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Political Correctness Gone Mad: Difference between revisions
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[[File:AFG-071206-007.jpg|frame|Ah, but they forgot that only the Northern Hemisphere has Winter in December!]]
{{quote|''"And in a gutless act of political correctness, 'Pizza Day' will now be known as 'Italian-American Sauced Bread Day.'"''|'''Principal Seymour Skinner''', ''[[The Simpsons (
This title, taken from a [[Catch Phrase]] of the ''[[British Newspapers|Daily Mail]]'', a British tabloid, can refer to one of two things.
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Usually, a range of urban myths are presented as examples of [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], such as ...
* Blackboards in school being renamed "Chalkboards" to avoid offending black people. A lot of them are green, which would be a much more logical reason to change the name. The marker variant, called a "Whiteboard", remains untouched. (Although, some do call them "Wipeboards", [[Exactly What It Says
* Some schools having a "holiday tree" every [[You Mean "Xmas"|"Winter Holiday Season,"]] or even more drastic...
* City councils banning Christmas to avoid offending Jews, Muslims, Pagans, and other religious/non-religious folk<ref>This is perpetuated by [[Daily Mail]] and [[The Sun]] newspapers but has, in fact, never happened.</ref>
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* While considered English classics, both ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' get a lot of flak for their use of the word "nigger", despite the fact that it is politically appropriate for the setting, and neither of the books condone slavery. In fact, the latter book revolves around a slave's journey to freedom.
** In fact this is played for laughs in one joke edition of the book, where "nigger" is replaced with the fat more politically, if not actually, correct "robot"
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm
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== Television ==
* When ''[[Star Trek: Voyager
** Perhaps they couldn't get the rights to use [[
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** The DVD releases for most of the older (pre-1960s) animated shorts now come with a disclaimer regarding how such racist overtones were once acceptable behavior, but the publishing company is only including it to be accurate.
* Due to multiple unfortunate coincidences, Derpy's original portrayal in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** When the show's Canadian broadcaster [[Treehouse TV]] airs the episodes [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S1 E6 Boast Busters|"Boast Busters"]], "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* Disney's ''[[Pocahontas]]'' is often accused of this, but it actually wasn't that bad - although it did feature a ''very'' bowdlerized [[Politically-Correct History]] (albeit with a [[Politically-Incorrect Villain]]), for a story that claims to be based on real events.
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* An old strip from ''[[The Wizard of Id]]'' had the King of Id threatening to imprison anyone caught telling ethnic jokes. When one of his guards quips "We don't have a Chinaman's chance of making that stick," the next panel shows said guard in the dungeon.
* Wet Blanket from ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'' personifies this trope. Strangely, working together with supervillains is no problem for him.
* The independent comic [[
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* In the remake of the film ''[[The Lady Killers]]'', one of the characters (a foul-mouthed, "gangsta" black teen) is fired for hitting on a female customer. When he hears he's fired, he says his boss is doing it because he's black. The entire cleaning staff is black, and the guy doesn't fall for it until they bribe him.
* In [[Dmitry Puchkov]]'s [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Lord of the Rings]]: The Return of The King'', Elrond insists on calling elves "Elven-Americans" to be PC.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'', Sgt. Angel is such a [[By-The-Book Cop]] that he constantly interrupts his fellow officers to insert correct terminology (police service because police force is too aggressive, etc)
* In ''[[Bruno]]'', [[Sacha Baron Cohen]] trolls a black talk show audience by, among other things, describing Africa as being full of "African-Americans" and, when corrected, insisting that "Africans" is an offensive term.
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* A duo of "children's books" called ''Politically Correct Bedtime Stories'' take this trope and run wild with it, to the point of parody and turning the old classics into something new and amusing in their own right. Ant and the Grasshopper? Ant gets arrested for illegal stockpiling. Princess and the Pea? The "Princess" turns out to be a medium who channels many different spirits, which makes for interesting mealtimes at the castle. Little Mermaid? The rescued prince ends up getting a genetic procedure done so that he becomes half-man, half-prawn, instead of her going to live up with him. And then there was the "Politically Correct Alphabet"...
