“Political correctness” doesn’t necessarily imply that the issues in question don’t get talked about at all. Most of the subjects considered to be affected by “political correctness” in the US are also very commonly and openly debated.
And yes, there are parts of Israeli society where it’s strongly frowned on or considered literally traitorous to criticize the occupation. In other parts of Israeli society, it’s freely criticized. These different parts of Israeli society argue with each other a lot.
Oh, yeah? Which culture produced John Stuart Mill and which culture produced Jean-Jacques Rousseau? (OK, Rousseau was born in Switzerland, but French-speaking Switzerland.)
And in the U.S. the Smith Act of 1940, giving rise to a long-forgotten national disgrace known as the Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders, has never been repealed. But, here as there, anti-sedition laws really have nothing to do with “political correctness.”
This is fundamentally incorrect. These issues are widely - and loudly - debated in Israel, by individuals, in the press, etc.
Certainly there are massive disagreements in opinion, but there is hardly a tacit conspiracy of silence!
Anyone who has actually known Israelis can tell you that “polite silence” on the political and social woes of their country is simply not part of the national character - if anything, the reverse is true.
Whilst I certainly understand the need to knuckle under to unjust laws, police, judges etc. as much as any farm labourer in the olden time to his feeble-minded tyrannical superior, lest worse befall; it would be very difficult, if innocent, to proclaim a guilt that did not exist and maintain that lie.
This was one of the major horrors of soviet existence.
The whole disgusting business of being expected to show contrition — and being given a discount for it, when it is immaterial to justice what you presently feel — is profoundly unmanly on all sides.
I think so, too. In certain countries, such as North Korea and Thailand, there are certain viewpoints that one is not allowed to express under penalty of law. People who violate these laws can be subject to prosecution and imprisonment in the same way that someone might be prosecuted for theft or drug charges. In countries like the USA, the law permits one to express whatever viewpoint one has, but there are still social penalties that can, and sometimes are, inflicted upon people who say “politically incorrect” things. This could happen, for example, if someone in the USA were to publicly state that “Retards, cripples, and Jews should not be allowed to get married.” It’s not that there is absolutely no penalty for doing this - there is. The difference here is that the penalty is unofficially-imposed social ostracism rather than a formal criminal sentence.
To help drive the question, what are the worst things to say in various countries that are technically legal to say? For example, could I land at the airport in Krakow, walk through passport control, and then say something so profoundly insulting against the Polish nation, people, or government that I get banned for life from every private country club in the country, become the subject of whispers in bars all throughout the land, cause respectable citizens to cross the street when I come walking down the sidewalk, but cannot be charged with anything as I would not be guilty of any crime?
I believe that someone in another thread mentioned that the “personhole” debacle was more of a Canadian phenomena. Maybe a Canadian can verify.
Well, aren’t you extra special. It seems to me that telling someone they are qualified to run a political body because of their legs isn’t poking at the PC team. It’s being rude and condescending. IMHO.
Yes, I would agree. There’s a line between lifting up society from the mire in which it struggles and being a twit. The incident you describe falls into the twit bucket.
I imagine it would be something pertaining to the Holocaust.
Incidentally, I wonder: while many European nations have laws against holocaust denial, do these laws apply against someone who uses holocaust praise? That is, not denying the genocide at all, but rather, actually praising the genocide?