First of all, the right to live your life free from discrimination and prejudice is a basic human right.
Immoral practices such as racism and sexism unfortunately have become established foundations of many extremist arguments in modern democracies and thus have to be dealt with appropriately. Indisputably, there is plenty to be offended about when offense is actually given, not artificially taken.
However, no human being has a right to not be offended. Over the past decade, the ‘I am offended’ card has been used to silence speech at an alarmingly rapid pace. This is where the danger lies.
On the one hand, the existence of pseudo standards of acceptance not only violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution but infringes the right to freedom of expression as protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On the other hand, Political Correctness (PC) itself is no longer a tool that promotes fairness and open-mindedness. The definition of PC has been abandoned, and instead, the term has become a social norm that is used to exclude, marginalize and dehumanize people who do not abide by it.
Forcing Liberalism to turn to intolerance and censorship is committing ideological suicide. A liberal education should empower individuals and enhance dialogue, not result in the suppression of vocal disagreement or opposing views. The fear of offending someone has not only resulted in the impediment of intellectual debate but in the artificial regression of our civilized societies. By sugarcoating fundamental issues and recurring events we are not solving problems that relate to social inequality and racial discrimination, we are stimulating them.
As Ralph Waldon Emerson once famously stated, “let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Centuries later this has only gained greater relevance. To overcome the challenges presented to us we need to use an approach based on rationale and not emotion.
Acting as the prey is even more damaging when there are no actual predators.
