Hmm, I don't think any of my statements have directly criticized free speech. If they have, it was unintentional.
I'm going to come back to my initial statement and call it a day. I can't honestly tell if you're trying to convince me of something, or just tell me that your opinion is more correct than mine. In either case,
If you don't have the same view as me, I have every right to disagree with you. The same as you having every right to disagree with me!
Some groups who feel like they are being slighted (when in reality, they are overwhelmingly not being slighted at all) and these groups want "special rights". I don't have any sympathy for those people. Those who are truly being slighted, and in an overwhelming way, I can see an argument for ensuring a "level playing field".
However, everyone is judged by everyone else at some point. There's no way for you to fix that by complaining, or enacting laws for every little specific group. That's fixed by action, and most likely, education. If we start enacting laws for every specific group, you will start infringing on the rights of the other groups who you did not support by law. It's a slippery slope and it should not be followed.
In Conclusion: Speaking out against discrimination is not the same as "Political Correctness". Political Correctness is the act of not trying to offend anyone else because they're going to get into an uproar if you tell them that you don't like the shirt they're wearing and their immediate response is that you must not like them because you're a bigot or racist or whatever else, as opposed to the fact that you just don't like their damn shirt!
I'm saying that you are criticizing their expression which is something that falls under free speech, not that you are trying to limit their free speech. I was trying to say that that's a fair thing to do and that's what political correctness is (unless somebody is trying to write it into a law - then, it would be a low limiting free speech).
Oh, I'm just trying to share my opinion and to hear your thoughts on it. This is honestly an issue where I'm not even sure I've gotten it right which is more of a reason for me to engage in this.
Absolutely. We have zero disagreement here.
I think this is where our disagreement lies. You feel like this is common, I feel like this is marginal at best. That's what I was trying to point out in my contrived way. I think that's the point worth discussing.
Additionally, I don't think that the political correctness you are describing is that common either and I feel most of the people that speak out or even most of the people that get angry do so for valid or at least defensible reasons. Limiting free speech by law is not something you would find me advocating. We see how problematic something like this can be here in Europe where you can get sued for libel for things that I believe everyone should be free to say, even if most of us would find them outrageous or horrible.
Keeping an open dialogue (and an open mind) is always good :)
I don't disagree with you that the political correctness which I described is uncommon. However, it does seem to me that while uncommon, it gets the most media coverage and "political attention". That's probably where my greatest frustrations are rooted.
I try to do that though I don't know if I'm always as successful as I'd like to be.
I guess it gets a lot of attention because it's an easy target and an good way to paint the other side as unreasonable.