{"id":33325,"date":"2026-04-11T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=33325"},"modified":"2026-04-02T03:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:42:09","slug":"politically-correct-just-plain-polite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/politically-correct-just-plain-polite\/","title":{"rendered":"Politically Correct\u2014or Just Plain Polite?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You\u2019ve definitely heard the term \u201cpolitically correct\u201d a lot lately\u2014but what do you think it means?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get a clear, unbiased definition, let\u2019s look at the roots of the phrase. Believe it or not, the words <\/span>polite<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>political<\/span><\/i> may have a common root\u2014the word <\/span>polite<\/span><\/i> comes originally from the Latin word <\/span>politus<\/span><\/i>, which means \u201cpolished,\u201d and in later Latin took on the meaning of \u201corganized\u201d or \u201crefined.\u201d The Greeks derived the word <\/span>politics<\/span><\/i> from the root <\/span>polis<\/span><\/i>, which meant an organized city, and gave it a new meaning: \u201cof, for, or relating to citizens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see why the connection between the two words makes sense. In politics, being polite or \u201crefined\u201d usually helps candidates; while being rude and uncouth can hurt them. That\u2019s why leaders try to evince a sense of <\/span>politesse<\/span><\/i>, to use the French word for kindness, diplomacy and politeness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, at least that has seemed true until recently.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, the world\u2019s political campaigns have, over the past couple of decades, become increasingly impolite and unkind\u2014and that\u2019s a polite understatement. Filled with nasty rhetoric, attack ads, dirty tricks, mudslinging and offensive insults, campaigns have definitely degraded since the days when candidates simply and quietly debated the merits of competing policy proposals. Today it\u2019s hard to remember when things were ever civil in politics.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings up two other related words that immediately come to mind: civil and uncivil. The word <\/span>civil<\/span><\/i>, which now usually means \u201cpolite,\u201d originally came from the Latin <\/span>civis<\/span><\/i>, which meant \u201ctownsman\u201d or \u201ccitizen.\u201d In the early days of human history, when larger towns and cities began to develop, people had to acquire a new skill. They needed to learn to get along with unfamiliar people, those not from their family or tribe. In other words, they had to figure out how to be civil to one another.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why we still teach the subject of civics in schools\u2014so students can develop and apply the classical civic virtues in their communities when they become adults. Plato and Socrates cared deeply about those civic virtues, which they believed were required to govern and maintain the functioning of the <\/span>polis<\/span><\/i>. They asked: \u201cHow do you hold a disparate, unrelated group of human beings together?\u201d and \u201cWhat form of government best exemplifies civic virtue?\u201d and \u201cWhat character traits do individuals need to have to build a cohesive civil society?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Plato-Socrates-Modern-Physics-and-Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Those concerns all go back to one main question: How do our societies treat strangers? Every civic virtue, the philosophers concluded, begins with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others. Makes sense, doesn\u2019t it? A civil culture starts with a sense of civility. All successful human cultures grow out of simple kindness and politeness\u2014not just to the people you know, but especially to those you don\u2019t know. That\u2019s where the phrase \u201ccivil society\u201d originated.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Baha\u2019i<\/a> perspective, being polite and civil to others involves simple common courtesy\u2014an attribute the Baha\u2019i teachings describe as a truly spiritual character trait:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We, verily, have chosen courtesy, and made it the true mark of such as are nigh unto Him. Courtesy is, in truth, a raiment which fitteth all men, whether young or old. Well is it with him that adorneth his temple therewith, and woe unto him who is deprived of this great bounty. – Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf<\/em>, p. 50.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a> asked every human being to be truthful and courteous:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let truthfulness and courtesy be your adorning. Suffer not yourselves to be deprived of the robe of forbearance and justice, that the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted from your hearts upon all created things. Say: Beware\u2026 lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your light can be shed upon the whole earth. Happy is the man that heedeth My counsel, and keepeth the precepts prescribed by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. – Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/em>, p. 304.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, back to the original question\u2014what does the term \u201cpolitically correct\u201d and its abbreviation \u201cPC\u201d really mean, and what does it have to do with civility and courtesy? Wikipedia defines \u201cPC\u201d as a phrase \u201cused to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended primarily not to offend or disadvantage any particular group of people in society.\u201d Webster\u2019s says the term <\/span>politically correct <\/span><\/i>is \u201cusually used disparagingly to connote dogmatism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First popularized by an author named Allan Bloom in his 1987 book <\/span>The Closing of the American Mind<\/span><\/i>, \u201cpolitically correct\u201d has now morphed into a common insult, used every day by politicians and regular people, too. If you\u2019re careful about using non-offensive language, for example, you run the risk of being labelled politically correct. If you hold progressive social or political views, you might be politically correct. I was once accused of being politically correct for believing in the essential oneness of humanity, a central tenet of the Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a>. In other words, people now use the phrase to demean those who hold certain ideas, by impugning their motives and suggesting that they have unthinkingly subscribed to a set of widely-accepted social dogmas just because they\u2019re somehow deemed \u201ccorrect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if being politically correct means avoiding language or behavior that other people might find offensive or unkind\u2014then why not just call it simple politeness? Why would you speak or behave in a way you knew would hurt others\u2014unless you intentionally wanted to hurt them, or didn\u2019t care about their feelings? Why would you use racially offensive language? Why would you insult anyone\u2019s religion? Why would you mock someone with a speech impediment or a disability? Why would you purposely set out to demean other people?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this series of essays, we\u2019ll examine these prickly contemporary questions in depth, by exploring the modern landscape of political correctness and what it truly means.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve definitely heard the term \u201cpolitically correct\u201d a lot lately\u2014but what do you think it means? To get a clear, unbiased definition, let\u2019s look at the roots of the phrase….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":89179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2946],"tags":[3433],"series":[939],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33325"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89184,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33325\/revisions\/89184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33325"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=33325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}