Words can hurt. can be particularly hurtful when used negatively to describe a person's race, gender, class, age, religion, or physical abilities. In general, no one wants to be called a name that is disrespectful to themselves, the group they are associated with, or their beliefs (Gallagher). Originally, this is what political correctness was supposed to help eliminate: cruel behavior against socially disadvantaged or discriminated groups. The current definition of "political correctness" according to the Oxford Dictionary is "the avoidance, often considered to be carried to the extreme, of forms of expression or action that are perceived as excluding, marginalizing or insulting groups of people socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. against." (Definition). Proponents of political correctness claim that it does not limit vocabulary or take away their right to free speech (First). Indeed, they claim that it does not require anyone to one not to talk about a certain subject or a certain group of people It is simply a matter of proposing other words with the same definition in which we would understand them, for example by replacing “Negro” with “Afro. -American” (Murphy These are basically words of similar meaning, leaving out words that have a strong emotional context based on groups that have experienced hardship in the past (Murphy). rather choose not to use those words that we know, as a society, to be offensive to certain groups of people who have struggled to become equal. These groups should be respected as equals by not using terms that were used to. a time when they were not equal. Opponents of political correctness claim this theory has gone too far...... middle of paper .... ...the terrorist plot to kill soldiers has not become the horrific reality it could have be (Trumpet). The difficulty of distinguishing between what is politically correct and what is not can lead us to be afraid to use our own human judgment. Concretely, the fear of accusing someone of a crime belonging to a minority group and of being considered racist if wronged “serves as a shield against a host of bad behaviors” (Trumpet). Today, political correctness has turned to leading people. trying to completely avoid these types of sensitive topics. I think it's gone so far that we're even questioning what we think is okay to say because we're not sure it's still okay to mention. Our fear of not knowing what is now acceptable to say or not has led to our inability to live and work with people different from us..