<story><title>John Cleese: Political Correctness Can Lead to an Orwellian Nightmare (2016)</title><url>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAK0KXEpF8U</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>qqj</author><text>Assuming the majority of hn is US-based, you folks have to understand that PC culture is often seen as a joke at best and an extension of typical American hypocrisy at worst (i.e. the usual double-speak and fake politeness that covers actual opinions and motivations). Sure, the PC&amp;#x2F;SJW  wave is gaining momentum outside of the US as well, as the cultural influence is significant but it still remains an odd thing for most.  Having to work with Americans used to be a chore because of how indirect they can be (not to mention the widespread tendency for workaholism) but now it’s becoming insufferable. Taking this “philosophy” to its logical conclusion, I cannot see how anyone can rationally deny we’re destined to a nightmare where you need to learn how to speak and act “the right way”, just like what happens in China. At least over there they have no pretenses about what they’re doing, and are not hiding behind supposedly noble ideas of equality and tolerance.&lt;p&gt;Make no mistake, American society is to a large extent Machiavellian in nature, especially the urbanite population and even more so the technocratic elite. Political Correctness is merely a tool of oppression and cynical exploitation at this point (just look at the Gillette ads if you still are unconvinced).</text></comment>
<story><title>John Cleese: Political Correctness Can Lead to an Orwellian Nightmare (2016)</title><url>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAK0KXEpF8U</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>carapace</author><text>I love John Cleese but he&amp;#x27;s gotten a bit &amp;quot;Old man yells at cloud&amp;quot; in his dotage IMO.&lt;p&gt;(Odd trivia: John Cleese is into Gurdjieff, or was.)&lt;p&gt;Look, I&amp;#x27;m a left-leaning SJW type, but I&amp;#x27;ll stand by the idea that when &amp;quot;PC&amp;quot; goes beyond common courtesy and starts becoming an OOC mob-power thing, that&amp;#x27;s bad.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s a point to be made about historical context: women weren&amp;#x27;t allowed to wear pants until about twenty minutes ago; Black folks in America have had a bit of a rough time, and many still do; everybody everywhere reverts to savage form when pushed outside their comfort zone.&lt;p&gt;Things are a bit rough here.  Let&amp;#x27;s all keep calm and be nice to each other, we&amp;#x27;re all in this together.&lt;p&gt;In re: PC in comedy, specifically, I have what I call the &amp;quot;Lenny Bruce test&amp;quot;.  When you feel the urge to tell an off-color joke to a mixed audience stop and ask yourself first, &amp;quot;Am I Lenny Bruce?&amp;quot;  Check carefully and be sure.  If you&amp;#x27;re Lenny Bruce, go ahead with the joke, it will probably land, and if it doesn&amp;#x27;t, who cares?  You&amp;#x27;re Lenny Bruce.
However, if you check and find that you&amp;#x27;re not Lenny Bruce, carefully put the joke down and back away.  It&amp;#x27;s probably not worth it.&lt;p&gt;(In case it&amp;#x27;s not clear, that was [an attempt at] a joke.  Comedians should say wtf they want.  Only the worst sort of person kicks a Fool.)</text></comment>