Political correctness is something everyone has to recognize today. It is expected that everyone treads lightly around everyone except closest friends  and family members to protect each others feelings. This is lessening the conversations people are able to have with one another and creating a hyper sensitive generation. Joe Hoffman ’20 is a former member of CORE, and a politically active student.

A popular opinion is that it is more important to think politically correct than it is to speak using politically correct phrases. Being politically correct does not always show the thoughts and morals of the person speaking. “Sometimes it shows your morals but it more just shows how you were raised… a lot of the time it just shows that they’re naive and don’t understand what they’re saying,”  Hoffman said. 

A situation I have experienced in my own life was when a patron at my workplace requested not to receive help from a co-worker of mine because of what the customer believed about his sexuality. The customer was politically incorrect in his thinking and made a negative assumption about a coworker. The customer assumed he did not know about the product being sold because of his sexuality. This is an instance when someones thoughts or morals were politically incorrect which was bad and led to a negative stereotype. However, at my work place senior employees commonly make politically incorrect jokes or have little to no filter when they address employees. This makes my job really enjoyable and is universally thought of something that sets us apart and brings us closer together.    

Over using political correctness can easily lead to censorship and very serious accusations. It is important to understand what the person speaking is trying to communicate rather than just how their words could make people feel. Being politically incorrect can lead to assumptions about a person being racist, sexist, or homophobic accusations such as these can have permanent consequences, so it is vital that people recognize whether the person speaking is just politically incorrect or prejudice.  Society needs to do a better job understanding that just because something a person said can hurt someones feelings that does not mean they don’t respect them or have ill thoughts towards them.