thebigp

Why Trump may be winning the war on ‘political correctness’--58jh.,b58
“You know, I couldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And when we wrote things, we couldn’t even say ‘he’ or ‘she,’ because we had t*********r. People of color. I mean, we had to watch every word that came out of our mouth, because we were afraid of offending someone, but nobody’s afraid of offending me,” the former administrator said.All of which helps explain why the 63-year-old grandmother showed up at a recent Donald Trump rally in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where she moved when she retired a year ago.
The Republican front-runner is “saying what a lot of Americans are thinking but are afraid to say because they don’t think that it’s politically correct,” she said. “But we’re tired of just standing back and letting everyone else dictate what we’re supposed to think and do.”
In the 2016 Republican p**********l primary season, “political correctness” has become the all-purpose enemy. The candidates have suggested that it is the explanation for seemingly every threat that confronts the country: terrorism, i*****l i*********n, an economic recovery that is leaving many behind, to name just a few.Trump captures the nation’s attention as he campaigns.
Others argue that growing antipathy to the notion of political correctness has become an all-purpose excuse for theinexcusable. They say it has emboldened too many to express r****m, sexism and intolerance, which endure even as the country grows more diverse.
. “What we’re learning from Trump is that a lot of people have been biting their lips, but not changing their minds.”One thing is clear: Trump is channeling a very mainstream frustration.In an October poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University, 68 percent agreed with the proposition that “a big problem this country has is being politically correct.”
.“People feel tremendous cultural condescension directed at them,” and that their values are being “smirked at, laughed at” by the political and media elite, said GOP strategist Steve Schmidt.
Republican p**********l candidate Donald Trump said, "We can't worry about being politically correct," in remarks to a police association in Portsmouth, N.H. Trump provoked uproar by calling for Muslims to be blocked from entering the country after the recent shootings in California by two Muslims who authorities said were radicalized. (Reuters) “  ‘Political correctness’ are the two words that best respond to everything that a conservative feels put upon,” added pollster Frank Luntz, who has advised Republicans. The label is, he said, a validation that what many on the right see as legitimate policy and cultural differences are not the same as r****m, sexism or heartlessness.
The numbers dropped sharply. Only 53 percent said they agree that political correctness is a major problem.
This is not a new debate. It has raged since at least the early 1990s, when college campuses began adopting speech codes. Some went well beyond obvious slurs — with animal rights activists contending, for instance, that the word “pet”was disrespectful and should be changed to “companion animal.” More recently, the PC wars have flared again in academia, where there is an ongoing argument over whether campuses should be a “safe space” where students are protected from upsetting ideas, and receive “trigger warnings” when course material contains distressing information.
“I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct,” he said. “I’ve been challenged by so many people, and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don’t win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody.”It is hard to follow the logic of an argument that insulting women could somehow make the country stronger overseas. But the sentiment behind it came through clearly.


I can’t live off Social Security. And you look at these people who have never worked and they’re having babies and they’re getting free rent and free food stamps and free medical care,” she said. “I couldn’t afford what they have on my Social Security, and I worked 50 years.”
“Something has to be done because we’re shrinking, we’re being taken over by people that want to change what America is,” she added. “You can’t say it nicely.”
source--wash post, karen tumulty, jenna hohson, cathy cuthbertson, william galston, fairleigh dickinson univ., steve schmidt, reuters, frank luntz,