Are PC language and Newspeak one in the same thing?

Being politically correct in the way we speak and act has had it's advantages in helping us overcome problems that have dogged us in the past. Racism and sexism, to name but two, have been tackled by changing the way we think and talk about them.

The balance seems to have tipped too far the other way now though, and it has become impossible to say anything negative against anyone or anything, even if it is true. Political correctness is a form of social control, where one group has the power to define how others act and even think.

I'm not saying I want to offend people and spread a message of hate, but it is imperative in a healthy society that criticism and evaluation should be open and encouraged.

I should be able to say anything I like, and my freedom of speech should not be restricted by saying that I am not allowed an opinion, this is not a valid discussion. If someone disagrees with my point of view, then let them say so, and why, to just dismiss me as politically incorrect is bigoted bullying, the very thing that political correctness claims to be trying to stop.

The extent that this political correctness has reached can be shown by using the example of Lynette Burrows, who was 'leaned on' by the police for expressing her concern over children being adopted by gay men.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/10/ngay10.xml

Whether you agree with Lynette Burrows opinion or not, it is just that, an opinion. Even the police admitted that a crime had not taken place, but that her details must be taken for the 'safety of the community'. It is only one step further for a law to be passed that will criminalise the expression of opinions that go against a government approved agenda, and this example is not an isolated one.

With all the surveillance that constrains people in this country, especially microphones attached to CCTV systems, and the police having the power to remotely activate the microphone and video on your mobile phone, it will be easy for us to be policed over our opinions. In effect, suppressing our opinions is suppressing the kinds of people that we are allowed to be, and who is the government to tell us that?

Political correctness may seem to be a benign but good idea, but when put into practice with the full force of the law behind it, it becomes a mechanism of the state that forces us to think and act as we are told, and criminalises us if we oppose it......am I allowed to say that??