The Summary - Language used on the Topic of Immigration - Political Correctness

Political Correctness aims to make people examine the words they use and show them they have an effect on people, that they’re never just words, they can change the way people think and can lead us into patterns of thinking that are in contest with peaceful coexistence.

For example, the term ‘Black People’ is a much better term than just ‘Blacks’ or any of the many historical terms because it has in it the essence of the thing it describes. ‘People’ is the key word. ‘Blacks’ and ‘Whites’ can oversimplify the groups, turning them into almost like teams in a sports match, creating an ‘Us verses Them’ dynamic.

‘Black People’ and ‘White People’ are better words because they focus on the fact that they are all people. They are not ideal as ‘Black’ and ‘White’ are not binary variables; the line between them is blurred and is becoming more so with the growth of multiculturalism.

On the topic of immigration, those opposed to immigration and who want to shut out immigrants in all forms use terms like ‘Foreigners’ and ‘Aliens’ which focus on that they are coming from an unfamiliar place and it’s not clear if they can be trusted. However, those people often overlook refugees with a genuine fear of persecution and the desperate need for asylum. The term ‘Refugee’ is avoided and it is too easy to empathize with a person seeking refuge from danger. Catchall terms like ‘Foreigners’ lump together economic migrants with refugees and again oversimplify the issue by making it too easy to unconsciously associate the negatives aspects of one with the other.

Political Correctness has gone too far in some cases, but the most popularly cited examples of cases are exaggerated and circulated by those who are opposed to Political Correctness for it’s desire to promote peaceful coexistence. They hunt for excuses to overthrow it and then broadcast extremely localized, specific cases of misapplications, in a context that would lead people to believe that the impact of the misapplications is larger than it actually is. Everyone associates ‘Baa Baa Rainbow sheep’ or ‘Green Sheep’ or ‘Happy Sheep’ with the whole Political Correctness movement, when in actual fact they have affected only a handful of schools that have completely missed the point of Political Correctness.

The movement is not universally successful, it is often ridiculed for its heavy-handedness and some people see it as a contravention of our freedom of speech. But it must be worth something that it is simply trying to improve social cohesion and help people get along smoothly. The heavy-handed are in a minority and it is a voluntary restraint enforced by social pressure, not law. It causes less harm than the benefit it produces, but people’s perception of it hinders the success of its application.