Political correctness undermines our rights

By: Gabe Kovacs

Posted: 11/20/08

Citizens in America have rights defined by the American Constitution. Most of them are in the Bill of Rights, giving us the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to religion, the right to a speedy and public trial, and the list keeps going. The one concept that infringes on these rights, mainly the right to free speech, is political correctness. Political correctness limits Americans' freedom of speech in the worst of ways.

Political correctness started in the 1980s. It was a proclamation that certain phrases, words and ideas were offensive and thus forbidden from public discourse. Political correctness laws were made to "protect the minorities." So far, these laws have proven themselves to be effective at what they were made to accomplish - minimizing the "offensive content" used in public.

That's a good thing, right? Political correctness keeps people from being offended and feeling bad. The world should be perfect, right? Wrong. Political correctness is like a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's a bad thing that only looks good on the outside. The bottom line is that it keeps people from exercising their freedoms and rights.

Obviously, political correctness is contradictory to the First Amendment. This is a limit on what can and cannot be said in public, which means no freedom of speech. But even when it's not a legal matter, political correctness has snuck into our speech by making even the most inane, well-meant phrases suddenly offensive. Political correctness has risen to absurd levels. It ranges from less ridiculous politically correct terms like "happy holidays," to calling a short person "vertically challenged," to saying that "illegal immigration" is politically incorrect.

The phrase "Happy Holidays" is used for all the late December holidays. Instead of saying "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hanukkah" or "happy (insert holiday name here)," "happy holidays" is used. To reassert, political correctness is used to avoid the use of "offensive terms." Now, would people really be offended if wished a "Merry Christmas" when they celebrate Hanukkah, "Happy Kwanzaa" when they celebrate Ramadan, or "Happy New Year" when they celebrate the Chinese New Year? Is it really necessary to say "Happy Holidays" to someone during the wintertime? No, it's not, because one person is wishing good times to another.

Some more unnecessary political correctness comes from giving descriptions to people. The short are "vertically challenged," the lazy are "motivationally deficient," the serial killers are "persons with difficult-to-meet needs," and the list goes on. Not only do these phrases add lengthy words, they also desensitize the description. This places limits on people's ways of conversation because people don't want to be antagonized and ridiculed. They do better at discussion when they do not have to censor themselves in order to not offend someone.

Recently in news, it is now politically incorrect to say "illegal immigrants" or "illegal aliens" in the state of Arizona. This is one of the more absurd examples, seeing how these people are immigrants that enter the country illegally. It's obvious why a legal immigrant would get offended when described as an illegal alien, but does it matter when an illegal immigrant is described as an illegal? They are the ones who broke the law.

Most importantly, who has authority to tell people what they can and cannot say? Who has the right to silence people and keep them from sharing their voice with others? We are all born with basic rights, like the right to free speech. Yes, free speech can sometimes be negative, but there shouldn't be a law against negative speech. The government doesn't have a right to place limits on our rights. The Bill of Rights was created to protect American rights and limit the government so that these rights aren't impeded in any way. Political correctness is just another burden on the American rights.