Nick Briceno/Staff

Cartoon by Nick Briceno

Political correctness—the dark art of avoiding any possibility of offending anyone—has transformed America from a land of free thinkers into a society of eggshell walkers. Meaning, like Alice, goes down the rabbit hole.

“Say what you mean,” said the March Hare.

“I do,” said Alice. “At least I mean what I say, that’s the same thing, you know.”

“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”

Political correctness is eating what we see. It is the avoidance of a word, phrase or action that could remotely offend, even if it is a conversation worth having. It has transformed lively debate into a tango of tongue, where dancers try not to step on their each other’s toes.

Americans need to be more direct in conversation and speak meaningfully. Avoiding offense often avoids meaning. Conversations become half-hearted, cautious and dull.

New ideas come only after sharp debate. Maureen Stout, author of “The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing Down Of America’s Kids In The Name Of Self Esteem,” argues that political correctness has led to “counterfeit communication.”

“It is also a clear indication of the value we put on truth in contemporary society,” she wrote. “Being politically correct involves either outright lying or euphemisms to describe people or events in an attempt to avoid controversy, discussion or any kind of authentic communication.”

We get so caught up in sugarcoating our words that we put people into safe little boxes. Being politically correct attaches labels to people such as rich, poor, criminal, Christian and Muslim. Sociology’s Labeling Theory concludes that once a label is assigned to a person it becomes them.

Lee Bryant, director of Sixth Form Anglo-European School in Essex, England said labels can become more important than people.

“Once someone has been successfully labeled as criminal or deviant,” he wrote, “the label attached may become the dominant label or ‘master status’ which is seen as more important than all the other aspects of the person.”

It also sends the wrong message to children. A child may be deceived into thinking that their abilities far exceed what they actually do in order to spare the child’s feelings and self esteem. This happens most often when children are passed onto the next grade when they are not ready for it academically or socially. Children are told as they grow up that “honesty is the best policy,” but they are also told, “if you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all.”

Political correctness insinuates that there is “right and wrong speech.” Curse words, for example, are incorrect speech, while flattery, is considered correct speech. By focusing on what is acceptable in present company, people self-limit. Americans are too often blindly agreeing that certain words are acceptable in conversation.

In 2011 Alan Gribben, an Auburn University English Professor, censored a piece of classic American Literature. Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was “sanitized” to include the word “slave” in place of the word “nigger,” which appears 219 times. Because the word is offensive, Gribben felt the need to change Twain’s words. This in turn, sanitized his student’s perspective of history and avoided a meaningful discussion of slavery, racism and the evolving role of African-Americans in our society. A learning moment was lost due to political correctness.

Americans should be honest instead of trying not to offend someone. Sometimes it is better to be politically incorrect and just be honest.