Politically Correct
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; of abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." This should sound familiar to any United States citizen. We have been hearing it all of our lives. It is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Over recent years many people have decided that our speech should be curtailed if not all-out censored. This censorship of our speech is commonly known as "political correctness." However, requiring people to be politically correct and punishing them if they are not is unconstitutional, for it inhibits a person's right to be honest, to speak unpopular sentiments and to question authority. In 1987, Charles Lawrence, a professor of law at Stanford University, wrote an essay arguing that it is in fact constitutional to suppress speech with a racist message. From his essay people came to the conclusion that res
training speech that is hostile to any minority is constitutional. Extrapolating this argument, many others came to the conclusion that political correctness should also be applied to five general areas: racial minorities, gender relations, homosexuals, American society as a whole, and Western culture and values. Many feel these groups are being oppressed and should no longer be verbally persecuted. Consequently, speech considered offensive to these groups should be prohibited and all people required to treat others with sensitivity and respect. After all, is not every man and woman created with equal value in the eyes of God? Although all of this political correctness might sound ideal, there really are many dangers with the concept. Sociologist Paul Hollander says that any man who is not politically correct may be publicly abused, ostracized, formally or informally sanctioned, suffer from job consequences, and may be subjected to sensitivity training. Imagine an American citizen suffering such treatment for speaking freely. Is it n
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Approximate Word count = 705
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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