01/09/2014

Homework Activity 1: Political Correctness

For as long as I could remember, there has always been some fight over interlocutory propriety
and the particular choice of lexicon in accordance with social contexts. For as long as I could
remember, there has always been an indignant, prejudiced mass that has exercised zealous
lobbyism and organized more marches, awareness campaigns than I can possibly enumerate.
For as long as I could remember, there has always been the media outlets that pretended to
adhere to what they deemed political correctness at the time in referring to African
Americans whilst brazenly and blatantly overlooking humanitarian correctness in the
ostensibly objective news coverage of the deliberate crusades, loots, and collateral damages
conducted by some intelligence-agency-affiliated paramilitary group in some of the poor
American quarters. Isnt that a downright paradox? I mean, how much will a bereft mother of a
now crippled child living in a poor ghetto subject to daily attacks and encumbered with
healthcare debts care for being called Black, Negro, or African American. It doesnt change a
thing! She is still the indigent, despondent, and insecure mother of a lifelong cripple. She is still
an aberration in the eyes of her society. She is still that idiosyncratic creature theyre not at all
sure how to address. Making up names for each phenomenon will certainly not change the way
people feel about her. That is, the woman was so strange and so unprecedented that they had
to come up with a name to describe her and all her fellow lookalikes! The problem is that these
people, the white ones for a fact, lack the capability of associating decent behavior with
whatever word the market has to offer. So, the African Americans again associate their terms of
address with condescension and subversion and they end up foolishly using their new-found
protesting rights to garner the worlds unrelenting sympathy and attention and to coerce the
international community into getting ashamed of their flagrant deeds and into imposing a name
change regarding their slightly darker friends! Taking in all of that at once, I might have to
admit that political correctness was an egregious aspect of political or diplomatic etiquette.
Not only did it make things a whole lot harder for those who occupy authoritative positions,
making them prone to violations any given time of the day, but it has also complicated the
quotidian lives for average citizens around the globe who may find themselves, and with no
ostensible reason, fined, jailed, and declaimed in all known talk shows for a violation he knows
not exactly what it is!
Well, before we delve deeper into matters, we need to set our foundations, that is, What on
Earth is political correctness? That ever so arbitrary term happens to mean avoidance of
expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are
socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. Well, in a sense, I can start considering the
words girls, woman, and female aberrations from the so-called political correctness because
they happen to contravene the most obvious of the aspects: discrimination? God, that is
ridiculous, yet, it is there!
Today in class, we happened to watch two videos describing how hilariously ridiculous and
ludicrously though-hindering political correctness can be. We started off with a stand-up
comedy for Wali Collins. Interestingly though, the man was black, and he started making fun of
all the different names the whites have come up with to describe them as well as to avoid
offending them, but he ended up showing us how not only offensive but embarrassing it was to
stick to the politically correct terms instead of straightly uttering the most obvious of all
features: the fact that he was black. He had to reiterate that countless times: skin color is not
offensive, as long as peoples behaviors no longer convey the negative connotation once
associated with the word black, then this word was definitely the best in the spectrum.
We also watched a politically correct version of the world renowned fairy tale The Little Red
Riding Hood, whose name has changed into the much less offensive and the loads more
decorous and diplomatic Vertically-challenged Native American Riding Hood! The video was, I
have to admit, downright hilarious! All pertinent, everyday terms were skewed into an
unfamiliar NASA-sort of term, forever obliterating any ethical message the story tried to convey.
A couple of examples will most certainly elucidate the point. More than once throughout the
novel, we heard the term vertically-challenged as deemed by the political correctness experts
as being the most suitable substitute for the profane, delirious, and downright flagrant term,
short which cannot, under any circumstances, be delivered or in a stricter sense, spoon-fed, to
the rising generations of unsoiled children. How offensive, we should all exclaim! Another
example might be the chronologically advanced substitution. The author has somehow
foreseen that the word old was an indispensably offensive word that should be handled on the
spot! And that part were the wolf proclaimed that he wont be using teeth to eat up the
vertically challenged, Native American, Riding Hood. The original meaning and plot, most
undoubtedly, of the story has been abominably skewed. You know, at some point of our lives,
denial is going to solve it all. It is going to be magic dissolving all the negative feelings associated
with certain terms, but then, the restraint it imposes on our ongoing trails of thoughts and the
feelings which seemed normal just some time ago will become unbearable.
"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt." However, names do hurt-
names can shame, ridicule, and humiliate. Some pertain to race or gender; others refer to
weight, facial features, or a particular anatomical feature. Names that refer to social class or
race can be hurtful, as can names that involve age, religion, or physical ability. Even slang names
for certain occupations can be hurtful. Certainly, no one likes to be called a name that is
disrespectful, unkind, or downright mean.

But there is another category of name-calling that is also hurtful and destructive: names such as
"racist," "sexist," "homophobe," "Nazi," "bigot," and the like. Yet many throw these labels
around at the drop of a hat, without understanding what the labels actually mean- not to
mention the damage done by accusing someone of racism, sexism, etc. The accusation alone,
even without merit, can be enough to besmirch a reputation, kill a career, and invalidate a
lifetime of good work.
So, is, then, political correctness more like the angel it seems despite all the apparent
drawbacks we have witnessed earlier? Well, in a quintessential sense, no. Political correctness
constitutes a typical ideological paradox. It is one of those terms that call for unity and harmony
but whose application effectuates the entire opposite! That is, political correctness is
antithetical to the founding principles of freedom of speech and freedom of expression on
which modern democracy is based. Its most powerful tools are intimidation and coercions.
My point is that the political correctness movement has gone way too far. While the original
intent of political correctness might have been good (to encourage tact, diplomacy, and
sensitivity to one anothers feelings around issues of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation,
physical abilities, and such), the effect of political correctness has been to make everyone avoid
these topics altogether- thereby hindering our ability to get comfortable in living and working
with those who are different from us. It's gone so far as to becoming that political correctness
has become a bigger problem than the problem it had originally intended to redress!
If political correctness is not vigorously opposed, its proponents win by default, because the
victims adopt a "go-along-to-get-along" or a I-want-to-fit-I attitude. Major allies in the
imposition of political correctness are also those who happen to commit the major infractions:
members of the media, public figures, and most importantly of all, politicians. Its interesting
though that some of whom thrive on controversy while others are true ideologues.
The true believers would be amusing if it were not so sad to behold them dissecting, distorting
and regurgitating words in an attempt to divert attention from the rise of government control.
People must learn to identify and ignore political correctness and all its lookalikes if they are to
escape the bitter ideological grenades that are destroying our unity and strength.
Political correctness is impotent if we the people are fearless and intrepid. Perhaps the
most politically correct things to do, in a literal sense, would be to emphasize intelligent
discussion of issues and leave the smear campaigns to those with no constructive ideas.