* Though this is never explicitly stated in the book, it's likely that [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]] played a role in the development of the [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] society of ''[[The Giver]]''. Even ''color'' is eliminated. Not just skin color -- ''all'' color except black, grey and white. And couples don't actually reproduce through intercourse, but are assigned exactly two children (children are born to specifically designated Birth Mothers who are never seen) and every citizen begins taking medication during puberty to suppress "[[No Sex Allowed|the Stirrings]]".
* There is a story called ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24302/24302-h/24302-h.htm The Highest Treason]'' by [[
* The backstory of ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' gives this as the reason for the censorship and banning of virtually all printed literature. [[Word of God]] states his point was television dumbing down people too much so they banned books because thinking become too strenuous. Guess he should have focused on the dumbness part more.
* The second ''[[Odd Thomas]]'' book, ''Forever Odd'', has a hand in this. The Pico Mundo high school football team used to be called the Braves. Someone got it into their head that this offended the Native Americans in the area and so the school was forced to change their name to the Gila Monsters. They call themselves the Monsters, though, saving some embarrassment. The really stupid thing about this? NONE OF THE INDIANS WERE COMPLAINING. [[Truth in Television]] since most of the complaints for Indians aren't made by Indians. In fact, when the Smithsonian "Museum of the American Indian" opened, a petition quickly pulled up to change it to "Native American". It was quashed by a request from none other than the Muscogee High Chief.
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* "A Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Chanukah/Ramadan/Boxing Day Song" by Christine Lavin & the Mistletones
* "You Don't Bring Me Floriculturally Diverse Polyfragrant Soilistically Challenged Multipetaled Victims of Pesticidal Food Chain Chauvinism" by the Capitol Steps.
* [[Stan Freberg
{{quote| He doesn't plant taters -- ''[[Verbal Backspace|potatoes]]''<br />
He doesn't plant cotton -- ''[[Rule of Funny|cotting]]''<ref>The censor had previously objected to him leaving the 'g' off the end of "nothin'" but doesn't object to correcting these into incorrect words, ironically.</ref><br />
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== Television ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Wesley once appeared with a black eye after saving a pair of power walkers from being devoured by a Hacklar demon. The injury wasn't inflicted by the demon.
{{quote| '''Wesley''': Apparently she felt I'd disrespected the Hacklar's culture by killing it.}}
** In the fifth season Harmony proves to be extremely accepting of cultural differences, arguing in defense of a cultural imperative to dismember virgins, and bringing a live camel into the office so Angel could slaughter it and offer pieces of it to their clients. Of course, she doesn't have a soul.
** Season one had an episode called "Sense and Sensitivity" which gleefully parodied this trope. A demon used magic to cause the L.A.P.D. e to become politically correct beyond the point of lunacy, not only in order to control them, but to cause general mayhem. In a day, all the police are "sharing their feelings", that is, babbling incoherently and pathetically about all the injustice and pain in the world, and showing weakness and an aversion to violence in front of hardened criminals. The entire precinct is almost overrun.
* Some TV shows will have someone use the expression "pot calling the kettle black", and the black people will give this person a look. Some people have claimed that the phrase had its origins in a phrase which ''was'' racist<ref>Such a claim once inhabited this very line, in fact.</ref>. Patently absurd when you consider it's been used as far back as ''[[
** In an episode of ''[[All in The Family]]'', Archie did this intentionally. When a black man said that Hispanic people tended to avoid birth control, Archie responded, "Well ain't that the black calling the kettle pot?"
* ''[[
** There was an episode where Elliot had apparently been practically assaulted for singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" at a karaoke, and outright told she, as a white person, could never try to sing that song. At the end of the episode she does again and is given a murderous look by a black doctor.
** Another episode featured JD on a first date with his new girlfriend (who is black). During the date they end up at the hospital and JD orders a resident to do something trivial before laughing about it...
