Political correctness invades the world of virtual reality

PC has its place. Otherwise known as social norms established by majority opinion in civil society. Certain behavior generally interpreted as offensive may lead to ostracization of the perpetrator. But it's relative and subject to societal change over time for a variety of reasons. Whether or how that change comes about seems to be the core disagreement among those who agree or disagree with present consensus.

Political Correctness and Criminal Law exist for pretty much the same reason, to give the most morally bankrupt among us a selfish reason to avoid doing the things that any amount of common sense and human decency would have already told them not to do.


 So when people say things like "I'm mad that PC culture won't let me exploit and de-humanize this vulnerable group of people for my entertainment" it's a lot like hearing someone say that they'd commit a robbery or kill somebody... if they thought they could get away with it. Basically, people you never want to end up in a "Lord of the Flies" type scenario with. :scream:

 The big difference between Law and PC, of course, is that when you break a law, the government has the authority to hit you with fines and jail-time and other hard punishments that are generally pretty effective at scaring bad people into playing nice ... but when you do something politically incorrect, the only penalty is being judged and ostracized by the people around you. Instead of being afraid of that, all the hateful people out there just end up congregating together to form "Anti-PC Culture", and revel in their shared malice like some kind of real-world "Legion of Doom".


 P.S. Respect to the people in this thread who have actually displayed a capacity for human empathy, and who understand how harmful prejudice is. You're the people I hope to meet in shared VR spaces. :+1:

kevink808 said:

PC has its place. Otherwise known as social norms established by majority opinion in civil society. Certain behavior generally interpreted as offensive may lead to ostracization of the perpetrator. But it's relative and subject to societal change over time for a variety of reasons. Whether or how that change comes about seems to be the core disagreement among those who agree or disagree with present consensus.

CrashFu said:

Political Correctness and Criminal Law exist for pretty much the same reason, to give the most morally bankrupt among us a selfish reason to avoid doing the things that any amount of common sense and human decency would have already told them not to do.


 So when people say things like "I'm mad that PC culture won't let me exploit and de-humanize this vulnerable group of people for my entertainment" it's a lot like hearing someone say that they'd commit a robbery or kill somebody... if they thought they could get away with it. Basically, people you never want to end up in a "Lord of the Flies" type scenario with. :scream:

 The big difference between Law and PC, of course, is that when you break a law, the government has the authority to hit you with fines and jail-time and other hard punishments that are generally pretty effective at scaring bad people into playing nice ... but when you do something politically incorrect, the only penalty is being judged and ostracized by the people around you. Instead of being afraid of that, all the hateful people out there just end up congregating together to form "Anti-PC Culture", and revel in their shared malice like some kind of real-world "Legion of Doom".


 P.S. Respect to the people in this thread who have actually displayed a capacity for human empathy, and who understand how harmful prejudice is. You're the people I hope to meet in shared VR spaces. :+1:

Of course, there is a flipside that it's important to remember (and I'm talking about general principles here, not the specific example that started the thread), which is that societal disapproval can be used to shout down perfectly reasonable and sometimes enlightened points of  view - and not being subject to the same checks and safeguards that criminal or civil law are (in civilised nations) can be a powerful instrument of oppression.

So it's certainly healthy that societal norms are subject to criticism , and that differing viewpoints are heard (not necessarily indulged).

And I get the feeling that the term 'political correctness' is sometimes used to describe the exaggerated and hostile reaction by a small group to a view they disapprove of (even if society as a whole doesn't disapprove), and is sometimes used to denigrate and sneer at perfectly reasonable protest against distasteful opinions or actions.

I suppose a huge problem is that when people get into a combative state, reason, judgement and sense of proportion fly out the window. And then you get cyber-bullying and media hounding of someone who's worst crime was to speak without thinking. And any apology they make can be brushed aside or sneered at.

People are a problem :(

Oh yeah, sure, Political Correctness CAN be abused and sometimes it comes up with some nonsense or actually ends up hurting people more than it helps (It only takes one very popular person within a community to change or create a social trend, after all.. and "popular" doesn't always mean "right") but you can say the same thing about Laws, too;  there are some laws that don't make any sense, or situations where making something illegal directly causes worse things to happen..

But obviously we can't just get rid of ALL Laws or lose ALL sense of Political Correctness, we just have to be willing to talk about which things have a good reason to be Legal or PC and which things shouldn't.

Dehumanizing innocent people and representing vulnerable groups in a purely negative light?  That's never going to be okay.