Are Political Correctness and identity politics destroying America?

Sometimes the only way is through the nursery.

 

Yeah, because it became a hate symbol.
Pepe the Frog designated hate symbol by ADL - CNN
How 'Pepe the Frog' went from harmless to hate symbol - Los Angeles Times
Plague of frogs: How Pepe became associated with the alt-right
Pepe the Frog, innocent meme turned white supremacist icon, designated as hate symbol - NY Daily News
How Pepe The Frog Went To The Dark Side

 

As is stated in at least one of those articles you linked, The symbol in and of itself was not a hate symbol, various alterations of it had imagery deemed hateful associated with it.

 

Pepe is innocent. It makes me so sad when I see the real Pepe looking so sad, and I know he is so reviled by so many for things that weren't even his fault or his doing.

 

I still can't get over all the airplay the "KKK" gets these days. As if they were actually some kind of threat. They aren't. The few you can find are pitiful relics of a time that passed them by. They can barely assemble a dozen "klansmen" for a protest anywhere in the country. They have zero political power and NO friends in Washington and NOBODY of any importance is giving them money. They can barely keep their web sites up and running without donations from other morons who still think the KKK is a viable entity.

But somehow, this gaggle of old, fat KKK types has been elevated to a serious national threat. I don't know whether to cry at the sheer stupidity or laugh at the obvious joke of it all. But I know there are people who will try to tell me the KKK is on every corner waiting to infiltrate........something.

 

In all fairness the right is doing the same thing with the New Black Panthers.

 

Yea, but the panthers want the hostile notoriety. The KKK is trying to be kind and gentle (or whatever you'd call their game) and it having a very difficult time selling it. What I don't see the right doing is labeling black Americans as Black Panthers wholesale. The left seems to think that ALL white American men are millimeters away from joining the klan. Just ask Don Lemon (when he's not rectum wrecking with his white boyfriend, but he's not a hypocrite, right).

 

The republican party would have to bleach their fucking hair to become any more white, and people can't believe all the press the KKK is getting. Wake up idiots, Martin Luther King marched for a damned good reason that had nothing to do with your illusions of living in a classless and raceless society. The KKK is getting all the press because people want to hear about the KKK and want to dwell upon dividing the country up like South Africa, building walls around every fucking ghetto and across the entire border.

 

Not all white Americans no. But a large section of trump supporters, yeah.

 

Yes, poor Pepe and his creator were innocent victims of appropriation by the AltRight. This also happened to the swastika, which originally was an Indo-European symbol of divinity and spirituality and a Native American symbol for prosperity, healing and good luck. Damned Nazis can't leave a good meme alone!

 

You know this can't possibly be true and yet you keep pushing it. Why? What possible good can come from it?

 

It happened to the victims of Dylan Roof as well. They were largely forgotten while the issue was steered to the Confederate flag and then to Confederate monuments, school names and road names. All riveting, pivotal issues in the US.

 

Why can't it possibly be true? You think it's literally impossible that a large number of trump supporters are racist?

 

As opposed to all of them, sure. Consider though that plenty of racists exist on the left, many of them loud and proud. This is why I don't lose sleep over the race issue until it breaks into politics where it doesn't belong. From what I have seen, racists (and assholes) come in all races, ethnicities and political affiliations. Which is why I personally don't choose from the 2 primary "sides", lest my reputation be cemented to either one. This past round I voted for a few republicans, some democrats and 2 libertarians. Blindly following a party makes no sense to me.

 

What people don't seem to understand, is there's a big difference between political correctness and etiquette.

I'm all for etiquette. Etiquette is great, as it is an effective and useful tool for communication and navigating one's way through society as we interact with various people from different cultures, socioeconomic classes, religions, nationalities, philosophies, ethnicities, and more. Without etiquette, it would be near impossible for social and professional interactions on a global scale. Not everyone comes from the same background and worldview, so we need to use it not to offend people from these other backgrounds or we won't get anywhere. So etiquette is important.

Political correctness is an organized system of lying to protect the delicate feelings of fragile little wallflowers, at the expense of logic, reason, and truth. It is a tool used to justify censorship and destroying free speech. There may be a teeny bit of overlap between political correctness and etiquette, but for the most part, political correctness has an unwritten set of rules that is constantly changing without any consistency. Political correctness is about intimidation and control. If political correctness was about kindness, why is it being forced upon us? Unlike etiquette, I'd define political correctness as a manipulation of language to change and control the way people speak, feel, write, and act, to further a certain agenda.

Political correctness is also filled past the brim with double standards. Hillary Clinton hinted that that black people "look alike" and she's not held accountable:



Don Lemon of CNN said on the air that he felt that "white men are the biggest terror threat to the country." Some of you might actually agree with this statement. But if you were to substitute "white" with any other race, Lemon would've been fired instantly, instead he got away with an apology. Whereas Megan Kelly got fired for her comments about using blackface halloween costumes.

Never mind the fact that leftists like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon can dawn the blackface to applause and laughter. But it's racist only when someone else does it.
FLASHBACK: Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel And Sarah Silverman All Wore Blackface

Aside from hurt feelings, censorship, and double-standards. At the very worst, political correctness can be deadly. Political correctness stopped the neighbors of the San Bernardino shooters from reporting all the suspicious activity and packages that were being sent to their property. They were afraid of being called racists for reporting muslims. Political correctness stopped the police in Rotherham and Telford from taking any action against a muslim rape gang which led to the rapes of 1,400+ young girls.

So yes, political correctness isn't destroying America, it's destroying the world.

 

True. I often vote democrat tho because I refuse to vote republican on account of I don't think the answer to every problem is lower taxes and deregulation.

Yeah, definitely racists on both sides, it's a perennial problem. But republicans do intentionally court those votes and legislate accordingly.

 

Pepe was named a hate symbol by the ADL and the Hillary campaign to strawman anyone and everyone who's ever used the meme, and call them racist.

 

I'm taxed at 37% because I do a lot of freelance work. There are few taxes I will vote for. The first time I voted for a local option sales tax (SPLOST) the city promised to connect all of the sidewalks. Instead, they added bits of sidewalk with wheelchair access at all the major intersections, but then they abruptly stopped and the poor wheelchair bound citizen has to off-road it. In 6 years this tax has raised millions, enough to connect the sidewalks and make miles of new ones. Instead it has fattened the wallets of lawyers, consultants, contractors, developers and of course, cronies.

Tax cuts for the wealthy are something I despise. They are the very people who skew the system their way and far from the rest of us. SKA-rooooooo them.

 

What do you think would be fair for them? Is 50% too much?

I like Bernie Sanders a heck of a lot. But when he talks about taxing the wealthiest people at a 50% rate (I don't know what they currently are taxed at) I cringe a little. I then remind myself, despite all the services it pays for, that it eventually can do something to the incentive to perform jobs that pay that well. I hope that cost of living plays into the calculation for tax brackets.

 

Everyone is racist, its just a matter of degree.