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Political correctness and why it's good for you

by Alexis Adauto Ferguson
Tuesday, May 3, 2005. 03:18PM
530 Views 9 Comments

So about a month ago I asked why we tippy toe around stuff and why we just can't speak our minds sometimes. The answer hit me right between the eyes on Sunday when my husband asked "Did you hear about the Oklahoma baseball coach?". Then he proceeded to tell me how in an off the air interview this guy said that a specific player had overcome adversity and didn't have an ounce of "n word" in him. I won't say the word and neither did my husband because that is just a nasty word. It was then I realized why we sometimes NEED to request a PC environment. With all the backwards thinking idiots around, the only safe way to communicate is with a bunch of "rules". And even though I'd like to see us lighten up, maybe we just can't right now.

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Thursday, May 5, 2005. 10:10AM by Sei Seito
Memories of my sister saying about a woman at McDonalds, "Mommy, I want to be chocolate."
Thursday, May 5, 2005. 09:03AM by Alexis Adauto Ferguson
Kevin you rock and you are so right. They see the difference, but they don't attatch it to anything that is harmful. Kids will tell the truth even if you don't like it. My niece told my sister her butt was big... she's on a diet and making her butt smaller - not because her feelings were hurt or she thought my niece was being mean... she knew she was being honest and took it to heart. I wish we could drop the baggage we've attached with being brown, yellow or white or black. It is what it is and it doesn't make anyone into who they are. Ah - to be a kid again would be wonderful!
Wednesday, May 4, 2005. 12:30PM by Kevin Glennon
I'm a volunteer coach for a baseball/softball league for little kids (ages 5-10). Little kids are the most PC, and most un-PC people around. They won't say a "white" kid, they'd say he's pink. They won't say a "black" kid, they'd say he's more "snicker's bar." Thing is, they see the color of skin as yet another way to identify someone -- height, weight, hair color, eye color, skin color, t-shirt color, whatever. It's something they can see, and they know you can see it, so they say it.

Why do we screw with that? It makes sense, and there's no malice behind it.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005. 11:16AM by Jeremy Feldman
Once I saw Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" broadcast over the USA Network. About every second word was bleeped out and one of the funniest jokes in the movie was cut out entirely. Of course, the joke was on the network. After all, the movie deliberately broke every PC rule before there even was a PC "movement." The simple idea that USA thought it was right for their network is even more ridiculous. My point is that PC can be taken too far, to the point where it becomes impossible to communicate at all. I'm all for respecting one and other. On the other hand, I believe strongly in free speech and the old notion: "Sticks and stones..."
Wednesday, May 4, 2005. 11:11AM by Alexis Adauto Ferguson
Agree with all points. I was just so to the "other side" and wanting us to just let it lapse that I was jolted back into "Ok, I get it now".
Wednesday, May 4, 2005. 07:30AM by Kim S
To add to Kevin - when part of the group to which the PC refers, it seems okay to use it. I wouldn't use the term "fat" for larger people than I, but I have no problem using the word skinny, because I am. However - if you are not skinny please don't say that word to me ;P
Tuesday, May 3, 2005. 09:20PM by Kevin Glennon
One other point -- people give LOTS of leeway with PC terminology. For example, "blacks" use the "n" word, "asians" use the "g" word, and "whites" use many words. None of them are ever right, and they only continue stupid stereotypes that lesser-minded (or educated) people fall into.
Tuesday, May 3, 2005. 09:17PM by Kevin Glennon
The logic behind PC and the practice of PC are two different things. The coach was wrong in how he approached the problem, not in the words he chose. You don't turn around and equate a guy's success with such a blind blanket culture from which the coach thinks he comes.

If the coach saw poverty as something other than a black thing, guaranteed he still would have said something wrong in the PC mindset. He seems so far behind in culture that he'd continue to insult groups of people for quite some time before he finally started tapping the point on the root problem with which he was trying to identify.

I mean, if any of the following: culture, economics, sociology, criminology, and religion can be grouped easily in your mind, you're missing a whole lot.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005. 06:45PM by Sei Seito
Alexis - I appreciate what you're saying, and what you're saying is valid and probably one of the reasons PC came about. But! :) The real issue nowadays is PC or oversensitivity. PC hasn't corrected the ignorant, it's caused issues to be PUT behind closed doors, only to be revealed in private situations. What has happened are things that really shouldn't cause any discussion is beat to death by the media (aka the PC Police) fueling the fire. My message may be a little jarbled, but to put it simply: PC hasn't changed anything, PC is a good discussion piece for the media, and PC can cause more problems than it solves. You can't change attitudes by ignoring the problem or proxy.

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