History Main / PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad

* The non-fiction book ''Who Stole the News'' mentions an incident when a reporter on an aircraft carrier was reprimanded for saying that the blast from a jet plane could "blow a man overboard". He was told to change it to 'person', whereupon he pointed out a) there were no women on board US navy aircraft carriers in a combat zone (it was the first Gulf War) and b) it was a Man Overboard drill not a Person Overboard drill.

* Somewhat lampshaded in Creator/KurtBusiek's run on ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', where the team was forced to add at least one ethnic minority to its [[MonochromeCasting decidely-white roster]]. ComicBook/IronMan spends most of the issue complaining about how idiotic the notion of "diversity" is, while TheWasp feels crappy after realizing just how few minority members the team actually had up until that point.

--> '''The Doctor:''' "It's political correctness gone mad."

* In one 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.

* When ''Film/IronMan2'' was released in China, [[http://shanghaiist.com/2010/05/09/chinas_bizarre_censorship_of_iron_m_1.php every instance of the word "Russian" was made inaudible]] in the China version. No explanation was given for why, although theories abound in the comments ranging from China thinking [[ViewersAreMorons viewers would be distressed by a Russian villain]], trying lend a courtesy to their longtime ally nation, or instead trying to distance themselves from Russia [[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed by obscuring all mention of it]].

'''Achmed:''' Killing people is easy. Being politically correct is a pain in the ass.

* In the '60s Red Skelton gave a monologue on his television show in which he went over the Pledge of Allegiance, explaining the meaning of each line, and expressing his concern that the inclusion of the phrase "under God" would cause the Pledge to be labeled as a prayer and banned from public schools. This controversy continues to the present day, since while The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by American socialist Francis Bellamy, who (though himself a professed Christian and Baptist minister) did not think it proper that Americans who actually did not believe in God should be forced to invoke His name. The "under God" clause was slipped in later, in 1954, as a deliberate thumb in the eye to those DirtyCommies, and has stayed that way since. Some secularist school boards have taken steps to get that part stricken from the Pledge, and have enjoyed a measure of success - at least in their own communities. Most Americans now acknowledge that the phrase subtly excludes polytheists, agnostics, and atheists and agree that it shouldn't have been added, but insist on keeping it due to the GrandfatherClause.

* MarvelComics' BlackPanther once changed his name to "Black Leopard" to avoid association with the actual [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panthers Black Panthers]]. Of course, this was in 1972, when the latter were active, but still. It was changed back very quickly because in the Marvel Universe the Black Panther is a name that goes back ''centuries'' and BP pointed out that he wasn't going to let himself be defined by a group of people he disagreed with anyway.

* Episode 3 of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' has a scene where Santiago is speaking to a group of at-risk teens, and does an impression of a drug dealer. When one of the kids disgustedly asks why her impression sounds like a black man, she quickly asserts that her fictional drug dealer is ''not'' black, at which point ''same kid'' then asks why she thinks black people are too incompetent to sell drugs.

* Episode 3 of ''BrooklynNineNine'' has a scene where Santiago is speaking to a group of at-risk teens, and does an impression of a drug dealer. When one of the kids disgustedly asks why her impression sounds like a black man, she quickly asserts that her fictional drug dealer is ''not'' black, at which point ''same kid'' then asks why she thinks black people are too incompetent to sell drugs.

* Episode 3 of ''BrooklynNineNine'' has a scene where Rosa is speaking to a group of at-risk teens, and does an impression of a drug dealer. When one of the kids disgustedly asks why her impression sounds like a black man, she quickly asserts that her fictional drug dealer is ''not'' black, after which the ''same kid'' then asks why she thinks black people are too incompetent to sell drugs.

** Such as their dub of One Piece where one of Buggy's pirates is changed from being a black man to a white man, supposedly to remove a racial stereotype. [[http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/198/1/8/4kids_is_racist__PROOF_by_ZoeTheHedgehog.jpg No lie.]] It almost made them look outright racist in the process.
*** 4Kids also colored the Pokemon Jinx purple to make it look less blackface.

