A contrarian view

[chipotle]

This appeared on a mailing list I'm on, in which someone had referred to looking for the "God shot" of espresso (i.e., a really good "pull" from an espresso machine) and someone else joked that the ACLU was threatening to sue people to remove the word God from "God shot." As is the way of mailing lists, a small war over the propriety of this sort of joke erupted, although the war was more polite and thoughtful than many I've seen. Someone posted this observation:

I, for one, believe that "political correctness" is one of the few civic and civil achievements America has seen over the last few decades. Maybe that's why so many people mock it. Some may emphasize and recoil at the coercive effect that "correctness" has in inhibiting a few who are generally more powerful or privileged, but that's a small price to pay in return for a much heightened awareness and sensitivity, especially at a time when the Internet allows us nearly anonymous access to thousands of others.

I know I've certainly grown more sick of people using the phrase politically correct as a way to dismiss all concerns of others, not merely histrionics, than I was sick of people saying, "That [joke|text|sign|cloud formation] offends me" in the first place. And you know, if you really mean "don't expect me to take any responsibility for my own words and actions," don't call it "personal responsibility."

Comments

[mordrul.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm neither powerful nor privileged, but I, personally, loathe 'political correctness'. I refuse to use any such phrase, ever, and on the rare occasion someone attempts to coerce me into using it, I'll either just look at them, or give them a clue-by-four, depending on my mood. I honestly find it offensive.

My reasoning is simply that, to me, it sounds like dishonesty, or outright fraud. I was going to use some examples, but it seems a little preachy. The point is this: I'm 5'7". I'm shorter than a lot of other guys. I am vertically challenged. I'm 27. I'm not growing anymore (well, not vertically, anyway). It's not a challenge. I cannot overcome this simple fact of life. Period. I am simply... short. Compared to some basketball players, I'm a midget. Compared to midgets, I'm, well, not as tall as a basketball player.

Well, I guess that counts as an example. And was a little preachy. Sorry. Anyway. I will be fair, and say that I don't know what is and isn't 'politically correct'. There are some phrases I find offensive which aren't considered politically correct. Basically, anything which, to me, sounds like a verbal two-step (or the Macarena, in some cases), is going to be shunned by myself, along with things which are deliberately offensive. To me, there's a difference between reality, and a simple insult. If someone is offended by anything I say, well, I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention (unless there's an altercation going on). But I'm not going to worry about people being offended by reality.

That's just my take, anyway.