posted
PC has to be one of the most overused acronyms around at the moment (In New Zealand anyway) and I'm getting a bit bored of it actually!
Being "too PC" is apparently one of THE worst traits you can have. Is it really? What is so wrong with being too PC? I would have thought that more harm would come from being too politically incorrect?
posted
The problem is when you start using "being PC" as an excuse to obscure the truth. Some truth's out there are ugly, but they can't be addressed if we hide from them, and occasionally going overboard on "PC" is just an effort to pretend they don't exist.
Also, what is "PC" tends to morph over time. It seems like as soon as the PC term actually becomes synonymous with what it is describing, then we have to change it to get a "more correct" term. It's just silly! For instance, my brothers are retarded. That is their medical diagnosis, and yet, I'm not supposed to say it! I can't even tell you what the PC term is anymore. For a while it was, "Mentally Handicapped", but now "handicapped" is a bad word. Then it was "Mentally Disabled", but "disabled" is apparently as bad as "handicapped" now. Then, of course, there is "Special Needs", but that one is so broad that I it really doesn't give a person very much information, and it will probably become bad eventually too.
That is just one example. There are others from everything from race to sexual orientation. I don't mind being polite! I certainly don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but it sure is darn hard to be polite when the rules for polite behavior keep changing!
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posted
PC is a bit of a problem because the real issue at stake are people's attitudes and beliefs, not what language they use to state those attitudes and beliefs. Once a person knows which "trigger" words to avoid and how to couch their words in PC language, they can be ragingly racist but effectively invisible to some people who only care about the appearance of being PC which can make it difficult for those that want to criticize to criticize.
One example is what Colbert mocks with the "I'm colorblind, I don't see color" shtick.
The other issue is that PC can be used as a sort of blunt instrument to quash minority views, but thats probably straying from the mainstream use of the phrase PC.
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quote:Once a person knows which "trigger" words to avoid and how to couch their words in PC language, they can be ragingly racist but effectively invisible to some people who only care about the appearance of being PC which can make it difficult for those that want to criticize to criticize.
Yes, this is exactly it. Being PC can essentially become equivalent to lying - pretending you are saying one thing, even though underneath the words is a different implied meaning.
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quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: The problem is when you start using "being PC" as an excuse to obscure the truth. Some truth's out there are ugly, but they can't be addressed if we hide from them, and occasionally going overboard on "PC" is just an effort to pretend they don't exist.
In my experience this is the perception of those who would like not to have their "common sense" racial values challenged by what appears to them to be an intellectual cabal attacking the foundation of their moral values, right or wrong. Being "PC" doesn't rightly have anything to do with denying basic facts- it does however have something to say about how we perceive those facts, and with what assumptions we approach other people. Sorry, but if you see people "being PC" by ignoring actual facts or denying them, they're doing it wrong. Either that, or your judgement of the truth value of some given axiom or piece of racial knowledge is different from theirs.
But ultimately "being PC" is not much of a value indicator regarding racism. It's just a register of speaking or writing which attempts to elide racial-value assumptions. It's also fairly useless except as a tool of political rhetoric, so the tizzy people get into about it is usually not about it at all, but about actual problems of defining and dealing with race in communication.
quote: It seems like as soon as the PC term actually becomes synonymous with what it is describing, then we have to change it to get a "more correct" term. It's just silly!
It's really not silly, it's a typical aspect of language and politics which applies to *every* subject and in every language. People use language to define not only what they are speaking about, but how they are approaching the subject. Fashion and implied viewpoint- whether one is "current" or rejects the current in favor of some other mode of communication is in itself a means towards communicating an important position. What do you expect, really? That the language will not change to reflect our struggles with changing attitudes or realities? Do you apprehend that you yourself despite claiming not to be consumed with such worries, avoid racially charged language as a means to communicate your own attitudes? This is why you do not refer to your black neighbors as "niggers," because despite the fact that you may not be a racist, this is a word reserved for racists and for those in a position to employ the word rhetorically or for some other communicative purpose, such as a black person using it. The fact that you are aware of that changed context and that you understand why it exists and accept its existence, even as something undesirable to you (and there you may not be necessarily wrong), should tell you all you need to know about why "pc" language exists- because it means something, just like all extant aspects of language. You would never use the language in a way you knew would not be properly understood, and so you are complicit in this system, it not mattering whether you find the idea tasteful.
quote: Then, of course, there is "Special Needs", but that one is so broad that I it really doesn't give a person very much information, and it will probably become bad eventually too.
Lately 'Learning Difficulties' has become kind of a cover all term. Again, it doesn't really describe the problem.
