The issue of political correctness boggles my mind so much, as a progressive. I, and I'm sure many others on this website, am against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, hell I don't even believe there's such thing as a good or bad person. That's just my philosophical point of view, that doesn't mean I don't think some people are pieces of shit who piss me off. Even though I've read so many articles and watched so many segments about what's going on in college campuses and with sjws, I still don't feel like I can adequately describe what these things are to someone who's never heard of these things.
I think it's a generational issue. I think that people who are around the same age group, growing up along side the people who this effects, are the ones who are involved in this issue. I saw my mom yesterday, she didn't have a fucking clue what any of the things I was talking about where, even though I've been following this issue and had this issue shoved into my face for years now in the news. To be quite honest, I'm not sure I really understand what's going on myself.
I'm generally a pretty open minded person. I feel that people should just be allowed to be themselves, we shouldn't be policing the way other people are. That's the sort of thing that the right wing does, is try to police the things that people do. It's like, two authoritarian parties clashing in the united states right now. On one hand you have assholes who want to keep things conservative and ban transgender people from bathrooms and instate laws allowing businesses to discriminate. On the other hand you have a younger generation who is extremely sensitive to these issues, who want to ban anything considered hate speech.
And you know? The more I think about it, the more confused I get, sometimes the more I'd rather just be on the side of social justice warriors. I don't know, I think that I'm okay with people wanting to have like 30 genders, or say that any hate speech against minorities is wrong, or say that everyone is inherently sexist and racist and homophobic. In a way there really are inherent societal structures of homophobia and sexism. I mean, just look at how gay people have to "come out of the closet" and we don't just expect everyone to like either sex. Or look at how men and women are perceived to be two separate categories, if someone born with male genitalia or vice versa wants to identify as a female and have a female name, why not just respect their decision? I see that as sexist and inconsiderate.
So, is it really a bad thing if the people who I guess are sensitive about the issue are gaining more power? I think it seems like alarmist culture to me. I don't really see exactly what is going to happen because of this new generation of social justice warrior youths. The only thing that I see as a bit of a problem are people abandoning the idea that being fit is healthier and more attractive. The body positive movement is disgraceful, unhealthy, and gives women a false notion that everyone who doesn't think they're attractive is just a bigoted asshole. I see that as damaging, but I don't know so much about the other stuff.
Maybe it's just the politics of it all that are messy. I've definitely seen some stuff that the social justice warriors will say that seems like bullshit. They'll say that there's a gender pay gap in between men and women, which I've heard is bullshit, but then a lot of people seem to think it's real. I have no fucking clue, who the hell can you trust for your news in this day and age. This is the age of misinformation. And the rhetoric against males being rapist and "teach men not to rape" seems so counter productive. You're not going to teach someone that sort of thing, people know it's wrong to rape but they do it anyways because they don't have empathy.
In the end, doesn't the whole issue just make you feel stupider? I actually feel less intelligent when I think of political correctness and the politics of race and gender and whatever else. It's just a new generation of people trying to define themselves, it's so massive and so beyond my grasp of comprehension, why even bother? This issue probably isn't even going to effect anyone, it's a waste of time.
