Too Politically Correct is Wrong

[Racoon]

Here are some examples of Political Correctness gone Crazy...
You can't even call someone a "terrorist" they are rather a misguided criminal..
for those who didn't bother reading the links in the now defunct PC thread..

Warning... Do not use a word that may have "Value Judgements"!
please do not offend Anyone! ever!



The Top Politically inCorrect Words and Phrases for 2005:

1. Misguided Criminals for Terrorist: The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes. The rub: the professed intent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term, terrorist). The phrase was selected by GLM as but one example in line with the published BBC Editorial Guidelines where it is noted that the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding. Suggested alternatives include: bomber, attacker, insurgent and militant, among others. These and similar words are deemed to have no emotional or value judgments. However, the word Terrorist can be used as long as it appears in a quoted attribution.

2. Intrinsic Aptitude (or lack thereof) was a suggestion by Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, on why women might be underrepresented in engineering and science. He was nearly fired for his speculation.

3. Thought Shower or Word Shower substituting for brainstorm so as not to offend those with brain disorders such as epilepsy.

4. Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing French Cities. France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites).

5. Out of the Mainstream when used to describe the ideology of any political opponent: At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream?

6. Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail. The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure with deferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem.

7. Womyn for Women to distance the word from man. This in spite of the fact that the term man in the original Indo-European is gender neutral (as have been its successors for some 5,000 years).

8. C.E. for A.D.: Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for "In the Year of the Lord") from the year designation used in the West since the 5th century and replace it with the supposedly more neutral Common Era (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christ's birth).

9. "God Rest Ye Merry Persons" for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen": A Christmas, eh, Holiday, carol with 500 years of history is not enough to sway the Anglican Church at Cardiff Cathedral (Wales) from changing the original lyrics. There are those who suggest going one step further: "Higher Power Rest Ye Merry Persons".

10. Banning the word Mate: the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in dealings t with both members of Parliament and the public. What next? banning 'no worries' so as not to offend the worried, or banning 'Down Under' So as not to offend those of us who live in the "Up Over".

Holiday Bonus: Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings for Christmas (which in some UK schools now label Wintervale). However, the word holiday is derived directly from Holy Day, and in the word X-Mas, the Greek letter 'chi' represented by the Roman X actually stands for the first two letters of the name Christ.) Now there are published reports of organization banning the traditional Christmas Colours of red and green.

Last year the Top Politically Incorrect words were: Los Angeles Countys insistence of covering over with labels any computer networking protocols that mention master/slave jargon. Following closely were same-sex marriage for marriage and waitron for waiter of waitress.


http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html

[Racoon]

From the link:
http://www.civitas.org.uk/press/prcs47.php


Anthony Browne argues in The Retreat of Reason that political correctness, which classifies certain groups of people as victims in need of protection from criticism and allows no dissent to be expressed, is poisoning the wells of debate in modern Britain.

'Members of the public, academics, journalists and politicians are afraid of thinking certain thoughts' (p.xii). Political correctness started in academia, but it now dominates schools, hospitals, local authorities, the civil service, the media, companies, the police and the army. Since 1997 Britain has been ruled by political correctness for the first time. 'The Labour government was the first UK government not to stand up to political correctness, but to try and enact its dictates when they are not too electorally unpopular or seriously mugged by reality, and even sometimes when they are' (p.34).

Anthony Browne describes political correctness as a 'heresy of liberalism' (p.2) under which 'a reliance on reason has been replaced with a reliance on the emotional appeal of an argument' (p.6). Adopting certain positions makes the politically correct feel virtuous, even more so when they are preventing the expression of an opinion that conflicts with their own: 'political correctness is the dictatorship of virtue'.

Whether an argument is true or not is a secondary consideration to whether it fits with the PC view of the world:

'In the topsy-turvy politically correct world, truth comes in two forms: the politically correct, and the factually correct. The politically correct truth is publicly proclaimed correct by politicians, celebrities and the BBC even if it is wrong, while the factually correct truth is publicly condemned as wrong even when it is right. Factually correct truths suffer the disadvantage that they don't have to be shown to be wrong, merely stated that they are politically incorrect. To the politically correct, truth is no defence; to the politically incorrect, truth is the ultimate defence. (p.7)'

Anthony Browne gives some examples (p.8) of factually incorrect arguments that trump factually correct ones, because they are PC:
*note this table did not copy as was modified*

Issue/ Politically Correct Truth / *Factually Correct Truth*

Women's pay less than men's/ Sex discrimination/ *Different work,life choices, childcare breaks*
Explosion in HIV/ Teenagers having unsafe sex/ *African immigration*
Rise in anti-semitic attacks/ White skinheads/ *Muslim youths*
Africa getting poorer/ West not giving enough aid / *Bad governance*

He argues that PC is much more than just a dispute about words, or the hope of avoiding hurtful expressions: it leads to an incorrect analysis of real problems, which means that the wrong solutions are attempted. People suffer as a result:

'Black communities are encouraged to blame racist teachers for the failings of their boys at school, rather than re-examine their own culture and attitudes to education that may be the prime reasons. The poor sick have ended up having worse healthcare in Britain than they would in mainland Europe because PC for long closed down debate on fundamental NHS reform. Women's employment opportunities can be harmed by giving them ever more rights that are not given to men. The unemployed are encouraged to languish on benefits blaming others for their fate. Poor Africans are condemned to live in poverty so long as they and their governments are encouraged to blame the West for all their problems, rather than confronting the real causes of poor governance, corruption and poor education'. (p.xiv) The end of political correctness?

[hallenrm]

Political correctness is a relative term, whether it has gone beyond limits (too much) or not depends on the political motives of the politician. If the motive is to get support of a backward community you will give them a name economically disadvantaged.

