Political correctness is not unlike most things in life, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. The new generation has taken a large step forward in technology and an even larger step backwards in stability. Millions of millennials are demanding access to free or cheap goods, but at the same time they are “fighting for equality”, and they do not see the irony in forcing people to provide a free service or work for less. When it is pointed out to them they use silly words like “trigger warning, and safe space”. Students are stopped from speaking their opinions because words may make a student feel unsafe. The age of political correctness has made the millennial generation less emotionally resilient and unable to cope with a difference of opinion. 

Before we can delve into the byproducts of a generation that all but worships political correctness the term must be defined. The term politically correct as defined by the Meriam Webster dictionary is “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.” (Webster) The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “Disapproving avoiding language or behavior that any particular group of people might feel is unkind or offensive.” (Cambridge Dictionary) They then state that fireman is the politically incorrect term for firefighter. To many people this sounds excellent and very nice, but to others they see as a form of censorship. This is not because they are some form of bigot or racists it is because of the how unclear the definition is. The term is entirely subjective what offends one person may not offend another so how much speech must be cut out of a person’s dialogue before they become politically correct. Another term that must be defined is politically incorrect which is described by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “not avoiding language or behavior that could offend a particular group of people.” (Webster) The website dictionary.com defines politically incorrect as “not politically correct; potentially offensive to a particular group of people.” (Dictionary.com) These definitions are just as subjective as the others. Being offended is very subjective and choosing not to speak because of a potential offense censors you and those who would be afraid of offending you. As more and more people use their offense to silence people their reactions to those who do not abide them have become more extreme. 

A truly worrying result of the politically correct movement has been the abandonment of sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. This is so worrying because millennials are now taking verbal offense or microaggressions and equating it to a physical act of harm. After taking into consideration that being offended is completely subjective and what offends someone may not offend another person, there can be no clear-cut rule or guideline for how to act. It has become justifiable to shout at, belittle, and in some cases even physically attack someone who has in one way or another offended you. There are stories of people being physically attacked almost every week because they were wearing the wrong clothing, support the wrong political party, or simply because they are white. In February the Daily News ran a story about a 6th grade boy was attacked by his classmates because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again Hat”. In the article they report how the school had sent out notices to the parents offering them suggestions on how to speak with their students about the results of the presidential election. Doing that alone furthers the mentality of emotional distress equals physical distress therefore react physically. This is the side that holds signs like “Love Trumps Hate” and will wear a Che Guevara shirt. Their love is remarkably violent, and it can be turned on anyone even those people whom they just called allies. 

The millennial generation has developed an inability to move past information that they disagree with to see information that they do agree with. If someone has even one opposing view to theirs they immediately throw out everything else that the person has said. An example of this would be when News personality Tomi Lahren came out to say that she is pro-choice concerning abortion. In all other aspects of politics, she is staunchly conservative and has a very large conservative following. After saying that she was pro-choice, which was not even the main topic of the interview, she suddenly became a left-leaning super liberal in the eyes of her former followers. It was not enough to simply disagree with her on one subject she had to be ostracized and receive hundreds of degrading and derogatory emails and messages from her former fans. Although the term political correctness is often associated with the democrat/liberal side of the political aisle this instance shows that it can be seen on both sides. The right side of the political aisle was so enraged by her opinion on that one issue that they then decided to reject all her other opinions. It was not enough that for other topics she presented her case well, used relevant data, and agreed with them, because they did not like one thing that she said. This type of thinking reduces their ability to think critically so that they cannot come to conclusions on their own or formulate their own opinions on the matter. Choosing to only hear or look at information that aligns itself with your viewpoints may protect your feelings, but it hurts your intelligence. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in the sense that these people unknowingly and by rejecting the opinions of other limit their own knowledge base to only the information that confirms their own set of ideas and values. Refusing to acknowledge the opinions and argument of others does not strengthen your own, which is a concept that has been lost on a lot of people in this generation. Leon Pomeroy explains how many members of the millennial generation have reported cases of mental health issues because of their inability to cope with differences of opinion. Since for many people in the past generation this was not an issue that they had to deal with they do not have a solution or treatment for it. Instead they coddle and attempted to protect their children from these feelings. He recognizes that this does not actually help them but rather inhibits them because it creates fear amongst the masses.

