The importance of being inoffensive to others can be seen in the obedience to political correctness, a set of societal rules that you won't find in any law books but have consequences for not obeying nonetheless. This usually means following a strict set of rules about the language we use.

READ: We Have to Stop Using the Left's Descriptive Language

While I would like to tell you that political correctness is something either disobeyed or obeyed depending on which side of the aisle you fall on, that's not entirely true. You'll often find those on the right, including conservatives, watching their word choice for fear that what they say may end up offending someone. This shouldn't be confused with polite wording in polite settings, which is fine. I mean that some conservatives play along because they don't want to be considered insensitive out of pure societal pressure not to be. 

I hear conservatives often grumble something along the lines of "You can't say that anymore" while complaining about political correctness. 

My response to that is usually..."Yeah, you can still say that, it's just going to offend some people." 

If I'm being honest, we need to be okay with being offensive because the purpose of political correctness isn't to be less offensive. Its dual purpose is to exert narrative control to give the left home court advantage in any debate and, more importantly, bury the truth under layers of pseudo-politeness. 

But our desire to be inoffensive has become so overwhelming that the look of being inoffensive is more important than action. Michael Knowles brought up a very good point while posting comedian Shane Gillis's monologue on Saturday Night Live that I thought was very poignant: 

Conservatives will sometimes make jokes about mentally retarded people but then also celebrate them and defend their right to life, while liberals won't even say the word "retarded" for fear of offending the people they advocate exterminating in the womb.

Conservatives will sometimes make jokes about mentally retarded people but then also celebrate them and defend their right to life, while liberals won't even say the word "retarded" for fear of offending the people they advocate exterminating in the womb.pic.twitter.com/DfhQf5LYow

— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) February 25, 2024

During Gillis's monologue, he says a few words that would cause some pearl-clutching, including the word "retarded." Does the word hurt anyone? 

Not really. The term "retarded" is actually a legitimate word that was used pretty regularly until recent history when it was deemed "offensive" by self-appointed morality police. The idea that it was offensive became so pervasive that Merriam-Webster lists it as "dated, now offensive" before it gives the definition. 

The idea is that the word is aimed at people who didn't fully develop and had some sort of condition that hampered them from obtaining full brain functionality...but that's not the only use for the word. Hampering intellectual development can be a much broader idea. 

For instance, social justice, DEI, and Marxism can all be correctly defined as "retarded" because it hampers intellectual development and has the added definition of being "foolish." When I say "DEI is retarded" I'm being very accurate in describing it and if you're a fan of DEI or Marxism, your ideology being accurately painted with that word isn't a good look. 

But I'm actually digressing here in a big way. 

I actually want to embrace the idea of an offensive word being said because it's funny or being used in a casual, fired-from-the-hip kind of way. Why? Because it ultimately doesn't matter. Sticks and stones. 

What does matter is that political correctness is being used to paint language as the problem when the problem is actions being taken that do harm people. Calling someone "retarded" as a joke is hardly a reason to get worked up, especially when the person taking offense to it will, in the very next breath, advocate for people to be born with deficiencies of some kind to be terminated. 

Gillis highlights this perfectly. Yeah, he uses the word "retard" and tells jokes about people with Down's Syndrome...he also owns a coffee shop that employs them, doing more for them than the vast majority of people on the left who become offended on behalf of others over jokes. In fact, I'd say Gillis is probably one of their greatest advocates out of action alone, and he's being judged by people who want to kill off people with Down's Syndrome before they ever have a chance at life. 

That seems pretty retarded. 

Gillis's appearance and wording on SNL might have been offensive to many, but I'd argue that it was ultimately healthier for society because contributed to a desensitization effort that is very, very necessary.