After Desert Storm our vets came home with several illnesses, the most well known being “Gulf War Syndrome.” That war also brought about the rebirth of the long ignored Vietnam War term, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Have you ever noticed that the more syllables a word or phrase contains, the less meaning it has? After World Wars I and II, the term for a veteran that came back from a war zone with psychological/mental problems was “Shell Shock!” It was straight and to the point. It commanded attention. During that time, even though the vets were not understood, they got the help they needed. Next were the Korean War vets and the first signs of political correctness started to rear their ugly heads. The phrase for a psychologically damaged vet was now “Battle Fatigue.” This was still only two words, but much softer than “Shell Shock!” Luckily, this war was not unpopular so the vets still got the help they needed for the most part. Lessons learned from the two World Wars also made the public sit up and take notice much sooner. Then came Vietnam—a very unpopular war only 10 years later—for which the phrase became “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” We went from two words, two syllables to two words, four syllables to four words, eight syllables, and the vets were spit on and called baby killers. Maybe if it was still “Shell Shock,” those vets would have gotten the help they needed. Thousands of Americans suffered because of political correctness.

Fast forward to the 90s. A Hall of Fame running back for the Buffalo Bills named Orenthal James Simpson cuts the head off of his ex-wife and brutally stabs her friend. Mr. Simpson is allowed to walk around free because a cop lied about his use of the “N” word. Huh? What did that have to do with the crime? Now black people are not black. Now you have to say African-American. Guess what? If you are born in this country, YOU ARE BLACK! A murderer goes free because of political correctness.

The only industry that seems to benefit from political correctness is human resources. For years women have wanted to be treated as equals in the corporate work force. If they truly want equality, why is it that a man can’t even tell a woman that she looks nice without having to worry about getting fired for sexual harassment? Women in the military want to have all of the same opportunities as men; however, they have totally and completely different physical fitness standards. Part of equality is fairness. Are the above examples fair to men? Business is interrupted because of political correctness.

Last but not least is zero tolerance, which is just political correctness gone lazy. The “PC” police have gotten so overwhelmed and are so stupid that they disregard mitigating circumstances, context, and obvious satirical humor so that they don’t have to deal with the facts of a given situation. People are falsely accused because of political correctness.

We used to teach our kids that “words can never hurt me.” Now we are teaching our children that words hurt. Words do hurt, but only if you let them. We are raising a bunch of race-card-pulling, sexual-harassment-claiming, zero-tolerance wimps that are not clever enough to handle difficult situations. Americans are growing up soft because of political correctness.