Political correctness inspires two different and distinct type of fears. One of them is the same type of nervous fear that someone will feel when they take a test or speak publicly. The nervousness stems from people having to walk on eggshells while they talk to people because they must be afraid of triggering or making someone feel microagressed. The other is the more traditional fear; the fear of violence, which now incorporates verbal violence. This fear of violence through words has spread like wildfire throughout the media and across college campuses which has led to the victim mentality. Joseph H. Neisen has a PHD in Qualitative Social Research and is currently working for the University of California San Francisco. He has published articles like Healing from cultural victimization: Recovery from shame due to heterosexism, and Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood:: By Whose Standard and for What Purpose? A Response to Rekers and Morey. Joseph H. Neisen, writes “Heterosexism stymies individual growth and development just as individuals who have been sexually/physically abused struggle with the painful effects of their own victimization.” (Neisen, 2008) He then continues to say that being Heterosexual is abusive to others. This is an extremely dangerous way of thinking for anyone no matter if they are gay or straight, and unfortunately this is how people have begun to think. Saying that because someone is straight they have immediately abused you in the same way that someone who was sexually assaulted was abused not only stunts your own emotional growth, but it also can belittle the claims of people who have actually experienced trauma. It is not only their own fault it is also the fault of school administrators and parents to abide by this coddling style of parenting. The technique that parents use today, and the easiest way to deal with the children who have these types of visceral reactions is to reaffirm their reactions and to then prevent the original stimuli that provoked this reaction. This will then tell them that it is ok to silence people with opposing views and that their perceived physical damage from their words is actually true.

Conflict resolution is a skill that will decline as the use of political correctness increases. In order to have good conflict resolution skills you must not be completely dismissive of someone else opinion or view. You must also be able to understand or have a willingness to attempt to understand why they have these views. There is a thing called confirmation bias which is a bias that someone holds in which data they are presented is immediately ignored or twisted so that it can better suit their preconceived notion of the topic. A confirmation bias mixed with political correctness becomes your opinion is different therefore it is wrong, so it can be ignored, and because you disagreed with my opinion retaliation is appropriate. There is also another extreme of this in which because the person cannot get what they want they immediately think that the worst possible outcome will happen. Refusing to meet at a common ground has become a growing trend with students being pulled out of school, teacher being fired, and businesses being shut down. One such example would be when an NYU Professor named Michael Rectenwald was forced onto administrative leave. The article written by The New York Post states the Rectenwald claims it was because he created an anonymous Twitter account which openly mocked what he described as PC culture on campus. Although the college denies that it was because of the twitter account instead saying that his words worry them about his mental health. Instead of attempting to find a common ground with this professor or even allowing him to voice his opinions they questioned his mental state with no other evidence than his mocking of their need to be politically correct. This basic skill is an essential skill for adults, so losing this skill is setting up the new generation for failure. Instead of being taught to solve the problem rationally they are seeing people block highways and riots so that becomes the norm. They see this as a way to solve their problems, and taking this into the workplace will make them unemployable. It creates this aura of I deserve something because I think I deserve it. Instead of I will give someone my time, money, or work and in exchange I will receive the item. There are two major instances of this one of which is the demand for free healthcare, and the other is the demand for a higher minimum wage or as it is commonly known as the fight for 15. The conflict with the first issue is unless there is socialized medicine people will not have healthcare and they will die. To most people this is an absurd thought or statement because we like to think that people will take responsibility for themselves and get their own healthcare. For most people they see two options buy their own healthcare either through their job or independently. The new politically correct resolution is to demand free healthcare and scream and cry until they get it. One of the major issues that Bernie Sanders ran off was free healthcare, but he never offered a realistic way to provide this service he just knew that it would catch people’s attention. They did not have to realize that he had no realistic plan only that they no longer would have to solve that particular problem even if it would create more problems down the road. The other issue that simple conflict resolution could solve is the fight for 15. The conflict with this is that people cannot survive off the current minimum wage and therefore they must get paid more. For most people the simple resolution is, if you are not making enough money then get a more skilled job in order to get a higher pay. The conflict resolution method that is now being employed in both situations is to shirk personal responsibility and demand that someone else take care of you.

Although the idea behind political correctness is a great one it has become warped and twisted by the extremes to which it has been brought. Instead of becoming a guideline of respect that it could have been it has been turned into a way of censoring those that a person does not want to hear. Deciding to be politically correct is an admirable decision to make, but forcing others to do the same is in no way respectful. Forcing others to be politically correct actually goes against their own views of political correctness. In the end having a conversation that is dictated by political correctness stops the free flow of information no matter how offense it may be. Without that flow of information, it keeps people sheltered and makes sure that they cannot build up their resiliency.
