Lvl 9: Politically Correctness, Difficulty: None

           I can practically hear people whining already. "You are promoting the pussification of America!" "People get so butthurt all the time, just get over it!" "You keyboard warriors aren't doing anything good with this! You're just dividing America even more!" I get it. Some people really pride themselves on their "special ability" to not be offended by a lot of jokes. It seems that if someone expresses that they have been offended by something others see as humorous, they are labeled as weak minded, overly politically correct, and a kill joy. Political correctness is ridiculed, seen as evil censorship, a tool of the "loony left" in order to coddle the weak minded. But what really is political correctness?

          Political correctness, according to Merriam-Webster.com, is "agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people". Simple as that.

          From the moment I learned about political correctness, I liked the idea of it. Only it wasn't called "being politically correct". It was just simply being polite, and educated. That's it. It isn't censorship, because there aren't any actual laws banning people to stop using certain words. It isn't some scary monster trying to make everyone into robots who think the same way and act the same way. Call people the way they should be called, use pronouns people would prefer others to use, don't use pejorative words that make certain groups of people uncomfortable. It shouldn't hard for anyone to be politically correct. It should come as natural as breathing. Why wouldn't one give up saying certain words so people around them would feel more safe and more comfortable? Why are we, Americans, so tied up in the idea of unlimited personal freedom to the point where some of us are willing to tread on others in order to "maintain" this freedom? It's not like humanity needs to say some words in order to survive in this world. Surely we will live just fine if some people can't say "the N word". Surely you can use "he" instead of "she" or vice versa if someone asks you to. And stop calling "weaker" people "pussies". We all came out of one. Vaginas are very strong.

          To be able to not be offended by something is a privilege. The jokes are usually not targeted towards people with privilege, and when jokes are made about them, those jokes don't have histories of violence and oppression behind them. Strangely, the same people who say they don't get offended easily, usually explode in rage when told about their "privileges". These people benefit from a system that oppresses others, yet stifles any mention of the system in order to protect their own fragile egos. Those who complain about others being "too politically correct" when others try to correct their hateful language, are being upset about others not sugar coating their criticisms of acts of bigotry. 

          Being politically correct is about acceptance and tolerance. To use certain language to let others who historically have been left out, to feel welcome. So we can learn more about those different from us. It is far from trying to divide America, instead it is trying to bring different people of all walks together. It may seem complicated at first, but if we all put in some effort to restrict our language, in the future, what is currently seen as "politically correct" will simply become the norm, and our children may wonder why we ever fought over the usage of some words in the first place.