Have Americans Become too Sensitive?

 Have Americans become to sensitive?

That is the question that I have been thinking about for the last several days. I first started thinking about this when William R. Farr made the following comment meant as a joke at an event:

“I have a telegram from the White House.” Then he added, “They’re going to have to change the name of that building if Obama’s elected.”

 To me this remark was not meant as mean-spirited, condescending, or malicious. It was simply a joke. It was a play on words, yet just look at the reaction that it drew:

Witnesses said they could hear people gasp in the ballroom of the Adam’s Mark Hotel. “I gasped,” said Gov. Bill Ritter

 People gasped and were shocked. Were they really offended or did they just “feel” like they were supposed to be offended? That is what got to me the most about this. The fact that political correctness has gotten us to the point in this country where anybody can be offended by anything at anytime. Who is to decide what is offensive anyway? And why are we no longer allowed to say anything offensive? Political correctness is a deliberate attack on free speech. Because something may offend somebody doesn’t mean it isn’t true or shouldn’t be said. I am not talking about the above comment here, rather speaking on general terms. Americans have become too sensitive. By this I mean that they are too easily offended. If you think I may be over-reacting, let us look at a couple of recent happenings.

 Jada Pinkett Smith gave a speech last year at Harvard University, during this speech she said the following:

“Women, you can have it all—a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career,” she said. “They say you gotta choose. Nah, nah, nah. We are a new generation of women. We got to set a new standard of rules around here. You can do whatever it is you want. All you have to do is want it.”

This was meant as an uplifting ans motivational speech explaining to young women that they could have a family and career, that they didn’t have to sacrifice one for the other. Nothing wrong with that, right? Wrong. Here is the reaction it drew:

“Some of the content was extremely heteronormative, and made BGLTSA members feel uncomfortable,” he said.

 She had to apologize later that week because she was being insensitive to gays by saying you could have a husband and a career. She wasn’t sensitive to the lesbians in the crowd. They were offended and uncomfortable.

 Another example, again from Harvard:

Harvard University president  Lawrence H. Summers has provoked a new storm of controversy by suggesting that the shortage of elite female scientists may stem in part from “innate” differences between men and women.

 This man had the balls to say that men and women might be different. Holy shit, who would have thunk it? This drew a firestorm of criticism as the quote was interpreted as meaning women were inferior to men, when in fact he was listing several possible reasons why women didn’t do as well in science as men. He was not saying men were superior, yet he was forced to resign.

 This is where we stand now in this country. Everybody is too sensitive, hell Obama is a smoker yet he is afraid to smoke in public because he is afraid of the backlash. He is too sensitive of his smoking and what others may think of him because of it. So how did we get to this point? Political correctness is how.

 The first I remember hearing the term “politically correct” was probably in the early 1990′s. Anything that was controversial or stereotypical was seen as not politically correct. We have been indoctrinated over time to stop saying things that may be unpopular or insensitive. We were told “you can’t say that, it is not politically correct”. There were even times when I was told “that may be true, but it’s not politically correct.” As if I give a damn if something is politically correct, if it’s true its true, regardless of whether it is politically alright to say it. Who the hell does the government think they are to tell Americans what they can and can’t say?

 Political correctness started as a means to break down the walls of stereotypes by limiting what people can say around different groups of people, yet the opposite has occurred. The politically correct movement has built more walls around people because when someone looks at another person they now see a gender, race, or sexual preference and immediately put up a filter on what the can and can’t say as to not offend anyone. People see others as a member of a particular group instead of another person.

 On top of this, political correctness has also taught people that they should be offended by the words of others. People have become too easily offended by everything. I am offended by people who are always offended and are always playing the victim card. Speaking of the victim card, political correctness has also led everyone to believe they are a victim of something. Nobody is accountable for their own actions because they are taught that the system is unfair and they don’t have a chance.

 This has made Americans too sensitive on two issues. First Americans are too afraid to say anything that might be offensive. And I am pretty sure the constitution doesn’t limit free speech to non-offensive speech. Secondly it has turned Americans into a bunch of pansies, yeah I said pansies I don’t care if it is politically correct. People have become too sensitive because they have been taught that nothing controvercial or offensive is ever supposed to be said, so when something is said that they don’t like they can’t deal with it other than to become offended. Their feelings get hurt and instead of standing up for themselves the feel sorry for themselves.

 America is being driven apart by the very vehicle that was supposed to bring us together, political correctness. America used to be known as the melting pot, where people of all nationalities could come together as one and join together as one nation. Now however, due to another politically correct ideal, multi-culturism, America is more like a crock pot where the ingredients are thrown in together but instead of becoming one, we stay seperate and “coexist.”

 I do believe Americans have become too sensitive, what do you think?