What does a conservative mean by the term "political correctness"?

[guillaumeb]

My own observation, based on personal experience and reading here and elsewhere, is that when a conservative complains about political correctness, what the conservative is really saying is:

You are trying to limit my right to be an open racist/misogynist/general hater.

[Trust Buster]

1. Who would you define as being "conservative" ?

[Cary]

4. Really?

Really?

[Trust Buster]

9. Yes, really. There is nothing "conservative" about today's right winger.

[Cary]

44. True. They are to the right of conservatives.

They are fascists. But we all know our enemy. We have them in focus. No need for definitions.

I saw a tweet by Ari Fleisher today saying he prefers Unindicted Co-Conspirator to Barack Obama and will vote for Unindicted Co-Conspirator in 2020. There are no conservatives. Conservatism is extinct.

[Roy Rolling]

52. "Conservative".

You can be conservative or you can be a Republican, you can't be both. The tribe that self-names themselves as conservative are right-wing anarchists, wishing to destroy government.

After destroying democracy, they will be happy seeing corporations manage roads, bridges, and hospitals. Or, mis-manage them into bankruptcy as is the reality.

[Cary]

57. The rank and file aren't that smart

Their priority is racism.

[guillaumeb]

5. Generally, a GOP voter.

Or anyone who seeks to excuse hate speech by invoking the First Amendment.

[mwooldri]

37. Not today's GOP.

They're fiscally irresponsible. Their economic policies are bonkers, not conservative. Their environmental policies sure aren't conserving anything and their social policies don't conserve much either.

Today's conservative is more likely to be a Democrat.

[Trust Buster]

38. Thank you.

[dchill]

54. Today, it simply means conserving their own wealth...

and power, and the wealth and power of their benefactors, foreign and domestic. But they are liberal, nay, downright SOCIALIST in their need to expand those two attributes.

Conservatism is dead - if it was ever legitimately alive.

[Cary]

2. Infringement on their "freedom" to express their racism

[guillaumeb]

7. Exactly. eom

[treestar]

39. Yes. And then call us

Intolerant for not respecting their different opinion

[Cary]

43. Yep. Gaslighting.

[RainCaster]

3. That's about right

You are trying to limit my God-given right to offend your snowflake ass.

[guillaumeb]

6. That is one definition.

[ProudLib72]

8. Political correctness is the same as social justice warrior

Another example of the RW coopting a term that has positive connotations and turning it into a term of derision.

[guillaumeb]

11. A very nice answer.

And they right attacks the idea of social justice, unless it is for white Americans.

[ProudLib72]

18. Yes, you will never hear them using these terms when it comes to decrying liberal actions

They couch their complaints in very different terms. The major example that springs to mind is "War on Christianity". Notice that the term does not allow for civil dialogue. One can say, "The politically correct term is ____". Although this statement carries a certain sense of shame for using a politically incorrect term, it does not imply that the person being told what is correct is an enemy. Rather, it is a way of saying, "This is what our society now considers to be acceptable and neutral". Their terminology, however, always pits themselves against a perceived enemy, an existential threat. This is why I believe there is no way to carry on a dialogue with them. They do not want dialogue; they want us to conform to their standards.

[guillaumeb]

19. And they need that external threat, that existential threat,

to convince their fellow conservatives that they are the ones being attacked.

[Hav]

15. True

To this day, I haven't quite grasped why social justice warrior is used as an insult. Whatever you do, the worst one can accuse you of is your attempt to contribute to a better world. You are attacking someone who stands in opposition to bigots and racists. I don't get it.

[marybourg]

10. They are radical reactionaries, not onservatives,

and what they're making fun of is civility to others.

[guillaumeb]

12. Well said, and a good reminder.

Conservatives on the 1960's generally were open to dialogue.

[librechik]

13. you are limiting my right to use abusive language while claiming innocence.

Just because they use the n word doesn't make them a racist, and so on.

[guillaumeb]

20. Agreed.

The right to abuse others, and when confronted, to claim that they are the true victims.

[DonViejo]

14. Pfft. What does the anti-,pc crowd mean by the term "democracy"?

Simple, "we get to say and do anything we want anytime we want; now, sit down and shut up. To the victor go the spoils."

[guillaumeb]

22. My view, and I am not being hyperbolic, is that the modern GOP

does not believe in a multi-party system.

[NightWatcher]

16. It means they hate that they can't say the b word, n word, c word... without repercussions.

[guillaumeb]

24. True.

When the Tea Party crowd talked about taking back the country, they meant to 1860.

[Initech]

17. They want to be able to practice their hate and racism out in the open.

With no one to shut them up or shut them down.

[guillaumeb]

25. In spite of their claims to respect the First Amendment,

they reserve the right to speak freely to themselves.

[Wounded Bear]

21. Pretty much...

they staunchly defend their right to be an asshole and treat others like shit.

[guillaumeb]

26. No argument. eom

[Garrett78]

23. Basic human decency.

[guillaumeb]

27. That basic feature seems to be absent in many of them.... eom

[MrScorpio]

28. Yep, that's basically it.

It speaks to their inability to behave in mixed company.

[guillaumeb]

30. "Their inability to behave in mixed company". Well put.

That, and their unwillingness to behave.

[sharedvalues]

29. Exactly correct. It gives racists an excuse.

And remember Fox and Limbaugh have amplified it on purpose because it helps their party get votes from racists.

