History Main / PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad

* Blackboards in school being renamed "chalkboards" to avoid offending black people. [[labelnote:*]]Although another possible reason for this would be because [[ArtifactTitle a lot of them are actually green nowadays]].[[/labelnote]] The marker variant, called a "whiteboard", remains untouched, although, some do call them "Wipeboards", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as you can wipe the writing off.]].. but then again, you can do that with blackboards, too.

* In ''{{Robocop 2}}'', Robocop is revamped to be a more politically-correct role model by having over two hundred directives installed in his brain to teach "pro-social" messages (as defined by a committee). It drives him effectively insane.

** Making this hilarious is the intersection of history and fiction -- some fans complaned about the direct-to-video sequel because Pocahontas falls for a new man named John Rolfe rather than getting with John Smith. Rolfe was, in fact, the man who married Pocahontas in RealLife.

** The change of a scene in which one of the background ponies spoke caused a split in the fanbase as to whether or not it's this trope. Prior to this, her only character trait was FishEyes. In the scene she was a WalkingDisasterArea with a SimpletonVoice, and was treated like a needless burden. After the change she was still a WalkingDisasterArea, but her eyes were less fish-eyed and her voice was a more generally girlish. Another character had her lines redubbed to remove her name Derpy which, depending on who you ask, is either a rather harsh jab at the disabled, a perfectly fine name, or only slightly unfortunate (it's often used as a synonym for "mistake"). Complicating matters is that the redubbed character could either be seen as poorly acted, disinteresed, or treating the first character with mittens. Basically? [[InternetBackdraft The only thing people can agree about is that the eyes shouldn't have been straightened out.]]

If you're curious what political correctness [[UsefulNotes actually means]], it's an originally Communist colloquialism related to the "party line", another phrase of the same pedigree; that which accords with the party line, and thus with the Communist Party's position on a given issue, is accurately described as "politically correct", while that which does not is not.

If you're curious what political correctness [[UsefulNotes actually means]], it's a system for the practice of respecting other people, contrary to many learned and instinctive behaviors in humans that tend to not include respect for other people.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' -- When the show's Canadian broadcaster TreehouseTV airs the episodes [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters "Boast Busters"]], "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie "Call of the Cutie"]], and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne "Party of One"]] (though not when they air [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom "Sonic Rainboom"]], [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 "The Return of Harmony Part 2"]], or [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve "Hearth's Warming Eve"]]), all instances of the word "loser" are [[http://img705.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=Mxz5 replaced]] with [[ThisTropeIsBleep silence]]. For older viewers, this has the opposite effect of its obvious censorship intentions, since it leads them to mentally insert a derogatory word of choice automatically when they don't hear the actual (rather benign) word.

* [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7079231/Advert-for-reliable-workers-banned-as-discrimination-by-Jobcentre-Plus.html This brief, isolated, yet hilarious example]]

* StanFreberg did this back in 1957, when he sang (purportedly at the insistence of a MoralGuardian) "''Elderly'' Man River", with political correctness and proper grammar and pronunciation -- i.e., ridiculously [[{{Bowdlerization}} Bowdlerized]].

* The character Carla Cortez represents this trope in the independent comic "DruidCity". Carla is a leftist feminist who campaigns to change the meaning of words or to discourage others from using them. She often chooses to support these causes to the detriment of more pressing leftist causes.

%This is not a place to complain about minor changes that don't make sense to you personally. When adding examples of changes in works due to ExecutiveMeddling, please stick only to those that render the work nonsensical, change its meaning completely, or miss the point of the work altogether.'''

A slightly more realistic example is the occasional habit of making up false etymologies for innocuous phrases that supposedly have "unenlightened" origins. For example the claim that [[http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/crowbar.asp crowbars]] were so named after the "Jim Crow" character and came from their use by slaves [[hottip:* :It predates the use of "Jim Crow" as a slur by centuries and comes from the phrase "crow's foot bar" which itself came from its shape.]]. "Xmas" is another common target by those decrying the [[YouMeanXMas "taking Christ out of Christmas."]] Xmas as a term dates back over a thousand years; the "X" comes from the Greek letter "Chi", which was the first letter in the Greek word for "Christ" [[hottip:* :However, if someone says "Xian", it is pretty safe to assume that disrespect to Christianity is intended (or, alternatively, that they're Chinese)]].

