Political correctness has been at the forefront of multiple facets of society, from education to politics to activism. The left (or more specifically, the authoritarian left) has argued for political correctness because it avoids offending and marginalizing certain groups of people. On the other hand, the right and part of the left, particularly the libertarian groups of both sides, have expressed their dislike of the philosophy. Former comedian George Carlin described political correctness as "fascism pretending to be manners" and he is not off.
PC culture has two main aspects: the policing of expression and severe shaming of those who do not comply. Not only does it inhibit free speech, but it also ends up dictating what one wears or likes to do. A good example would be the far left's outrage over Halloween costumes because some are seemingly 'racist' and promote 'cultural appropriation'. Lecturer Erika and Dr. Nicholas Christakis spoke out against Yale University's excessively strict guidelines on what costumes are acceptable to wear. Their expression against self-censuring sparked outrage from the student body and irrational demands for them to resign. Erika Christakis eventually stepped down from her teaching position.
President-elect Donald Trump has openly spoken out against political correctness and one can obviously see his dislike of it from his brash speeches. As stated before, he criticized President Barack Obama for not acknowledging Omar Mateen's homophobic massacre as a radical Islamic attack. Obama defended his lack of acknowledgement by arguing that he did not want to generalize all Muslims as terrorists despite the fact that 'radical Islam' is a rather specific term. The mainstream media and the left berated Trump for being racist and Islamophobic.
Trump also received a lot of flak for speaking out against Black Lives Matter. He has criticized the movement for instigating attacks on police and expressing desire to murder cops during public protests. Of course, that did not sit well with BLM and the group labeled Trump as a racist white supremacist as a way to make him worse than he actually is. The shaming tactics ultimately did not work as not only did Trump win the general election, but he also received more black votes than Mitt Romney both in raw numbers and percentage.
The two-pronged attack of PC culture is evidentially dangerous as it restrains one's expression. It can also lead to unemployment, belligerent harassment or hindrance of needed social progress just because of mere disagreement. While Trump expressed opposition against political correctness, the left decided to double down on it. This made the Democratic Party rather unpalatable to numerous voters and the consequences were clear during the general election.
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