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News TLJ Negative Buzz Amplified by Russian Trolls, Study Finds

What do you think political-correctness is?

A propaganda term used by the right to demonize the basic act of courtesy and consideration toward people outside one's own in-group. It used to be called what it actually is: politeness. The claim that merely being thoughtful and fair toward other people is some kind of political suppression is a lie that propagandists on the far right have been using for decades to undermine the basic norms of civil society and normalize bigotry and unfairness.

The irony is that the term "politically correct" originated in Stalinist Russia as a term for speaking only in state-approved doctrines for fear of being sent to a gulag or executed (which is why it's such a sick and offensive way to mischaracterize the mentality of progressives defending equal rights and fairness). Since the state in the US is currently run by the far right, and since their doctrine is increasingly one of intolerance, misogyny, and white nationalism, that makes it the pro-white-male viewpoint that's politically correct in the original sense of the term, and the inclusive viewpoint that's politically dissident. But it's become the right's go-to move to accuse their opposition of doing to them what they're actually doing to everyone else.
 
When you see equality and fairness as a threat, you really aren't worried about your rights or free speech. You're worried about losing your invented sense of superiority and power over others. It's also very telling that claims of "free speech" being infringed is really them being told that bigotry and hatred is no longer acceptable in public. You're still free to be a bigot, but no one wants to hear it anymore because society is moving on and you just want to stay in the past. Even if you claim it isn't bigotry, you're just "saying it how it is" you're just lying to yourself and no one believes it but you and other bigots.
 
But no, let's just blame the Russians.

We can't blame the Russians. It would be admitting we're a gullible lot that bought into the shit they're peddling.

Let's be honest, there is only one "culture war" being fought. It is by the Right wing that takes offense at the smallest of things that they consider attacks on who they are: like Starbucks cups that don't convey Christians messages around Christmas that the Right wants. Or a black guy being a co-lead in a film series that used to be centered around white people.
 
Rightwing logic is banning trans women from restrooms because cis men "might" pretend to be one to assault women and children, but putting actual child molesters and rapists into political power is acceptable because all women are liars.

I would actually love to see the way the laws would be enforced. I can't find anyone in Target or Wal-Mart when I want to buy something, so I can't see them paying for SWAT teams to repel out of the ceiling if they think someone is using the restroom not on their ID. :guffaw:
 
I would actually love to see the way the laws would be enforced. I can't find anyone in Target or Wal-Mart when I want to buy something, so I can't see them paying for SWAT teams to repel out of the ceiling if they think someone is using the restroom not on their ID. :guffaw:

They might start introducing gender coded ID swipe cards....
 
They might start introducing gender coded ID swipe cards....

In all seriousness, it isn't something I would see them paying for. Corporate America really doesn't like paying for things that don't add to the bottom line. In the US, corporations will balance the cost of a recall for faulty equipment that will kill people vs. the cost of just paying off the lawsuits of people who actually get killed.
 
In all seriousness, it isn't something I would see them paying for. Corporate America really doesn't like paying for things that don't add to the bottom line. In the US, corporations will balance the cost of a recall for faulty equipment that will kill people vs. the cost of just paying off the lawsuits of people who actually get killed.

Which is nice.
 
I would actually love to see the way the laws would be enforced. I can't find anyone in Target or Wal-Mart when I want to buy something, so I can't see them paying for SWAT teams to repel out of the ceiling if they think someone is using the restroom not on their ID. :guffaw:
They can’t. It’s meant to stir up fear and intimidation, as well as cause trans people to be assaulted to the point where they no longer go out in public. All with the stated intent of erasing them from public life and likely an increase in suicides since having to hide who you are is a horrific pain that the majority of people just don’t understand.
 
I think history is going to look back on what we're going through now as the first global cyber-war, which Russia has already won. I think they may see it as the turning point when people discovered that you could do far more damage to an enemy with subtle manipulation, hacking, and psychological warfare than you could ever do with armies and missiles. Conventional warfare may come to be seen as a crude, primitive tactic, wasting vast amounts of lives, resources, and effort to achieve something that can be done far more economically. At least, that's my hope, though it has a scary side too, if nations are that easy to bring down.

America has hardly been brought down, let alone in a sense comparable to having lost a war. Media influence/cyber influence against another country can, however, be effective in strengthening the country's economy (by decreasing sanctions the other country imposed) and maybe even weakening the other country economically (by polarizing the parties so much that, ZOMG, we take longer to increase the debt ceiling and have a credit rating decreased).
 
For better or for worst, our view of the world, society and ourselves is heavily influenced by movies and shows because we see them from birth and all through our lives, especially as children when our brains are still being formed. Now some of you get heroes like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Harry Potter, He-Man, Spider-Man, all white guys. So little boys get to see themselves in these characters and there is nothing wrong with that. But if it's only white guys, that's leaving out the vast majority of the human population. So we started adding new characters who represent other people, like Black Panther, Katniss Everdeen, the various women in the X-Men and other Marvel teams

I think most of even the conservative fans don't object to Katniss, the women in the X-Men or Black Panther because they did grow up with them, like them and their stories, don't see them as added or changed characters.
 
I think most of even the conservative fans don't object to Katniss, the women in the X-Men or Black Panther because they did grow up with them, like them and their stories, don't see them as added or changed characters.
Why?

It doesn’t affect your life in anyway. If they made a movie with a black Superman, my only concern is if it’s a good movie. Getting upset at new characters is even worse, just don’t watch them. Don’t like Finn and Poe? There’s a simple solution, just don’t go to see movies with them. Other people clearly do enjoy them, but that isn’t a value judgement on you. I just can’t wrap my head around getting upset over such a trivial and stupid thing. But then again, I have actual worries, so the races and genders of fictional characters is towards the bottom of the list along with are we doing enough to make sure vampires don’t take over the world.
 
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When you see equality and fairness as a threat, you really aren't worried about your rights or free speech. You're worried about losing your invented sense of superiority and power over others. It's also very telling that claims of "free speech" being infringed is really them being told that bigotry and hatred is no longer acceptable in public. You're still free to be a bigot, but no one wants to hear it anymore because society is moving on and you just want to stay in the past. Even if you claim it isn't bigotry, you're just "saying it how it is" you're just lying to yourself and no one believes it but you and other bigots.
The thing that don't seem to understand is that freedom of speech goes both ways, if they have to freedom to say horrible things, then I also have the freedom to call them out for saying those horrible things.
 
The thing that don't seem to understand is that freedom of speech goes both ways, if they have to freedom to say horrible things, then I also have the freedom to call them out for saying those horrible things.
Many on the right seem to think that freedom of speech means freedom from the consequences of that speech. I see so many posters here get upset at being called bigots and most of them have said bigoted things, so I have no sympathy for them. If you don’t like being called a bigot, stop acting like a bigot. I don’t care if you think it’s a political opinion, so was slavery and every other atrocity in history. You don’t get that excuse any more.
 
Unfortunately, calling people bigots serves no purpose here and is in itself a form of bigotry, a way to isolate a person or group, to label them and in more recent years it's used as an assertion without evidence. It is ineffective. Calling someone a bigot is not used as a tool to teach but as another form of name calling.
 
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