Political correctness should concern every employee in the nation, especially those working for companies displaying their “wokeness” by abandoning customers, donating money to dubious causes, or dismissing employees for little more than political reasons, no matter how employers may falsely justify such actions or dismissals.
Based on perception rather than performance, we have seen companies boycotted, blacklisted, and careers destroyed because of some perceived behavior deemed egregious by what is usually a small but vocal minority in the media or on social media platforms.
Even large companies are willing to sacrifice profits and personnel to please the mob. Especially when their executives are high-profile virtue-signaling media figures or their employees are eager to organize to force the company to bend to their favored political ideology.
Political correctness is an offshoot of an artificial morality created from those advancing a particular political ideology. It features twisted definitions and turns absurdities into realities to gain or maintain political power.
One useful warning sign is the appearance of coordinated inauthentic behavior on social media, also known as “astroturfing,” designed to mimic organic grass-roots activity to create artificial credibility.
A no-win situation...
Unfortunately, it may not be enough to be silent when all of those surrounding you are clamoring for action; it may be necessary to display the same behaviors affirmatively, which is the desired goal of those who have weaponized political correctness. You are forced into silence or to demonstrate your sympathy and allegiance to the mob.
The only answer is to protect yourself by creating multiple independent sources of income with side-hustles and developing skill-stacks that keep you relevant and employable in alternate but less political fields.
Those who control free speech and behaviors by managing online platforms are fast becoming a clear and present danger to our capitalist system, our economy, the health and growth of the enterprise, and of course, the future of employees.
Even worse, political correctness has infiltrated the public sector, where regulatory actions and discretionary decisions can be weaponized against businesses that do not support a particular political ideology, the current administration, or the gross wishes of an unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy.
What’s most frightening about political correctness is that there are no forecastable outcomes or timelines in the foreseeable future.