The Pub Discussion Board

Get your favorite beverage, sit back, and join in the discussion

You are not logged in.

#1 2011-09-15 22:43:54

Eric Storm
Pub Owner
From: New Port Richey, FL
Registered: 2006-09-12
Posts: 5745
Website

Give PC a break, people!

Recently, I encountered another case of "political correctness".  While this particular use isn't relevant, the ire it produced in me is what I want to talk about.

Although I cannot be certain of this, it is my belief that the PC movement actually started out as an attempt to be scientifically accurate.  Let me give an example:  I am "legally blind".  This is a legal definition, and not a good common description, as I am not, in actuality, sightless.  The scientific (and also PC) term for my condition is "visually impaired".  This term is not less offensive (in order for that to be the case, the other term would have to be offensive in the first place), but it is more accurate.  However, I believe that a group of people, and I have no idea who started it, but they took this attempt at scientific accuracy, and ran with it, trying to eliminate any term they deemed to be less than... well, actually, less than completely neutral.  They have applied PC to both negative and positive terms.  (Note that I was in the "gifted" program in school, and not the "smart kids" program...)

I have several problems with PC language.  One of the first is the fact that it gives people the erroneous belief that they have a right to not be offended by something someone else says.  If you read my current signature, you can see my stance on this.  You are not guaranteed that right by the US Constitution.  Others are guaranteed the right to say all sorts of stuff that offends you.  You have the right to IGNORE THEM.  This whole idea that we must take everyone else's opinion into account in everything we do has caused endless problems, from schools being forced to teach multiculturalism, down to the ACLU fighting to keep students (not schools, but students) from offering up prayers at a football game, because it might offend someone in the stands.  Listen clearly:  If that prayer offends you?  IGNORE IT!  I'm an Agnostic; I do not even have a religion.  All prayer "offends" (This word is really strong for what I actually feel, but we'll go with it) me on some level... and so, I don't listen to it.  Problem solved.  Their words are not hurting me - OR YOU - in any way, shape, or form, so grow up.

Next, PC is inaccurate.  The PC movement has changed my label from "handicapped" to "disabled", supposedly because disabled is "more polite".  Here's the problem with that thinking:  "Handicap" is defined as "A disadvantage that makes achievement unusually difficult".  "Disability" is defined as "Inability to pursue an occupation".  Do you see the difference?  Handicap means I have to try harder than others.  Disability implies I cannot do it at all.  I personally find the second one exceedingly more offensive.

Another example of PC's inaccuracy is the term "little people".  I guess the problem here isn't inaccuracy, but rather vagueness.  The term "little people" is a conglomeration of two other terms that are no longer used:  "midget" and "dwarf".  Here's the problem:  Midget and dwarf deliver, in a single word, a particular representation of your physical attributes.  (A "midget" is someone who is small, but well-proportioned.  A "dwarf" is someone who is small, with body parts out of proportion with normal humans.)  So, in an effort to "offend no one", we have made the language less informative.

PC also exacerbates people's self-esteem issues... In fact, it feeds on them.  If you ask a person who is comfortable with the thing that makes them different (size, handicap, race, gender, etc.), whether the terms used offend them, chances are they will say no.  (PLEASE NOTE:  I am not referring here to terms that are used exclusively to denigrate, such as n*gg*r, k*k*, sp*c, w*tb*ck, etc.  I am talking about a term more like "black" versus "African American".)  It is only the people who are insecure and uncomfortable with themselves who get upset by these terms, and PC is aiding and abetting their insecurities.

Ultimately, the problem is that the PC movement attempts to FORCE non-bigotry on people, and in the process, is causing the bigoted to hate even more.  I consider myself to be only minimally prejudiced (EVERYONE is prejudiced to some extent or another, whether they want to admit it or not), but I find that when I am confronted by a group who insists strongly on their PC term, I grow an almost instant dislike for them.  Ultimately, we should just call all of them "people", but descriptive words are often necessary.

My objection to PC can be boiled down to, I do not believe in thought police.  You will not change people's thoughts by changing the words you make them use in public.  It just makes them use the other words even more vehemently in private.  Bigotry can only be fought through education and socialization.  Over the years, I have had friends who were black, Asian, hispanic, Catholic, Protestant... possibly Jewish (it wasn't something I asked about)... and having those friends makes it hard to be prejudiced against the whole group of people, because you have an exception immediately at hand.  It is this kind of socialization, and not forced realignment of language, that will eventually reduce the bigotry in the world.

And no, you will NEVER eliminate it altogether.  Some people are just born to hate others.

So, to summarize:  Political correctness:  Give it a rest, already.  Just say what you mean, dammit!

Eric Storm


Please Remember:  The right to Freedom of Speech does not carry the proviso, "As long as it doesn't upset anyone."  The US Constitution does not grant you the right to not be offended.  If you don't like what someone's saying... IGNORE THEM.
----
Facebook page

Offline

 

Board footer

Powered by PunBB
© Copyright 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson