How is “political correctness” seen in your country

4 comments

1. In Denmark, the term “political correctness” is, along with the term “wokeism” mainly used by _opponents_ of what they perceive these terms to encompass, _mainly_ liberals and conservatives, but some social democrats have also joined the “anti-woke” or “anti-PC” rhetoric recently.

   Basically, the terms are used in reference to only the most extreme, and often either fabricated or misrepresented, cases of, e.g., inclusive language, _or_ the terms are used to stir up a storm in a tea-cup when an ice-cream producer announces they’re changing the name of one of their ice creams, or when an amusement-park remove an extremely racist depiction of a [“hottentot”](https://images.jfmedier.dk/images/3/34/347/3473d1e6-08c9-43fb-8fa6-a26e67598161_2_90_0_0_3142_2356_1440_1080_87975a7b.jpg)—the term, which was also the name for the ride, a problematic and racial term from the get-go—from a ride.

   My personal experience, in my social circles—mainly working class background, but also, since I went to Uni, sprinkles of academia, overall mainly leftist though—has been eye-rolling. Not at PC as such, but at the debate surrounding it. Because most people agree, that we should use respectful language, and not have racist statues or terminology slapped across society, and that it is, in the end, these debates are largely one-sided, and with a certain form of “boomer”-mentality being the only argument of the anti-PC liberals and conservatives: that ‘because something is one way now, or was when they were young, it should be that way forever!'(<- This is ofc. a vulgar representation.)

   My own personal opinion is that it is an important discussion to have, and that it fits into a wider social debate about ideology; here in the critical sense of the word. There is also an important debate to be had about how certain liberal politicians, led by Henrik Dahl from Liberal Alliance, use the term, in conjunction with the term “wokeism,” to essentially push the “cultural Marxism” conspiracy theory, positing that there is an an academic cabal Hell-bend on destroying western civilisation through Critical Theory and progressive politics.

2. Hungary is not a PC country. It’s seen as weird and made fun of quite often that people in “the West” can’t even speak, and yes, Hungarians have no problem calling people names, even insulting.

   One thing I feel weird is not calling blind people blind. Like, is there any negative sentiment towards the term by the blind community? In Hungarian, blind (vak) is the medical and official term that even the blind people use without any negative sentiment, but is there any negative sentiment paired to the word blind in English? There’s another term, látássérült, people whose sight deteriorated or disappeared because of an accident or illness. However, if you grow up blind, you’re not likely to use it.

3. Political correctness is mostly viewed negatively because it is associated with unnecessary and silly changes like the ones you described. When it comes to terms that gained a clear negative connotation such as ‘ritardato’ or ‘negro’, people have no issues using other terms.

   These PC changes are often a way to pat yourself on the back by fixing a problem you just created. Latinx is a term that is openly disliked and rejected by the very people it refers to. It also butchers the spanish language. Why would you use it, especially when you say that it is supposed to be more accomodating?

4. american style PC culture is presented as something super negative, often used as a fringe scare example by right leaning people.

   being PC in Poland is limited pretty much to terms that can work as slurs. You could say on a spectrum we are closer to George Carlin on the issue