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Does political correctness harm society?
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Political correctness strains relationships

In a culture that requires politically correct speech, it is more difficult to foster relationships with peace of mind.

The Argument

In our culture, strong relationships are crucial to professional and personal success. For strong relationships to form, people must feel allowed to communicate without fear. Our society's emphasis on political correctness stifles such open and honest communication. Currently, people cannot speak without hesitancy, especially when speaking to someone who identifies with a historically disadvantaged group. This hurts both of the conversation's participants. If people do not communicate freely, they will never get to know each other at a deeper level. Both parties will be left without an understanding of each other. In this way, political correctness strains mutual understanding, which leads to less stable relationships. We need to stop emphasizing political correctness, focusing instead on kindness, open-mindedness, respect, and emotional intelligence in communication.

Counter arguments

Our culture's emphasis on politically correct speech does not necessarily harm relationships. By helping people avoid unnecessary offense, standards of political correctness can help strengthen relationships.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Our culture's focus on politically correct speech makes people hesitant to share their opinions. [P2] This fear harms relationship building.

Rejecting the premises

References

This page was last edited on Saturday, 20 Jun 2020 at 21:48 UTC

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