* One subplot on ''Series/TheSopranos'' involved the fiercely Italian guys from Tony's crew butting heads with a Native American group protesting their town's Columbus Day parade. [[note]] The people who had that unfortunate encounter with Columbus were Arawaks from the Caribbean, not mainland Natives, so Native Americans in New York complaining about the parade is a little like the people of France complaining about the people of England being mocked. [[/note]] [[hottip:*: [[TruthInTelevision Though some Native american groups DO protest Columbus day, to the point of some States taking it away completely and renaming it "Native People's day". Many Italians a NOT amused, as by now it's largely a celebration of Italian heritage in general.]]

* The animated show ''{{Pelswick}}'' had some examples of this. The title character, who uses a wheelchair, is often referred to as "differently able". In one episode he anonymously published a cartoon in the school paper that people objected to on the grounds that "differently able" people might be offended by it... and then [[NWordPrivileges blithely withdrew their complaints when it came out that Pelswick was the artist]].

* Related: a college campus newspaper once interviewed flautist R. Carlos Nakai, who objected to the term 'Native American'. He preferred instead to be referred to as a member of his specific tribe, or even generically as an 'Indian' (the reasoning being that the term 'Indian' was the result of an honest mistake that just happened to stick, whereas 'Native American' imposes a nationality not of his choosing). Nonetheless, the article went on to refer to Nakai as a Native American ''at least five times after he voiced his objection!''
** Actually, the term "Indian" isn't even a mistake. It just comes from the Spanish word for native, indio.

** The change of a scene in which one of the background ponies spoke caused a split in the fanbase as to whether or not it's this trope. Prior to this, her only character trait was FishEyes. In the scene she was a WalkingDisasterArea with a SimpletonVoice, and was treated like a needless burden. After the change she was still a WalkingDisasterArea, but her eyes were less fish-eyed and her voice was a more generally girlish. Another character had her lines redubbed to remove her name Derpy which, depending on who you ask, is either a rather harsh jab at the disabled, a perfectly fine name, or only slighty unfornutate (it's often used as a synonym for "mistake"). Complicating matters is that the redubbed character could either be seen as poorly acted, disinteresed, or treating the first character with mittens. Basically? [[InternetBackdraft The only thing people can agree about is that the eyes shouldn't have been straightened out.]]

* In the French film ''Le Placard (The Closet),'' a {{salaryman}} learns that he's about to be downsized. On the advice of his neighbor, he allows "proof" that he's gay (he's not) to reach his office, reasoning that the bosses will never dare to fire an employee who's just come out of the closet, because it would look like discrimination.

* Ralphie May's stand-up routine, ''Just Correct,'' is about this. The theme of the act is that he thinks America is trying too hard to be politically correct, while his goal is ''not'' to be politically correct, but instead, [[TitleDrop just correct]].

* * Ralphie May's stand-up routine, ''Just Correct,'' is about this. The theme of the act is that he thinks America is trying too hard to be politically correct, while his goal is ''not'' to be politically correct, but instead, [[TitleDrop just correct]].

* Ralphie May's stand-up routine, ''Just Correct,'' is about this. The theme of the act is that he thinks America is trying too hard to be politically correct, while his goal is ''not'' to be politically correct, but instead, [[TitleDrop just correct]].

* In a recent episode of WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, Ned Flanders is shown watching EVERY TV show and finds something "offensive" or just something to complain about on all he sees, except for two shows. If that's not Political Correctness literally Gone Mad... It doesn't stop there; even his sons tell him, in their own way, that he's gone off the deep end.

* Kankri from {{Homestuck}} is a parody of overzealous social justice warriors and as such talks endlessly about politically correct terms and perceived injustices, while [[HypocriticalHumor being himself a complete bigot]].

* In ''[[HarryPotter Goblet of Fire]]'' and continuing on afterward, Hermione founds [[FunWithAcronyms S.P.E.W.]] in order to free the house elves from slavery. The majority of the characters roll their eyes at this, suggesting that Hermione is taking it too far. It's later revealed that even the elves are against it, since they [[HappinessInSlavery enjoy serving others]]. Dobby later tells Hermione that the house elves appreciate her sentiment and that she's thinking of their well-being, but what they don't appreciate is that she was trying to ''trick'' them into accepting clothing against their will, making them regard her as something of a WellIntentionedExtremist.

* In the first ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book, Uncle Vernon is presented as a ''Mail'' reader and makes some comments indicating a reactionary viewpoint.

* In KageBaker's Company series, in the future alcohol, tobacco, sugar, chocolate, meat, fish, dairy... pretty much everything even remotely "bad for you" or involving any possible discomfort to an animal of any kind, is illegal. Sex seems to be in the process of being phased out as well.