Influence of Political Correctness on Populism in Mediating Public Attitudes

Political Correctness (PC) can play a very important role in promoting populism which in turn influences public attitudes. The language of these ideologies in public political discourse often carries potential incentives that motivate violent behaviors to attain their objectives. The last decade, has witnessed a dramatic increase in violence resulting from identity and speech censoring that have fomented, polarized and radicalized societies. The papers aims at demonstrating factually how language propagated through political speeches by both ideologies aid violence. Particularly how populists leaders take advantage of PC advocacies to incite the masses and cause violence which affects public values. The argument rest on the premise that both the left and the right pc advocates create populism opportunists who benefit from disenchanted minded population and steer public violence. When group social identity is under threat and there is intervention through speech censoring (linguistic expression) violence ensues. It concludes that pc should be more reflexive, curtailing but being more practical. Over expansion of political correctness only reveals deep seated societal sores which the society has yet to compromise. More targeted programs for the traditional conservatives, vulnerable, globalization misfits can help in quelling a saturated disgruntle masses. More legislations may be required that put politicians aspiring for a public office within a defined language conduct during campaigns. Key Words: Political correctness, Populism, Public attitudes, Violence, Social identity