{{quote| '''JD''': It's so great because the residents are practically our slaves.<br />
'''In JD's head''': Ah! I just said "slave" to my new, black girlfriend! }}
* ''[[30 Rock
** In one episode, Liz discovered that she simply could not tell her black date that she disliked him as a person without being [[Mistaken for Racist]]. At the end of the episode, the following conversation is set to inspirational music:
{{quote| '''Liz''': Can't one human being not like another human being? Can't we all just not get along?<br />
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'''Steven''': No, no, no, no, no. Some women are gay. }}
** In an episode with [[Salma Hayek]], her character says that she is Puerto Rican, which Jack thinks is an ethnic slur ("No, I know [[N-Word Privileges|you can say that]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgxv-L8C4H4 but what do I call you?]") Multiple characters comment that it "just sounds wrong"
* In the first episode of ''[[
* ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' has Detective Frost wincing every time he accidentally uses a phrase like 'keeping in the black' in front of his black coworker. She eventually tells him that he doesn't need to alter the English language for her.
** Another episode has Frost make racist comments about a new black officer, but only when [[Da Chief|Mullet]] is around. Just to screw with him.
* Thoroughly parodied in the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[The Thin Blue Line]]'' parodied this, with Fowler ordered to get everyone at the station up to standard on political correctness. He makes a series of embarrassingly awful attempts to express enlightened views about race, gender and sexuality: "That would be the pot calling the kettle ... er ... African-American!" Even more absurd in that the series is set in Britain.
* The main schtick of Dean Pelton on ''[[
** In an attempt to create a school mascot with no features anyone could identify as stereotypically of a specific race, they ended up with a grey skinned, [[Uncanny Valley]] dwelling horror known as the "Greendale Human Being."
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' new series episode "The Shakespeare Code", [[William Shakespeare]] tries to hit on Martha, but ends up offending her when he calls her a "gorgeous Blackamoor lady". In response to this, the Doctor explains to him that she comes from a fictitious "[[Marx Brothers|Freedonia]]" involving a lot of [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]].
* One [[Saturday Night Live
* ''[[Almost Live]]'' did a lot of good-natured sending up of political correctness, especially as it related to Seattle's liberal reputation and culture. One such [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxh5mPsZw4 sketch is linked here].
* ''[[No Reservations]], [[Ace of Cakes]],'' and ''[[Dirty Jobs]]'' did [[Christmas Episode|Generic Holiday Episodes]]; [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|Anthony Bourdane and Mike Rowe]] did endless [[Lampshading]]. When Duff & Co. made a cake for ''No Reservations'''s holiday feast, they included all the holiday symbols.
* When Dick discovered white guilt on ''[[3rd Rock
* The ''[[
* ''[[X-Play]]'' wishes all of its viewers a "Happy Non-Denominational Winter Season". The winter shows with this theme tend to depict the hosts with a forced air of polite cheer and [[I Need a Freaking Drink|vodka in place of their cocoa]].
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== Web Original ==
* On ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', resident Granola Girl Marzipan hosts a disturbingly politically correct school program called [[Fun
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', Andy is a sentient bomb, and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Caboose]] tells everyone to refer to him as an "Explosive-American."
** Don't even get Doc started with this. Any time anyone says anything that could possibly be construed as offensive toward anyone at all, he jumps in with the inane politically correct version. Most notable in one of the holiday specials, where he constantly corrects even himself.
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* [[Meaningful Name|Mr. Butch]] from ''[[Chopping Block]]'' [http://choppingblock.org/d/20080111.html objects to some terms] too.
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' conducts a sociological survey on [[Double Standard|double standards]] -- so [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/2/18/ Please Check One] (the inspiration is ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'', which involves the killing of zombified Africans, when the main protagonist is white, and his partner is [[But Not Too Black|Not Too Black]]).
* ''[[
* ''[[Pictures for Sad Children]]'' has a strip in which a father disapproves of his child staring at a man-eating monster because he [http://picturesforsadchildren.com/index.php?comicID=280 "can't help the way he looks."]
* A representative for the Giant Disembodied Zombie Heads (one of the basement-dwelling races in ''[[Skin Horse]]'') takes offense at being called "undead", preferring the term "undead-''american''".
