The Impact of Political Correctness on Culture and the Response of the Public

Political Correctness (PC) is a term used to refer to the language intended to give the least offensive to minorities by using it. The term, during the Russian Revolution in 1917, first appeared to describe the adherence to the politics and principles of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was used to refer to the extremism of left-wing issues in the early 1980s, and mentioned by conservatives in the 1990s. Linguistically, the use of the term seems to be rooted in the desire to minimize the exclusion of minorities and to be used widely in that our perception of reality is determined by our language use. Political correctness has a positive aspect in that it reduces the excluded and gives minorities a chance to engage, on the other hand, has a negative effect in that it encourages nation-unit censorship and violation of free speech.

Political correctness also roots its influence on culture, which has a vast range including popular culture, language, and politics.

The pop culture that the public encounters the easiest and most has an industrial structure that cannot be without the influence of political correctness. Creating ‘politically correct’ creations is the biggest task of recent pop culture producers and influencers to increase consumers and avoid misuse of their influence. Set in the future worldview, the Star Trek series has been devoted to breaking the framework of existing social descriptions and is the most criticized series for its political correctness while best adhering to political correctness. The original series, which was released in the 1960s, featured unconventional attempts such as Asian spacecraft pilots and black officers that could not be imagined by the times, and since then, various attempts to eliminate discrimination based on race or thought have been positively accepted. But the Star Trek Discovery series was different. Perhaps because of the excessive acceptance of PC supporters' opinions, it minimized the proportion and role of white male actors and forced the proportion of non-white women to increase, which eventually led the story to being ruined. However, in the case of Zootopia, it is receiving positive reviews for its animation that captures the dramatic fun of the story as well as an in-depth description of the problems of diversity, prejudice, and discrimination.

The language we use has not deviated from the target of political correctness. The language we use has not deviated from the target of political correctness. It has been encouraged to use male-based English nouns in a gender-neutral way, such as ‘fireman’ into ‘firefighter’, ‘man-made’ into ‘artificial’, and ‘mankind’ into ‘humanity.’ Racist words have also been purified, from ‘blackmail’ to ‘extortion.’ Moreover, under the impact of animal rights organizations, ‘pet’ has been changed into ‘companion animal.’

The person who made the most direct and shocking remarks about political correctness may surely be Donald Trump. “You can’t say anything. Anything you say today, they’ll find a reason why it’s not good.” Trump saw political correctness as a subject of suppressing freedom of expression and attempted to completely condemn it in the United States. However, this rather backfired on the presidential level of supporting hate speech, creating a foothold for far-right groups such as the KKK to be a little more active.

According to a 2020 Rasmussen survey, 65 percent of U.S. adults expressed their reluctance to say anything due to concerns about "wrong remarks" caused by political correctness and that freedom of expression was being suppressed. This shows that political correctness designed for public comfort, including minorities, has ironically become a means of attacking and suppressing the public. Moreover, the case in which a culture stained with political correctness is the object of criticism leads to the question of whether political correctness is correct.

Star Trek: Discovery's IMDb review shows how people feel about PC-infused pop culture. Not only did there be an opinion that reverse discrimination was promoted through forced PC elements, but there was also an opinion that openly expressed dissatisfaction with the original story of space exploration and thrill, which only pursues political correctness. However, as briefly mentioned earlier, Zootopia's review mainly focuses on positive reviews that it dealt with in-depth topics in a balanced manner along with the quality of the story.

Moreover, Trump's election as president even after he uttered such unconventional remarks suggests that countless people in the United States, if not outwardly, had an antipathy for the unconditional coercion of the PC.

Once again, political correctness refers to language and expressions whose use is aimed at minimizing the defense of minorities. Political correctness, of course, does not only have a bad side, but its use should not hurt or oppress anyone. It should not be a device that incites the public with extreme use of political correctness, but if political correctness blocks an environment in which people can freely exchange opinions, it should be considered whether it is correct. What do you think?