If you are targetting theives what will be the politically correct phrase to use that they start supporting you.

Quite interestingly there is no PC phrase for corrupt politicians. May be because they are numerically few and no one is really interested to get btheir votes.

So to be politically correct is to avoid conflict of interest and perhaps get mass support, after all that is the primary motivation of politicians.

People like you and me, dear Racoon, should just watch the fun from the sidelines and not get unneccesarily worked up about them. If one comes face to face with a situation where you would have to use a phrase that is politically incorrect, one should go ahead and do it, but at the same time be ready to face any consequences. Afterall we live in democratic societies where everybody has atleast the right to be vocally violent.

[Racoon]

Excellent Point HallenRM

and here is some more funny Double speak of those with PC agendas...
(I didn't print the entire article, as it would be too lengthy, but here are the more relevant points)

It's a living language. but sometimes it's dead on arrival when people toss around euphemisms and gobbledygook. If a hospital charges $58 for a "thermal therapy unit," what is the patient getting for the money? Answer: an ice pack. Suppose a patient spots an "optical illuminator enhancer" entering his room. Should he be alarmed? No. The visitor is a window washer. If a doctor removes a patient's right kidney when he was supposed to remove the left one, no problem. It's merely an "error of laterality." And if a doctor tells you that your medical problem is "supratentorial," back out of the room swiftly and go get a second opinion. He is saying that there's nothing wrong with your body--the problem is in your mind.
....
A Pittsburgh steel company, liable to pay workers a great deal of money if it closed a mill, halted all operations and tried to argue that it wasn't really shutting the place down, just "indefinitely idling" it.
....
"Insurging." The list of euphemisms for firings keeps growing. Downsize, rightsize, derecruit, and outplace are old hat. New ones in Britain include "selected out through performance management assessments" and "agreed departures" ("Wilson, I hope we can both agree that you've just been fired. Now get out"). Also in England, firing someone is referred to as "icing," from ICE--"involuntary career event."

In politics, Republicans and Democrats seem to be evolving separate languages or, at least, long lists of different nouns. Democrats warn of "global warming" ; Republicans talk calmly about "climate change." Democrats are starting to call themselves "progressives." Republicans just say "liberals." Other Republican/Democratic partisan pairs include trial lawyer/personal injury lawyer, death tax/estate tax, collateral damage/civilian dead, quotas/goals and timetables, campus race preferences/race-sensitive admissions, indoctrination/sensitivity training, faith-based/religious, school choice/school vouchers, personal accounts/privatization, tax relief/tax cuts, illegal/undocumented, fetus/uterine contents, military difficulties/quagmire, rendition/shipping captives out for torture, racial charlatan Al Sharpton/civil rights activist Al Sharpton, John Kerry's weaseling/John Kerry's nuanced approach.

Most of us have no problem using the word "terrorists" for people who regularly blow up innocent bystanders for political effect. But the mainstream media still shun the "T" word in favor of "insurgents" or "the resistance." The "insurgents" in Iraq aren't really "insurging." They are blowing up large numbers of random people. But the press keeps talking about activists, rebels, militants, fighters, assailants, attackers, hostage-takers, etc., etc. Some media outlets are willing to refer to "acts of terrorism," as long as they don't have to call the people who perform those acts "terrorists." We have sin, but there are no sinners.

[Racoon]

Theres definitely something wrong with trickle-down political correctness as well...

This latest example makes you wonder if all speach, displays, attitudes, and thought should be hermetically sealed as not to potentially offend anyone, at any time. ?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15912456/

DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

“Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up,” he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

[InfiniteNow]

That's not a PC issue, it's a moron issue. Talk about trying to pick a fight over nonsense. The homeowners associations might be more dangerous than the Taliban...

"You laced the final lace of your shoes on the inside instead of the outside! We're going to make you change it or face a fine!!"

I wonder what they'd have done if they put up a wreath that said "Yay Iraq!" If only all this energy were put into something more, I don't know, rational and meaningful...

[pgrmdave]

I never realized that peace was such a divisive issue...

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

The homeowners associations might be more dangerous than the Taliban...

In my experience, homeowners associations can be hard to distinguish from the Taliban, other than by their lack of guns and guts

I was once fined by a homeowners association of which I was not a member, for having a birdbath in my front yard. Apparently, this organization had incorporated itself a decade earlier, but been unsuccessful in convincing many property owners to join – I’d been living in my house for a couple of years before their attempted extortion brought them to my attention. I sent them a reply saying I wouldn’t pay or comply, and that if they had further contact with me, I’d sue them for harassment (a bluff), adding (as I noticed that their “citation” had been placed by hand in my mailbox) that I also intended to notify the Postmaster of their 18 U.S.C. § 1725 violation. I never received a reply.

The birdbath, a gift, was rather ugly, so I eventually moved it to my back yard.

[Boerseun]

Jeez! PC-speak gives me the willies.

Whenever somebody starts talking about the 'economically disadvantaged' rather than 'the poor', or 'physically challenged' rather than 'cripple', or even 'melatonin challenged' rather than 'white', you have to ask yourself what the heck they're trying to achieve.

Every single instance of Political Correctness, is, in my opinion, utter horsesh!t and a thin veil hiding some ulterior motive.

I think the world will be a much better place if we commoners unite and stand up against these speakers of horse manure, and say "Enough is enough, dammit! A soil relocation device is a damn spade!"

[pgrmdave]

I think that Political Correctness comes from the right place, and goes in the wrong direction. It is there because there is a need to be respectful to people, and I think that much of it starts because of a genuine attempt to be respectful. There are words which mean more than they say, and those are words that we try to avoid. There is a difference in the way we perceive someone we call "handicapped" vs. "crippled", and thus there is good reason for us to use one over the other. It becomes too much when it is about not offending people, rather than being respectful to them.