I was talking to a man, he feels that people are so trained in what they are supposed to say and not supposed to say; what they are supposed to believe and not supposed to believe, they have no idea who they are anymore.
I agreed and added, “I think a lot of people say whatever it is they think will make them seem the most interesting or attractive.”
“I can understand it from a con man’s perspective. You want to agree with whatever the person you’re conning thinks so you can get in there…but to just live like that? I don’t understand that at all…”
What is the astrology of political correctness?
Often wondered about this – you would have to think the 9th House was involved (values, beliefs), but possibly also the Vedic 2nd House (also values, beliefs). Mars in the 9th seems to suggest a person that will say “whatever” to achieve a goal. Vedic astrologer Barbara Pijan says that Ketu (South Node) in the 9th goes to church but doesn’t believe in God – pretending is what this placement is best at. Or you could look for markers that suggest the person has to be “on a team”. This would probably be the 3rd House – solidarity with one’s neighbors. So Venus or Jupiter in the 3rd might suggest going along with one’s neighbors or “team”. Uranus, with its independent energy, probably wouldn’t. Uranus seems pretty anti-PC to me. I should know; I have it unaspected. GRIN
i can’t figure whether it’s uranus or saturn that is the stronger forcing of in group norms. but i have them square in my chart…
my experience of saturn is authoritarian, uranus cliquish. i’m not sure which is worse, really. i think more liberal minded PC social forcing is via the cliquish route (“cool hip modern people don’t say such things…”)
It’s the clash between Pluto in Cap (conform or we’ll destroy you) and Uranus in Aries (independent individual).
Didn’t it begin in the 80s? So Pluto in Libra/Scorpio? 🙂
Yes, I think the term was introduced in the 1980’s. But I don’t remember people watching their mouths until…well, not before the millennium anyway. And if you run with older people, they still have not gotten the memo. I’ll give you an example…
I was at lunch with and older gal (in her 70’s) and two women (a couple) in their 50’s. We’re all friends. Good friends. The couple is interracial. This was within the last year…
So the older woman asks the black woman, “Is there is anything wrong with saying, colored?”
The three of us were all shocked, but clearly she was asking this question in an honest, earnest way.
I’m glad to say, the black woman told her it was a bad term to use at this point in time. She was nice about it, because hey! She’s an intelligent gal and could plainly see the woman just had no clue.
So it’s the younger generations most affected. Just yesterday, someone from Australia told my husband that someone was a “poof”. This is an old man. Again, he’s got no clue what the rules are in US circa 2015.
I guess what I’m saying is a person might be gently corrected, if they mean no harm. But that does not seem to be the way of the world at this time. We’re just not very charitable with each other.
It got REALLY bad by the late 90s/early 00s. And then came social media by 2005/2006. Now the game is ‘who’s the bigger victim?’ I hope one day the masses rebel against this reverse bullying.
I think, before that, even. Early 1990’s, I was making fun – mockery – when around people who were dogmatic on the flavors of political correctness in vogue then. I’m abashed to admit that, but it’s true. I said, “You called him a s.o.b. – that is insulting his mother!” I tend to see PC as the ugly side of Aquarius (“we are the Borg, you will comply” or whatever the stock phrase was).
Political correctness is just dictatorship, with a smile. 🙂
I had to ask what is political correctness? It seems as dated as ‘colored people’. It just keeps layering on.
Oh. Pluto in Cap…I see. That makes sense.
See, it’s not about not knowing who I am and what I think/believe and how I got there…And it’s not foremost about seeking approval as interesting and attractive.
The element you didn’t mention is blunt, stark fear. Fear at how overreaching and reactive our social construct has become. Anyone can take umbrage and twist any innocuous thing into an actionable accusation. Actionable in a community, which is bad enough (destruction of reputation)–and also actionable within the court/legal system with the intent/power to enforce and penalize you in very real and debilitating ways.
Safer to keep one’s mouth shut and ‘fly under the radar’ when at all possible. A sorry state of affairs and, long-term, quite corrosive for a society reliant in its construct on civil discourse and the free exchange of ideas…
I think that some level of venus , mercury, and/or cancer could also be involved. I have mercury on my descendant and I say things in order to make others comfortable. I also have venus in cancer which has been described as unconditional caring or caring about other people’s problems that don’t really have anything to do with me, and I don’t just talk pc. I feel awful if I speak or act on ways that would offend people I care about, or even strangers. I think of people I know who have been treated unfairly due to whatever issue or who are sensitive about certain aspects of their life or culture and on some level I filter what I see and hear through my empathy with those experiences.
I also have Aquarius on my 2nd house cusp and I really relate a lot to the shift in values that I have seen over my lifetime many of which are or have been considered PC. I feel like most of the PC ideas of this time have to do with the treatment of people as members of groups and that is totally Aquarius/11th house.
I feel like in general PC is an early phase in the adoption of new and different societal values. I am sure for former loyalists during the revolutionary war, paying lip service to the more or less egalitarian ideals of the new nation seemed to be political correctness when as far as they were concerned a king is a king and a presidency is just a popularity contest. But I mean, you can’t say that and expect Gung Ho Americans not to get mad and exclude you.
I don’t know. I think it is also a pendulum with a backlash that compensates for excessive fervor in any given direction. So Uranus. That is probably I think the biggest overall theme.
My daughter has this in her natal chart, “It’s the clash between Pluto in Cap (conform or we’ll destroy you) and Uranus in Aries (independent individual).” I wonder how she’ll learn to live with it and how I’ll learn to see it and respect it. That’s a pretty heavy duty aspect to have in a natal chart. My guess is she’ll have to find outlets to express both side of herself. Something for me to think of.