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* The basic idea behind ''[[The Goode Family]]''.
* In a latter-day episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
** In the 90's flashback episode, Marge's college teacher [[Strawman Political|Professor August]] is being consistently and obnoxiously politically correct about everything he says and does, going ''way'' beyond an ordinary [[Soapbox Sadie]].
** In an earlier episode, the kids bought ice cream from an ice cream van called "Native American Ice Cream (formerly Big Chief Crazy Cone)".
* ''[[
** Subverted in that he WAS doing it to try to get fired, then sue the school for discrimination and make out like a bandit. He had actually tried just about everything OTHER then blatant sex acts in front of the class before resorting to it.
** It was also subverted in "Death Camp of Tolerance", when, after having ''just'' emerged from the Museum of Tolerance - where the boys were encouraged by the curator and their parents to be accepting of the life-choices of others - the curator yells at a smoker to go away (even though he was outside and away from the doors), with the parents joining in by calling him "dirty lungs", among other things.
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{{quote| '''Doctor Orpheus''': Wow.}}
* In an episode of ''[[Rick and Steve]]'', the gang goes to [[San Francisco]] for Pride Week, only to be shunned by the rest of the gay population for being [[Straight Gay|normal-acting gay people]], rather than [[Camp Gay|extreme stereotypes]]. Also, the introduction to the Mayor's Welcome Speech lasts the entire episode, as he is sure to include the politically correct term for every sexual preference imaginable.
* In one ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch, you see a standing in front of the [[Creature
* In an episode of ''Clifford's Puppy Days'' the family was on a trip for "Fall Feast" instead of "Thanksgiving".
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== Anime and Manga ==
* There's an episode of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
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== Literature ==
* In the first ''[[Harry Potter (
* In the book version of ''[[Layer Cake]]'', one chapter shows the protagonist at a barbershop with his con artist friend, who is pretending to be plummy aristocrat "Lord Hugo". In this persona, he expresses some very "Mailesque" views (reinstating national service, complaining about giving Hong Kong back to the "slope heads", etc.) and hearty endorsement from both the other patrons and the staff. At the same time, the protagonist is pretending to be a South American footballer who doesn't speak English and is addressed to his face as a dago and similar ethnic slurs.
* Harry [[Flashman]] is an interesting case. He subverts [[Politically-Correct History]] through being a man of views typical to his kind: extremely racist and politically incorrect, speaking of what we would consider unambiguously good individuals like anti-slavery activists as crazy liberals. However, the author [[Writer
* Granted, he lived before political correctness existed, but [[Bulldog Drummond|Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond]] is definitely one of the most reactionary heroes in Edwardian mystery/suspense, even though he was written in an already pretty reactionary time. Drummond was fond of flogging communist villains to an inch of their lives and these villains tended to be Jewish intellectuals. In one encyclopedia of mystery fiction, the editor posits that were Drummond an actual person he would likely have become a committed Black Shirt during the 1930s and 40s.
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' books feature a few jokes depicting people who [[Fantastic Racism|object to the increasing numbers of non-humans in Ankh-Morpork]] as ill-informed buffoons at best.
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'''Sam:''' I think you left out the Jews.... }}
* One subplot on ''[[The Sopranos]]'' involved the fiercely Italian guys from Tony's crew butting heads with a Native American group protesting their town's Columbus Day parade.
* In one episode of ''[[
** Subverted when Adam gets interested in endurance stunts, and has himself crucified in the park. Exactly zero people care.
* A season two episode of ''[[Rescue Me]]'' Kenny insults Laura, the only female firefighter in the house. After her complaint to HQ, the firehouse is subjected to sensitivity training, complete with condescending instructor and even-more condescending video. On the instructor's question of "So what did we learn today?" Gavin's first answer is "only white people can be racist?" The fire crew then launch into a mockery of the entire sensitivity program.
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* The actual phrase is used on two separate occasions in the animated show ''[[Bromwell High]]''.
** On one occasion, one of the teachers suggests kidnapping someone and when told that's illegal he utters the phrase.
* In ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzalez complain about not getting much work because of this.
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