Joe, I find you don't even have to express an opinion, simply related verifiable facts, to be called racist.
I have lost count of the number of times I have been labelled that when I drew attention to the fact that contrary to screaming headlines, more white people die in prison, percentage wise, than black. Even when I support that statement with figures from the Justice Department I'm abused.
In discussions about housing for aboriginal people and I state that according to the last census, 36% of aboriginal people either own their own homes or have a mortgage, same result.
Those are just two examples of many and I honestly wonder the purpose of people trying to deny reality. Do they want aboriginal people to not succeed? Does the constant portrayal of aboriginal people as helpless victims with no success stories to inspire them, fill some need to be constantly morally outraged?
The current insistence on PC seems to mask some deeper need to feel morally superior across as many fields as possible, which leads me to think they are trying to cover their own internal deficiencies.

HiYa Cobber

I am claiming sainthood, actually. Evident to all OLO punter-rotts.

And I'm sure Trumpf would agree that Torch Bearer* is a real "White Man" and maybe a Billionaire.

* http://www.torchbearermovie.com

and Biggles.

BTW - here's more details about The Torchbearer:

"The Torchbearer (Czech: Světlonoš) is a 2005 Czech animated short film written and directed by Václav Švankmajer. It is described as an allegorical story about rise to power"

...The Torchbearer is considered to be the best film by Václav Švankmajer. It has won multiple awards"

So there!

I don't think political correctness leads to the demise of debate so much as the demise of inquiry.

And this is often intentional.

Anyone who seriously and objectively looks at the claims made by feminists for example will quickly realise those claims are very circumspect or simply wrong, so feminists have to have a way of stooping people from investigating their claims.

The most likely person to investigate the claims made by a feminist would be a white male.

So feminists will denigrate white males and give them labels such as "angry white male" or "old white male", or "privileged white male", so as to devalue white males and limit their ability to investigate the claims made by a feminist.

Political correctness can envelope a whole country, and it can be used to stop people from thinking about a country.

america is an example.

If you are an american, then you have to say that "america is the greatest country in the world", and this is the most politically correct thing to say, and you can never question this claim.

Few will ever measure the claim also, and will never discover that america has the highest homicide rate, drug use rate and incarceration rate in the world, its political systems are totally corrupt, its population is very unhealthy, its media has no reliability, its entertainment system are filled with violence, its population can be classed as depressive with the highest anti-depressant use in the world, and its economy is bankrupt.

So political correctness and shutting down inquiry can actually affect an entire country, and never allow that country to improve.

Hi Big Nana,

Yes, spot-on. I keep track of Indigenous university numbers and very rarely ever get any enquiry about them, they just don't fit in with the stereotype: forty thousand graduates ? One in every eight adults ? Couldn't be. From Black and white.

I recall hearing an Indigenous woman 'explaining' to someone else that Indigenous people had the highest infant mortality in the world. Well no, I piped up, it's on a par with Italy's or Greece's, and is far, far better than most of Africa's or Asia's. Stony silence.

Many people like to put themselves on the top of the Victim Meter and feel guilty when they can't. Because, maybe, if you're not a total victim, you have opportunities, and should be doing better than you are.

Of course, then people lurch to the opposite: we have the most sophisticated, breath-takingly wonderful culture in the world - again, without much evidence. Our maths was the most advanced in the world: one, two, more than two ..... We had a name for every star, I heard one bloke say. We could levitate. We could go for weeks without water and months without food. We could talk to animals, birds, trees etc. We were and are close to supernatural.

Maybe the two stances go together: We are amazing, and yet we are the most persecuted and down-trodden, while 'others' are just ordinary and yet accrue all sorts of benefits. No, folks, you are both as ordinary - and as extraordinary - as anyone else. Suck it up and do something with it.

Joe

That's so true Joe.
When I'm told about this wonderful culture and try to point out that it is/was absolutely no different to white Stone Age culture I'm either totally stonewalled or abused.
The fact that all cultures passed through exactually the same stages seems to be lost on many people and unfortunately as my late husband frequently said, some aboriginal people retained the worst of aboriginal culture whilst adopting the worst of European culture. Which is a great pity because they have the opportunity to adopt the best of both cultures.
However, those types of conversations get me labelled bigot and racist and frequently blocked on FaceBook, much to my amusement. Reminds me of kids with their hands over their ears trying to block off what they are being told lol.