As this year has gone by, but more so this election, the term “political correctness” is one that I have heard more than ever before. I have heard many different statements including, “you’re too politically correct” and “man, people get offended by everything these days.”

The textbook definition of political correctness is, “The avoidance often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.”

These statements always leave me wondering, why is political correctness a bad thing?

When did being sensitive to the struggles of others and embracing those who are different become such an inconvenience to the vast majority?

There have been many occasions that my family and friends tell me that I am too sensitive and that I take offense to too much.

Oftentimes this just makes me angrier. I have never and will never apologize for attempting to understand a person for who they are, and refusing to use language or speech that suppresses or marginalizes others.

Telling me that I am too politically correct tells me more about you than it does about me.

I understand the argument that others have about this matter. For some people, it seems that being “politically correct” is limiting their right to free speech. More specifically, some believe that this right is being limited at the hand of minorities.

Erica Hellerstein’s Jan. 14th article “The Phony Debate about Political Correctness” for Thinkprogress.org quotes journalists Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt from The Atlantic in an examination of the climate of censorship and political correctness on college campuses. “Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities,” they begin ominously. “A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.”

It is so hard to understand why people refuse to exchange their offensive language for terminology that is respectful to those who are different than them.

It is even more alarming that being sensitive and having a sense of humanity can be referred to as “something strange that is happening on college campuses.” In a society that has experienced so much hate, in terms of discrimination, why is it so wrong to alter ones speech in order to prevent inflicting that same hate onto others yet again? Once we begin to acknowledge the ignorant terminology we use, that perpetuates hate, we can begin to move forward as a country that refuses to promote the use of hateful discourse.

Nicole Kink is a senior English language arts major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or nekink@eiu.edu.