It feels like a lie whenever I say something in terms that are "Politically Correct". I only do it if I have no alternative. Lying has never been very difficult for me to do, but it has always required a philosophical adjustment in order to rationalize what I'm saying as in some way necessary. "Political Correctness" is essentially dishonest. Anyone who knows me well, who's heard me speak with unguarded candor, knows instantly that my reference to "climate change" is sardonic wit. Maybe someone is fooled, someone who has drunk the cool-aid, but I'm pretty sure that none of the issues Mr. Hanson references here can be honestly discussed by me in terms that are "Politically Correct." Frankly, and honestly, I'm not at all "Politically Correct".

Political Correctness is a ploy to control the content and direction of conversations. You will not have an "honest" conversation with Eric Holder about race relations than you will with the Re. Wright. As soon as you disagree with their position you will be labelled as politcally incorrect. if you think about it - to have a politically correct conversation with anyone on any subject - you apparently have to agree with each other because disagreement is politcally incorrect.

Good for you, Scott. I'm not politically correct either. However, if you are in a situation where you feel you can't say anything without being "politically correct," maybe it would be best to say nothing. If you say nothing, you don't have to lie about how you really feel. There are times when we should and must speak up, but for those times I feel as if my speaking would profit nothing, I smile thoughtfully and say nothing. That speaks volumes, because everyone who knows me knows who I really am.

Good article, Mr. Hanson!

About thirteen years ago, when I was in the middle of my "teacher education" classes, I had to take a Multicultural Issues in Education class. One of the assignments was to create a lesson on "global warming." I refused to use that term, and instead went with "climate change" because I wasn't about to buy into all the hysteria about global warming. My lesson plan called on my students to come to their own conclusions based on research, not to simply regurgitate the dire warnings and doomsday predictions. (Unfortunately, I knew the "research" of the time was "man bad/nature good"). The good news: this was a sample lesson and I never had to actually foist it upon teenagers. The bad news is that now the term "climate change" has been co-opted to avoid the pejorative "global warming." Just goes to show that today's acceptable PC term will someday become un-PC, and some other more PC term shall take its place.

About thirteen years ago, when I was in the middle of my "teacher education" classes, I had to take a Multicultural Issues in Education class. One of the assignments was to create a lesson on "global warming." I refused to use that term, and instead went with "climate change" because I wasn't about to buy into all the hysteria about global warming. My lesson plan called on my students to come to their own conclusions based on research, not to simply regurgitate the dire warnings and doomsday predictions. (Unfortunately, I knew the "research" of the time was "man bad/nature good"). The good news: this was a sample lesson and I never had to actually foist it upon teenagers. The bad news is that now the term "climate change" has been co-opted to avoid the pejorative "global warming." Just goes to show that today's acceptable PC term will someday become un-PC, and some other more PC term shall take its place.

There is no time like the present to confront and dismantle the lying and misleading of the politically correct, no, politically corrupt power structure that has put me and you in a morally compromised position. I want to speak truth without fear of reprisal. I want to be who I am without worrying about hurting someone's feelings. I have a right to free speech. So do you. Let us now stand up for that right. Let us now confront the forces of dishonesty and ulteriorum. We are confronted today with a force of lies. Shall we lie down and be trod upon by the liars? Should we not fight to the death for the truth? I will fight, will you?

To hold people in the bonds of politically correct speech is a violation of free speech, pure and simple. It elevates the minorities and other groups to elite status and takes away the power of white heterosexual religious folks. If we're going to be honest, let's be honest.

Dr. Hanson, Way to tell it like it is! Errrr...Ahhh...I mean like it isn't.

Great article, but, sadly, it only shows why we, as a nation, have come to our present, broken down, and indebted nation. To me, being PC is just another way of being IRRESPONSIBLE. In almost every case, our problems, social, personal, and national, are all fostered by being irresponsible. In order to be politically correct, our nation turns away from directly confronting, naming, and responding to our myriad problems. In order for us to return to our status as the greatest nation on earth, it's high time our leaders, in all facets of life, to tell it like it is, and confront our problems with sane, realistic, and definitively NON PC, words and actions.

I first met this phrase in the early 90s, freshly arrived from Romania. It struck me as the most inane and absurd requirement in a free country. How can anyone ask for political correctness? What is that? Party approved speech code? Propaganda? How can people in this country accept this concept, and use it so freely, like it's the most natural thing to do?

Still cannot understand it. In socialist countries, we knew what we could and couldn't say, but in a free country nobody should have restrictions, of any kind, on their speech.

Not meeting the requirements of, say, employment, is not the same as getting fired. It's just not getting hired. There was never a "ban" on same-sex marriages. Same-sex couples didn't fit the definition of marriage, that is all.

In the Patriot Post, you commented "citizens are afraid to speak openly and therefore use groupspeak"....I suggest you get your fat butt out from behind that desk and go out and see for yourself!! NO ONE I know has any qualms of "speaking" out............"keep quiet and be thought a fool, or open your mouth and remove all doubt"!!!