People spend so much time trying to project an image of not being "bound and shackled by (what they identify as) political correctness" and it really chafes my grapefruit. Society has demonized and distorted the phrase "Political Correctness" to the point that they just use it as a shield. It's taken on a definition similar to "oversensitive." You can be branded as "politically correct" by some slob if you tell them not to call a homosexual couple "faggots," and the pig calling them such will likely be touted as a hero within his circle of bigots for "daring to speak against the system," the system, of course, being whoever he sees as persecuting his right to be an ignorant bigot. This can be applied to any similar situation.

Let me give you a scenario if you're having trouble following along (YOU BIG DOLT). Introducing, Dudeface and Guyman:

Dudeface: "Hey, you hear that Mitchell got fired from his job?"
GuyMan: "Yeah, apparently he got mad at his boss for calling him 'colored'."
Dudeface: "Yeah, that's how they are. You can't say anything around blacks anymore, man. The other day, I was called a racist. For nothing at all! They think they can play the race card to get sympathy."
GuyMan: "Um... I don't think this is a situation where he's in the wrong. You can't call a black person "colored," it's a slur and an outdated term."
Dudeface: "Look, man. Those blacks are always trying to mess with us. We freed them, right? So what's the problem? Every day it's something different! It's time for those guys to just get over what happened!"
Guyman: (Is kind of in shock for a moment)
Dudeface: (Indignantly slurps the drool from his chin and continues) "I mean, they're criminals! This isn't racist, it's the truth. They're more likely to kill and rape! They even got one in office, and they still whine about racism! Racism is over with! Obama stopped it! I mean, god, they're lucky white people like us are so forgiving."
Guyman: (Shakes off the utter shock) "That is by far the most disgusting, entitled thing I've ever witnessed in my life."
Dudeface: "What? Christ, that is so typical. Everyone's so afraid to say what they think. Political correctness has taken over, man! At least I'm man enough to admit the truth!"
GuyMan: "No, you're spouting off about something that you don't understand and using political correctness as a shield instead of taking responsibility for your mind-blowing bigotry."

Dudeface goes into a rage and it does not end well.

If these represent the average American's beliefs towards minorities, wouldn't it be more appropriate to label Guyman as the politically incorrect person? The problem with Dudeface's use of political correctness is that his statements are all personal beliefs and bigotry. Keep in mind, I didn't give Guyman a chance to disprove anything, but he's got an encyclopedic understanding of everything from the history of African Americans to white privilege. If, hypothetically, Guyman knows more than Dudeface and was even able to send Dudeface into a rage without mentioning a single rebuttal beyond informing him of his own ignorance, doesn't that make Guyman the politically incorrect one? By definition, this makes Dudeface and everyone like him the "politically correct" crowd.

Uh-oh.

Dudeface represents your average caucasian American. His beliefs are modeled off of not only the majority of conservatives, but many moderates and a few liberals. Guyman represents the well-informed, mostly modeled off of liberal progressives and activists. Dudeface is a buffoon who would more likely shrug off Guyman's wimpy liberal booklearning and go get a burger.

I'm not sure where I wanted to take this. I identify more with Guyman and I tend to avoid people like Dudeface.

I guess I'm also tired of phrases like "Political correctness" being misused. I'm tired of a lot of words being mistreated and demonized. I'm tired of semantics and buzzwords in general. I'm tired of the informed being pegged as "lacking in a sense of humor" when the more informed you*become, the less funny you find the holocaust. I'm tired of stupidity reigning, I'm tired of my fellow liberals being more like conservatives on issues like this. I'M TIRED OF BEING SICK.

So yeah.

Um.

Go Packers?