I’ve been super PC these last few years, hanging back and observing my new culture, trying to understand and be respectful of something I didn’t quite understand. I’m a slow starter. …but this past month, I’ve felt with a sudden intensity to start getting back to the part of myself that had been willingly muted.
I feel like I try to be the most inoffensive and politically correct person I can be, especially when I am not around people I know or feel comfortable with. I’ve been in too many situations, being open and free, where I got burned or people thought bad of me. So now I do edit myself.
It’s not that I am some closet racist or trying to be a con man or anything; I genuinely do like offending someone if I can help it, and I would prefer not to be judged until someone gets to know me, if that makes sense.
oh, that was supposed to be
“Generally do NOT like offending people”
This whole post struck major chords with me. We all have our social face to maintain, which isn’t always congruent o our real thoughts or values. I’ve attempted to fight against this with a Pluto square Mercury but it’s paddling upstream and the currents rush faster each day. I’ve learned instead to value the few genuine people who appreciate my uncensored self instead of the masses who placate me with their dogma. That being said we should aim for civility in truth. ?
I can’t PC and I won’t even try to be PC. It just irritates the fire out of me that people are walking on eggshells in order to kowtow to others. Right now, the Pluto in Capricorn is doing a doozy on this country and that clash with Uranus in Aries has been very tough. Yes, Pluto in Capricorn does firmly say, “Obey or be destroyed!” And Uranus in Aries says, “Nope! Not gonna do it and you can’t make me!” I think this clash has been historical with all the things that have been happening.
Uranus is moving into my 3rd house of communication and man oh man, I have not been holding back when I have something to say. I do wish that PC would just stop. People need to stop getting so offended over every little thing.
Astrologically, how about this: “Political” (Capricorn) “Correctness” (Saturn)? Though we could really drop the “political,” as far as I’m concerned… Christianity, for example, has its own lexicon of loaded language that’s used to enforce (and reinforce) the view of culture that they deem “correct.” Religious (Sagittarius) Correctness (Saturn)? We’re in the thick of it of late, where the recent SCOTUS decision comes to mind. The statement made by evangelicals that “Marriage is between one man and one woman” drips with both Religious and Political Correctness, noting that over the past generation or so, the line between religion and politics has become quite blurry here in the U.S.
I saw it start with feminism in the 70’s, and though I agree its become a bit over the top now, it began as an important effort to balance out inequality in language that always favoured white middle class men. Everything was written as ‘he”, and normal (i.e. what you saw on tv) was always white etc.
Ever sat on a plane and noticed the head rest is too high? That’s because it is not designed for you as a woman, it is designed for the average male. Most things are because its still mostly men who are designing them. That’s called ‘male as normative’.
Ok so its gotten a bit out of hand, but I still think being more aware of ‘other’ via how we speak and how we interact is not such a bad thing.
I do agree with Elsa, that we dont have to bite someones head off for saying the ‘wrong’ thing. Keep it in balance but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!!!
I think it was Ben Cumberbatch (sp?) who got whacked in the media for saying colored. Now if you are familiar with his work, how could anyone suggest him to be a vile person. He rocks. Go Sherlock.
I tend to go with the formalities as best I can. However, I do think I surprise people. I hear, I like that you say what’s on your mind. Probably because I don’t kick up polical dirt so it does not offend. And sometimes I can’t help but respond, oh really, if I told you what I was really really thinking you might have to kill me. I have my own mind but I don’t need to run around speaking it all the time. Pissin matches bore me, war abhors me, so I avoid them, but I can think what I want. I guess I’d say mercury in libra. There’s alot to talk about with people outside politics and social commentary. Mercury in libra to me is about finding the language to allow communication in relationships. I like the challenge. Now that is, yes I went through vile years, spittin mad, and fists swingin. Throw some raw meat out there and I was on it. Attack. Communicating is an art, a dying art all be it, but an art. And I can be very clumsy. I imagine I’ll be way underground when mercury progresses to scorpio?
The libra at work is doin heavy communique via phone with a long distance romance setup by a friend of hers. She is telling me that he has all these direct questions, and she is skirting it and turning it around with a question to him. He says he can’t have a conversation with a question, but he keeps calling. She explains herself as cautious. It’s just funny libra on her relationship mission. She just wants to find her ‘soul mate and settle down into a relationship.’ I think that involves some semblence of compliance in order to succeed in her mission.
I agree with CP Griffin – it’s mostly about fear.
People often wonder if they’re being politically correct around me. Being a gay man, some would wonder if saying “That’s so gay!” would bother me. It doesn’t really. I just think they don’t know English that well. Gay is a adjective. Gay as in homosexual or gay as in happy. I usually correct people who say that. How can they be correct in describing something (an object) they think is tacky as being happy? It does bother me when people are concerned if they are correct around me. I don’t want them to see that I’m gay first… I want them to see I’m a person first, and that ‘gay’ is 10% of me and that I may not necessarily share the same opinions of the group that I identify 10% of myself as.
Authenticity is life’s currency.
“What is the astrology of political correctness?” I wish I knew and I’m not much wiser reading the nevertheless interesting comments above. Someone mentioned Uranus and 3rd house and that struck a cord though. I’m a Uranus-Pluto in Virgo 3rd house native. It sextiles my Sun-Mercury in the 5th.
I can’t and won’t do PC. It bores me to death. And with Jupiter in Aries trine Mars in Sagittarius I was not made to walk on egg-shells. I have, however, only recently become more outspoken about this – since PC-ness morphed into wokeness. That has crossed a red line in me and I’m pushing back. Hard.