being harmed?
Every book, film and video game store (conventional or streaming/digital) does this. If it happens to be a documentary you are selling, where people being hurt happens to be for real... What's to be done? It's fine as described.

Quotepaintings of battling soldiers
Quotesnuff films
Some great art and/or informative content may come from precisely that. Even the medieval variety tends to have people depicted with stabby objects inserted in them and blood spraying everywhere. It's a bit stylised, to be sure, but one must assume that many such paintings and illustrations were based on actual people, events and fountains of gore. My medieval fascinations aside, I guess a picture speaks louder than words, so I leave you with a loud picture;

(https://historythings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/vietnam.jpg)

Quoteuse of experimental results obtained from nazis vivisecting jews
This, I think, is the legitimately difficult one here because the context has been provided.

There is an expression, "fruit of a poisonous tree." Personally, I prefer "meat of a poisonous fish." Does much the same thing. (Simply for the lack of knowledge of poisonous trees with edible fruit - I suck at botany, but have had fugu)

So... Yeah. I think it depends. You could eat the metaphorical fish, but it would have to be done with great care, so as not to end up dead in the process.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: billy rubin on June 09, 2023, 03:06:40 PM
i dont kmow what to do sbout tbe nazi data.

how important is it to know how long it takes a naked man dropped  into ice water to freeze to desth?

killing mice by dropping into freezing water had ong been a wY to assess vigour in scientific circles.

i dont like that either
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 12, 2023, 08:40:30 AM
Indeed. It's a matter of balancing distaste (potentially, likely-bad-outcomes as well) against curiosity and possibly even a need for a particular answer.

Let us do an Asmoic Hyperbole, because Asmos like those;

Let us assume that Hitler greatly enjoyed beef stroganoff made from prisoners of war. Is that dish now tainted whatever its meat? If you "invented" it all anew, would it still somehow inherit the taint never its own? What if you based something benign and fine-tasting on Hitler's original cannibalistic recipes?

I suppose the simplest answer is "just don't touch that stuff." Is it too simple though? What would you tell a person who asked "why" and was not willing to accept "because iffy" as an answer?

The best I can do, is say "it depends," then do my best to evaluate such problems case by case.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: billy rubin on June 12, 2023, 04:26:34 PM
eating a case of beef stroganoff made from prisoners of war that you found in the freezer is wrong, even though they are already dead

making a new recipe that does not use prisoners of war is just beef stroganoff.

i wouldnt touch either one.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 13, 2023, 07:33:51 AM
Yeah, I wouldn't touch that sweet, sweet long pork either, though for personal reasons. Whether I would begrudge someone else a taste... Is situational, I suppose.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 13, 2023, 09:10:57 PM
Political Correctness on both sides is rife.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 14, 2023, 06:41:36 AM
Maybe, but there are more sides than two in the great-and-perpetual-Culture-War.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 14, 2023, 06:43:23 AM
There's only 2 sides. My side, and the wrong side.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 14, 2023, 07:22:49 AM
Ah, but the Wrong Side(tm) is not a side. It's a constellation of often-conflicting interests and agendas. I have ranted repeatedly about sharing trenches with Christian fundamentalists against former "allies" from the """sceptic""" "community," yes? It's a bit like that.

We live in a time of strange bedfellows.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 14, 2023, 07:27:43 AM
More mattress mambo mileage.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 14, 2023, 07:39:22 AM
Yeah... Complete with the itchy rash after, but what's to be done?
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 14, 2023, 07:44:18 AM
Chakras, crystals, essential oils, and potions.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 14, 2023, 09:26:14 AM
Potions, or lotions?
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 14, 2023, 11:15:43 AM
All of the above.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 15, 2023, 02:16:22 AM
What we need is a magic potion to solve everything.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 15, 2023, 04:01:36 AM
Haven't you been listening? I can get them all.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 15, 2023, 09:26:17 AM
A magic potion to solve everything... For some reason, whisky with a splash of hemlock and a dash of cyanide comes to mind.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 22, 2023, 10:48:41 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on June 15, 2023, 09:26:17 AMA magic potion to solve everything... For some reason, whisky with a splash of hemlock and a dash of cyanide comes to mind.

Death solves nothing.
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 22, 2023, 11:11:25 PM
I think that we should ban the word "niggardly".
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 23, 2023, 07:51:00 AM
 :lol: Why? It triggers all the "right" people!

In seriousness though, it's a word. Means "having the qualities of a niggard." You could use synonyms or near-synonyms like "miserly" in stead if the word displeases you. Why ever should it be banned?
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: No one on June 23, 2023, 11:40:00 AM
Things that I don't like should be banned because, if I don't like them, nobody can.

Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 23, 2023, 11:48:11 AM
Public transport. Especially them non-climate-controlled city buses and metro trains. But yeah, ban that and I shall join you on a blanket ban of whatever word you choose. :smilenod:
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: MarcusA on June 23, 2023, 07:26:15 PM
How do you ban a word? ha
Title: Re: Political Correctness
Post by: Asmodean on June 23, 2023, 08:01:22 PM
The same way as you ban public nudity or marijuana. You fine, jail and otherwise harass those who indulge in it.

There are a few places where speech is protected. A lot, however, view it as more of an aspiration than anything (my country being an example) and most - not even that.