# Ralph Nader decries PCness **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681 "2016-06-06T22:58:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/1 "2016-06-06T22:58:01Z")
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that an 80-something year old man feels this way, and I think he’s right on about college campuses, but then he takes it much further: [https://psmag.com/election-season-politics-with-ralph-nader-public-interest-crusader-82d6fbd6e13d#.pzku0mqll](https://psmag.com/election-season-politics-with-ralph-nader-public-interest-crusader-82d6fbd6e13d#.pzku0mqll) > [@](#): > > \*\*Now that you mention it, Trump is a fascinating phenomenon. What does his popularity tell you about the electorate and what they want? > \*\* > Well, and you see this when you walk past construction sites and you talk with white male workers, they feel they have been verbally repressed. It’s hard for someone your age to understand what I’m about to say. They like to stand on a corner and whistle at a pretty lady. They like to flirt. But they can’t do that anymore. Multiply that across the continuum. You can’t say this about that, and you can’t say that about this. And the employer tells you to hush. And perhaps your spouse tells you to hush, and your kids tell you to hush. So they have a whole language that they inherited — ethnic words like Polack. A lot of these people grew up on ethnic jokes, which are totally taboo now. Do you know, Lydia, there are no ethnic-joke books in bookstores anymore? > > **There used to be?** > > All the time. There were Negro-joke books, Jewish-joke books, Polish-joke books, Italian-joke books. They used ethnic jokes to reduce tension in the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s. And they’d laugh at each other’s jokes and hurl another one. But it still flows through ethnic America, you know. There are hundreds of things that people would like to say. So here’s this guy — he doubles down on them, he blows their minds. So that’s the first way he got their attention. > > **Do you think Trump has a point about political correctness? That we’ve gotten too uptight?** > > Oh, yeah. You see it on campuses — what is it called, trigger warnings? It’s gotten absurd. I mean, you repress people, you engage in anger, and what you do is turn people into skins that are blistered by moonbeams. Young men now are far too sensitive because they’ve never been in a draft. They’ve never had a sergeant say, “Hit the ground and do 50 push-ups and I don’t care if there’s mud there.” Nader’s argument just serves to remind me that while political correctness is often ridiculous and goes too far(especially in college), that it exists for a reason. It’s not okay to “flirt” with unwilling girls and catcall girls, and while I won’t condemn ethnic jokes completely, leave that kind of stuff to the professionals. When average people make those jokes, it just comes off as bigoted. Comedians know how to make it funny(the good ones anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/2 "2016-06-06T23:18:36Z")
Ralph Who? ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/3 "2016-06-06T23:38:25Z")
Truth hurts the butt of many a liberal pansy. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/4 "2016-06-06T23:46:08Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Truth hurts the butt of many a liberal pansy. Explain why treating others, regardless of social status, is so evil. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/5 "2016-06-06T23:52:49Z")
We should But people also shouldn’t take offense when no offense is intended. Statements that are well-meaning but cringeworthy should be either accepted in the spirit they are given or seen as an opportunity to educate. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/6 "2016-06-07T00:00:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Explain why treating others, regardless of social status, is so evil. Because I have two low-hanging acorns that don’t shrivel into a little scrunchie when someone makes a joke about a group I am a part of. Anathema to the crybaby faux-victim Left. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/7 "2016-06-07T00:05:30Z")
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Fuck Ralph Nader. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/8 "2016-06-07T00:05:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Truth hurts the butt of many a liberal pansy. Both of 'em, probably. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/9 "2016-06-07T00:11:31Z")
Since when is politeness something that old people can’t understand? I thought the big complaint was supposed to be that we youngsters weren’t polite enough any more. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/10 "2016-06-07T00:13:57Z")
Differing views of what constitutes good manners I guess. But here’s the thing about politeness: definitions should not change by the hour. That’s one of the main critiques I’ve seen of the PC movement, is that correct terms become prohibited terms too quickly for anyone not on a college campus to follow. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/11 "2016-06-07T00:14:38Z")
If you take pretty much anything too far, and forget the principles you were trying to uphold in the first place, it’s going to backfire. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/12 "2016-06-07T00:15:51Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Truth hurts the butt of many a liberal pansy. So do lies. And on the other hand, truth hurts the butt of many a rightwing asshole. So that pretty much leaves you with nothing. Start over. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/13 "2016-06-07T00:17:27Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Because I have two low-hanging acorns that don’t shrivel into a little scrunchie when someone makes a joke about a group I am a part of. > > Anathema to the crybaby faux-victim Left. I love people like you, because I can say whatever I want about you and the slightest complaint makes YOU a whiny pansy hypocrite. So I dare you to post a few of the groups you’re a member of so we can post jokes. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/14 "2016-06-07T00:18:10Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > If you take pretty much anything too far, and forget the principles you were trying to uphold in the first place, it’s going to backfire. True. It seems that modern PC has moved way beyond politeness and decency and into the realm of “justice”, which can take you into much more radical places. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/15 "2016-06-07T00:26:44Z")
Nader: “…They like to stand on a corner and whistle at a pretty lady. They like to flirt. But they can’t do that anymore. Multiply that across the continuum.” Multiply that across the continuum. Wow. That’s one smart motherfucker! Multiply. Continuum. Jeez, that guy is going to be something someday, mark my words. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/16 "2016-06-07T00:31:32Z")
When I was working in the co-op, we posted an opening in the collective. (You’d be amazed at how many people were eager to work for the money we could pay ourselves…) She walked in (confidence and assertiveness embodied) and announced herself as having just got back from Africa for the Women’s Conference. Not the _fake_ one, the one with the _real_ women. She paused to give me a moment to express my approving awe, but I blinked. I started on the agreed spiel…as written by the same committee that wrote the Mission Statement, and subsequent amendments… but she waved it away, cut me short with “You will hire me, I’m politically correct.” This happened. If I’m lying, I’m dying. And if I thought she was kidding me, doing an improv sendup, I most likely would have asked her to marry me. On bended knee, you may be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/17 "2016-06-07T00:40:10Z")
Kids! What’s the matter with kids today? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/18 "2016-06-07T00:42:30Z")
Fuck Ralph Nader in the balls with a blunt object. Yes, the balls, because it’s not an orifice and it’s more painful that way. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/19 "2016-06-07T00:45:16Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This happened. If I’m lying, I’m dying. And if I thought she was kidding me, doing an improv sendup, I most likely would have asked her to marry me. On bended knee, you may be sure. An obnoxious douchebag applied to work in a co-op? Easy to believe. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681/20 "2016-06-07T00:46:19Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Fuck Ralph Nader in the balls with a blunt object. Yes, the balls, because it’s not an orifice and it’s more painful that way. That’s not very PC. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ralph-nader-decries-pcness/756681.md?page=2)