America's obsession with Euphemisms and Politically correctness?

Great Debates
1

Lifted from another thread, this brought a question to my mind, sorry if it has been brought up before.

QUOTE]*Originally posted by Harvey Jerkwater *
**

America is simultaneously race-obsessed and afraid to say anything about it. Euphemisms are a way to talk about something without actually talking about it. **
[/QUOTE]

What has become of the days where people could say exactly what they thought and mean it? Not to be too general, but I’ve found it to be most apparent on college campuses… Where dozens of words are restricted because of the fear that it might affend someone.

I understand avoiding intentionally stepping on people’s toes, figuratively speaking, but have we drifted so far away that it is becoming impossible to even take a firm stance on an issue without worrying about offending someone?

Why can’t people take real stances on issues or actually take a stance without trying to please everyone? You can’t make everyone happy!

Is it just going to get worse? Nearly every time I see a politician on television I recall my old Elements of Style book and the little quote from the introduction and re-asserted in Rule 11:
“Make definate assertions… He felt it was worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.”

Or perhaps this is just a by-product of society’s change in direction towards blaming anyone and everyone else a mistake rather than taking responsibility for one’s own action?

2

The squeeky wheel gets the greese.
There are a lot of people hyper-sensitive about race, or gener, or so on. These people can get pissed off over something as simple as a white person using the word black, for instance.
Also, I believe that it’s mostly men, and whites, who feel the need to tip toe around issues. Women and minorities are usually more free to speak their mind. Look at all the black comics who make a living out of “White people are like this… But we’re like this…” You’ll hear that sometimes from white comedians, but not that often. And I remember in the late 80’s or early 90’s when there was a slew of law suits against men’s only clubs and organizations, but hardly heard anything, if anything at all, about the suing of women’s only clubs or organizations.
Political Correctness was started in order keep from offending women and minorities, which is perfectly fine, but quickly got out of controll, and in a lot of cases is utterly rediculous, but a lot of people are frightened by it.