I'd rather live in a world that was sometimes too PC than one where everyone was rude and blunt about everything. I think a lot of people get away with sheer rudeness by claiming that the alternative is 'Political Correctness Gone Mad'.
But at the same time, you have to be realistic about things. It drives me mad when people do stupid things like banning children from singing 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. It's just a song about a sheep, for crying out loud. There is no hidden meaning.
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posted
The biggest problem with "PC" is that they failed to take the opportunity to appease the people most in need of PC training by calling it "not being a douchebag."
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posted
The biggest theme among people who like to market themselves as 'bucking the PC trend, besides being dicks, is usually "I got so salty over being constantly challenged over my silly views that I pulled sour grapes over the concept of decency in argumentation"
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: The problem is when you start using "being PC" as an excuse to obscure the truth. Some truth's out there are ugly, but they can't be addressed if we hide from them, and occasionally going overboard on "PC" is just an effort to pretend they don't exist.
In my experience this is the perception of those who would like not to have their "common sense" racial values challenged by what appears to them to be an intellectual cabal attacking the foundation of their moral values, right or wrong. Being "PC" doesn't rightly have anything to do with denying basic facts- it does however have something to say about how we perceive those facts, and with what assumptions we approach other people. Sorry, but if you see people "being PC" by ignoring actual facts or denying them, they're doing it wrong. Either that, or your judgement of the truth value of some given axiom or piece of racial knowledge is different from theirs.
But ultimately "being PC" is not much of a value indicator regarding racism. It's just a register of speaking or writing which attempts to elide racial-value assumptions. It's also fairly useless except as a tool of political rhetoric, so the tizzy people get into about it is usually not about it at all, but about actual problems of defining and dealing with race in communication.
quote: It seems like as soon as the PC term actually becomes synonymous with what it is describing, then we have to change it to get a "more correct" term. It's just silly!
It's really not silly, it's a typical aspect of language and politics which applies to *every* subject and in every language. People use language to define not only what they are speaking about, but how they are approaching the subject. Fashion and implied viewpoint- whether one is "current" or rejects the current in favor of some other mode of communication is in itself a means towards communicating an important position. What do you expect, really? That the language will not change to reflect our struggles with changing attitudes or realities? Do you apprehend that you yourself despite claiming not to be consumed with such worries, avoid racially charged language as a means to communicate your own attitudes? This is why you do not refer to your black neighbors as "niggers," because despite the fact that you may not be a racist, this is a word reserved for racists and for those in a position to employ the word rhetorically or for some other communicative purpose, such as a black person using it. The fact that you are aware of that changed context and that you understand why it exists and accept its existence, even as something undesirable to you (and there you may not be necessarily wrong), should tell you all you need to know about why "pc" language exists- because it means something, just like all extant aspects of language. You would never use the language in a way you knew would not be properly understood, and so you are complicit in this system, it not mattering whether you find the idea tasteful.
Orincoro, the rest of my post explains a specific instance where I HAVE found being PC to be confusing and when they attempt to hide something that, while it isn't pretty, is very REAL. But there are times when it can apply to race as well. Here in Texas, specifically, the term "Mexican" was (at some point) deemed non-PC. It was then changed to a variety of things like "Hispanic" or "Latino" (depending on who you talk to), but there are alot of people truly offended at THIS change. They say that by making Mexican a non-PC term you are dishonoring their heritage. After all, it's still ok to say someone is German or Irish! See my point?
Also, what I meant by the fact that it covers up and confuses an issue is exactly what others have pointed out. Using a "word" doesn't make you more or less racist (though in educated persons, it can be indicative). The REAL problem in this case is racism, NOT language. Too often people who are on the PC bandwagon just change the word used, and think that if they can get everyone to stop using the word, then the racism has disappeared. It hasn't, but someone in a PC bubble will believe it has because they don't hear any more words on their "hot list".
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posted
Daysh, yes, I see your point, but you haven't grasped mine. The changing fashions of speech, including times in which they become self-contradictory and confusing, reflect a society coping with its definition of self and other. Thus, people get touchy about *every* word for a black person, because every word has been used to offend. I'm not saying that's good, I'm saying that's inevitable, and that it doesn't indicate any great malevolence on the part of anybody in particular. So complaining about it, in my estimation, is most often a coping mechanism for your own insecurities. Everybody wants to feel in control of their own language, and it's frustrating that this isn't possible all the time- that is not anybody's, or any class of people's, fault. Imagining a PC cabal for the purpose of deriding that phenomenon is useless, really.
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