* Somewhat lampshaded in Creator/KurtBusiek's run on ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', where the team was forced to add at least one ethnic minority to its [[MonochromeCasting decidely-white roster]]. ComicBook/IronMan spends most of the issue complaining about how idiotic the notion of "diversity" is, while the Wasp feels crappy after realizing just how few minority members the team actually had up until that point.
** A much earlier issue from the 1980's had a similar set-up, but with a much more negative message. Hawkeye is unfairly kicked off the team in favor of Comicbook/TheFalcon (an African American), and Falcon ultimately quits because he hates the idea of only being asked to join the Avengers to serve as the TokenMinority.

* The Viz release of the FullmetalAlchemist manga changed an image resembling a crucifix (a man nailed onto a cross) into a man nailed to a stone slab.

** Such as their dub of One Piece where one of Buggy's pirates is changed from being a black man to a white man, supposedly to remove a racial stereotype. [[http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/198/1/8/4kids_is_racist__PROOF_by_ZoeTheHedgehog.jpg No lie.]]
* 4Kids also colored Miss MerryChristmas's green Christmas tree tie to purple and renamed her Miss Groundhog's Day. They also removed ANYTHING in the show even RESEMBLING a cross (regardless if it was supposed to actually be one or not).
** Surprisingly, they weren't always that bad with this. An early episode of {{Pokemon}} had Misty holding up a REAL cross and ''specifically referring to it as such''.
* 4Kids also colored the Pokemon Jinx purple to make it look less blackface.

* There is a story called ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24302/24302-h/24302-h.htm The Highest Treason]]'' by Creator/RandallGarrett. A society where you cannot say that one man can be better than another in ''anything'', promotion is strictly according to age, and that society is quickly losing a war against aliens. So, the protagonist, as a desperate patriot, [[spoiler: joins the enemy, helps them conquer a planet, and slaughters the people there, showing the humanity that one person can be ''worse'' than another]]. In the end, the humanity is victorious, and their philosophy is now that one man cannot be better than another in ''everything''.

* 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.

** Prayer being illegal in American public schools[[note]]The truth is that only ''school sponsored'' prayer - such as a principal leading students in prayer over the loudspeaker - has been banned, due to the Establishment Clause. [[CaptainObvious It's still legal for students to pray on their own initiative between classes or during lunch.]][[/note]]

* ''{{Garfield}}'', also did this in a 2010 strip with the title character watching on TV cowboys in TheWildWest dueling... with a lively game of ''tag''. As expected, this ended up being perceived as a parody.

* The film ''{{Elf}}'', a film unabashedly related to the Christmas holiday starring, y'know, one of Santa's elves, had the tagline of "This Holiday, Discover Your Inner-Elf". Presumably in the film, the cast learns the true meaning of Holiday.

* In Germany, swastikas on all promotional material for ''InglouriousBasterds'' are censored. While [[NoSwastikas the depiction of swastikas is technically illegal in Germany]], the law clearly states that this ban does not apply to works of art (among other things). The law, however, does not exempt commercial use and advertising, so leaving the swastika out of promotional material is actually prescribed. (In other words: You can have a swastika in your movie, but you cannot have it in the posters you use to advertise it.)

** Speaking of which, SpeedyGonzales was a victim of this, as his cartoons were taken off the air for many years due to the idea that Mexicans would find the stereotyping offensive. The irony of it all is that [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales a whole lot of Mexicans actually''love'' Speedy]], and a few years and several petitions later, he's back on the air.

--->'''Wesley''': Apparently she felt I'd disrespected the Hacklar's culture by killing it.

--->'''JD''': It's so great because the residents are practically our slaves.\\

--->'''Liz''': Can't one human being not like another human being? Can't we all just not get along?\\

--->'''Gene:''' Dealers are so scared, we're more likely to get Helen Keller to talk. The Paki's in a coma, the evidence is about as hard as Liberace's dick when he's looking at a naked woman, and all in all, this case is going about as fast as a bunch of spastics in a magnet factory! [{{Beat}}] ''What?''\\