Political Correctness Essay

From the time man developed his ability to interact with other people using the speech code, his work became more intensified and his job became more highlighted as it was not easy to communicate with each other and still be left ‘politically correct’. The term ‘politically correct’ was meant to be used to filter out humiliating words and it was a concept that was brought in to be more palpable and social in this world. Like every good concept in the world, being politically correct is also applied in the work place scenario. The applying of the statement of being ‘politically correct’ depends on by what intent it is used for while working in offices or be it educational institutes. The intent behind the usage of the term was to manifest a certain amount of diplomacy and tactfulness when it came to criticizing a colleague in mortifying terms. It was only a way in which things can be put up against the use of words that would degrade another person. However, as seen in most work places, people work with zero tolerance levels and are ready to snap at each other on a pin’s drop, completely misuse the political correctness scenario, and ultimately the entire purpose for which it was brought in to the world gets dampened, as the term becomes high in use for those people who actually want to humiliate and degrade other people. The high bullying of the term can be assessed by the following: ‘But despite political correctness, discrimination against minorities and the powerless, still flourish globally. We are not more civilized – in fact, we are slipping into anarchy and we are living in a violent world and people who are at ease with themselves, in touch with themselves and accepting of all people, use the politically incorrect terms to refer to themselves. The abuse of political correctness is in essence dishonesty and it ignores the consultative process and very often those who are affected (like the visually impaired), and because we are not at ease with the New Terminology, it is often the object of jokes – clearly indicating that political correctness causes tension within ourselves’. (Dr. Susan Steinman, â€Å"Politically correct – the smokescreen by which bullying thrives†. Retrieved on April 13, 2008 from site http://www.worktrauma.org/change/politically_correct.htm) When misused, political correctness becomes harsher and makes an employee working in an organization feel much suffocated. The concept of the term is probably to say the word in a much better way, for instance the word African American over the words black people. Here the point is getting across of defining a sect of people without being racially abusive towards them. But employees might face racism worse by using political correct statement i.e. by stressing on the word African than American, as to signify the existence from a different continent. This kind of unwarranted political correctness is harmful and can lead to major hindrances in communication and would scar a colleague emotionally on terms of being abused either racially or by the way one has knowledge or even by the way one looks. Another way in the office people with wrong intentions can have hindrance in effective communication is by acting perky and snobby when using these politically correct terms and ultimately it would widen the gaps between office colleagues and subordinates on the line of being snooty and insensitive. Communication is a major asset of the working environment in an office. If it is tampered with on the grounds of political correctness, it would only lead to miscommunication and differences between people working, thus hurting everybody who would be in accord to it. Reference: 1) Dr. Susan Steinman, â€Å"Politically correct – the smokescreen by which bullying thrives†. http://www.worktrauma.org/change/politically_correct.htm 2) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/174790/how_to_be_politically_correct_in_the.html