# Political Correctness and Hate Speech Poll

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correctness-and-hate-speech-poll/919368>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 30, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correctness-and-hate-speech-poll/919368 "2020-08-30T13:38:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 48

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correctness-and-hate-speech-poll/919368/48 "2020-09-02T18:31:54Z")

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> [@DemonTree](#):
>
> I also know a hell of a lot of people who hesitate over what word to use because they do care and they don’t want to offend anyone - and then they pick something that the culture warriors here would condemn them for anyway.

I strongly suspect that I’m one of those “culture warriors” you’re referring to. “Condemn” is a ridiculous word to describe what I might do, which is, “criticize” or “educate.”

If someone uses (for example) the word “gyp” to describe being ripped off, I might say, “Hey, I don’t want to make a big deal, and I used to use that word, but you maybe should realize it’s based on an ethnic stereotype of gypsies, so maybe use ‘ripped off’ instead?”

And that’s how virtually every confrontation I’ve heard around _unintentional_ use of problematic language has gone. If someone is so fragile that they can’t stand even that, the problem isn’t with political correctness.

> [@](#):
>
> If tact and empathy were enough then 80% of Americans wouldn’t say political correctness was a problem.

They would if there were an enormous propaganda machine connected to a major political party under the control of a megalomaniacal lying president all focused on convincing them that it was a problem. Just, y’know, for hypotheticals.

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