[guillaumeb]

31. Racists are the base of the GOP.

And they have been since 1965.

[sharedvalues]

32. Exactly. Why the rightwing propaganda machine pushes PC

The GOP is controlled by billionaires. To get votes for their pro-billionaire policies, they have embraced lying and hate. They built a propaganda machine to amplify and justify racism. PC is just one part of those lies.

[guillaumeb]

33. And low voter turnout,

and protest votes for vanity candidates, help the billionaires.

[shanny]

34. "Political correctness is when

you have to treat someone you don't consider fully human with civility. "

some person I can't remember on twitter

[guillaumeb]

35. Imagine the horror for them.

Treating others as equals.

[ismnotwasm]

36. It means "I want to be a bigoted asshole..

..Without any repercussions whatsoever because I shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable”

[guillaumeb]

41. And they generally succeed at being just that.

And it is our duty to make them feel uncomfortable.

A local politician made some Islamophobic remarks. A number of area residents, myself included, are confronting her about these remarks at her public meetings.

She used the First Amendment defense, and when I mentioned that I was also invoking my First Amendment right to call her an Islamophobic hater, she was speechless.

[Blue_true]

40. That pointing out clear negative problems in society and working to fix them is bad.

They want to go back to when a man could press up against an unwilling woman or man and not lose his job. Or back to a time when a cop could kill a person and no investigation would be done.

To them any needed social progress is political correctness.

[guillaumeb]

42. Very true, Blue. eom

[cynatnite]

45. They want to be an asshole that says whatever comes into their narrow-minded brain. n/t

[samir.g]

46. "not being allowed to be a racist shitbag"

[Volaris]

47. You're basicly correct...

It means I get socially reprimanded for acting like a dick to Other Humans in Public, and I don't like that.

My response is 'then maybe don't DO THAT. It's true it's not against the Law for you to say what you want, but it's ALSO true that the Law wasn't set up to protect you from the criticism of Other People. If you aren't gonna own it and accept the consequences that come with, then u prolly shouldn't do that, huh?'

[demigoddess]

48. manners. treating everyone how you wish to be treated.

[paleotn]

51. That's it in a nut shell.

[yonder]

55. Exactly. Good manners

That's all PC is. It's good manners. Many of us remember the emphasis put on good manners as we were growing up. The golden rule. Somehow, the right co-opted the concept of good manners, added 4 more syllables and created a word they can use as a cudgel to bludgeon those they disagree with. It's another example of the red hats' need to tear down rather than build up.

There's no way they could disparagingly use "good manners" to belittle others and otherwise do what they do, but "political correctness" works.

The OP has got it right, IMO.

[maxrandb]

49. Anything that indicates

that you might have a speck of common decency.

[paleotn]

50. That's pretty much it....

It's the freedom to be an outright ass in public, with no repercussions. To me, political correctness means not saying things that would embarrass my mother and embarrass me if she heard me say them. Some people just don't seem to have such scruples. Or much sense.

[Power 2 the People]

53. +1000

[defacto7]

56. By definition there's only one context for the use of that term.

So as usual they're just making it into whatever they want it to mean.

[RhodeIslandOne]

58. They want to say the n word in polite company n/m

[Lint Head]

59. I'd rather be correct.

[The Genealogist]

60. They see it as pushback against their bigotry

In their idea of a perfect society, they could say any racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic thing they want without being called on it. They don't like being shamed or embarrassed when a decent person points out what ignorant asses they are. So, they whine about political correctness.

[guillaumeb]

64. Indeed.

Their idea seems to be the US as it existed in 1950 or so, where all of "those people" knew their place.

[unblock]

61. No, not "trying to limit my *right* to be a bigot" but "trying to complain about my bigotry"

Political correctness isn't about banning bigotry or preventing bigotry, it's just about non-bigots expressing *their* opinion that bigotry is wrong.

By objecting to "political correctness", they are trying to tell non-bigots to shut up.

They're not fighting for the right to be bigots, they're fighting for the right to be bigots *without having to hear any opposing voices*.

[ooky]

62. Pretty much agree wih your definition, and

they can be openly disrespectful and arrogant to those classes of people they hate.

[Doodley]

63. To a conservative it means making excessive allowances to blacks, gays, trans, women,

Muslims, immigrants and other minorities. The allowances can be in the form of not denigrating the minorities as the conservatives would like to, or not treating them as if they are sub-human. It is a powerful political construct that combines the conservative deep-rooted grievance concerning specific minorities and the grievance concerning liberals who want to not only welcome those minorities, but give them special treatment. To a liberal, I think it means treating those people with respect and as equals.

[Aristus]

65. "HOWCOME AH CAIN'T SAY 'N****R' IF'N AH WANT TO?"

They want to be able to express all of the ugly, vile, hateful thoughts in their little pinheads without getting called out on it.

[guillaumeb]

66. Yes, many of them do.

They want to speak in public as they speak in private, and they take offense when other people are offended.

[TrishaJ]

67. Yeah, I heard the "end

political correctness" argument as a reason to have voted for Donald Trump.

[guillaumeb]

68. A recognition that Trump is more openly racist than was Reagan.

The GOP depends on racism as a motivator and a source of division.

[GoCubsGo]

69. They mean, "I am no longer allowed to outwardly be an asshole, and I resent it." n/t