The Need for PC? The Political Correctness movement is an intellectual effort to use language to allow and encourage social progress. The theoretical foundation of the PC movement is this: language creates categories for thought, and words can create either opportunities or boundaries. The language we use affects not just the messages we communicate, but the fundamental ways that we think and act. The problem arises when the linguistic constructs we use influence our way of thinking in negative ways. These negative influences from language can be called politically incorrect. Origin The terms politically correct and political correctness, in the sense defined above, entered the language via the U.S. feminist and other left-wing movements of the 1970s. The use of PC language quickly spread to other parts of the industrialized world. The earliest printed reference that is unambiguous in it s use of politically correct in its current commonly understood sense is Toni Cade s The Black Woman, 1970: A man cannot be politically correct and a chauvinist too. 3
The Media The importance of the way in which language is used in its expressive sense is heightened in an age of mass communications, when terms can gain immediate and universal currency. Political Correctness and freedom Changes in language and the adoption of certain politically correct stances are no substitute for services, efficiently and effectively available. Piles of documents have been produced but at the end of the day, if we weigh in the balance which groups or individuals are better off as a result of politically correct activities, we might find that it exactly replicates those power relationships which it was originally intended to undermine. 7
Words instead of action There is a danger that words can be mistaken for deeds. Jules Feiffer makes this point when he writes: I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn t poor, I was needy. They told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, I was deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, I was underprivileged. They told me underprivileged was over used, I was disadvantaged. I still haven t got a dime. But I sure have a great vocabulary. We are daily exposed to different situations Some experiences are too sensitive to be discussed, e.g. death, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, etc. Some experiences are strategically defined with specific vocabulary: Euphemisms, metaphors > political correctness (PC), The Third World, underdeveloped, less developed, developing countries, emergent nations, HIPCs (heavily indebted poor countries) > a Western point of view 8
The three categories of language: Subtle: Words like policeman, mailman, fireman; referring to all people as man; referring to an androgynous individual as he. These exclusionary words subtly influence our way of thinking. The first three imply that these are roles for men only. Offensive: Words like gay or retarded to refer to something undesirable; words like fag or retard to refer to people. The first set shows how these descriptions inherently link certain types of individuals to anything bad by using terms that refer to them as insults for other undesirable concepts. 9
Blatant: The n-word to refer to black people or the c-word or b-word to refer to women. This type needs little explanation. These words are highly offensive and indicate a great deal of disdain. They objectify and belittle entire groups of people based on one trait. Criticism 1 We should ban the use of the term political correctness. It is a camouflage, an obfuscation, an obstacle, a disguise, a red herring, an irritant, a diversion. It hardly explains anything. Issues of equality and anti-oppression are important and no one should be embarrassed to say so. 10
Criticism 2 Critics argue that political correctness is censorship and endangers free speech by limiting what is considered acceptable public discourse. Other critics say that politically correct terms are awkward euphemisms for truer, original, stark language, comparing them to George Orwell s Newspeak. Some critics of political correctness claim that it marginalizes certain words, phrases, actions or attitudes through the instrumentation of public disesteem. Criticism 3 Some critics of political correctness argue that it is a form of coercion rooted in the assumption that in a political context, power refers to the dominion of some men over others, or the human control of human life; by this argument, ultimately, it means force or compulsion. 11
Criticism 4 Another criticism is that enforcers rarely consult the minorities they claim to be protecting, and controversies are therefore based on assumptions that the minorities want this, when this is often not the case Some critics have branded political correctness completely intolerant of any person who does not act in a politically correct fashion, and considers it to be more divisive than harmonious. Some critics nickname enforcers the PC brigade or the diversity dictators. When Birmingham Council decided to rename the Christmas and New Year season Winterval it did so in order to recognize the cultural and religious mix of its population. But it could only seek to subsume Christmas within its new nonsensical nomenclature. Those in Birmingham who dreamed up this idea would be the first to protest at the outrageous insult to Jews or Muslims, if it were suggested that Yom Kippur or Ramadan be dropped into some spiritual melting pot. Criticism 5 12
Political Correctness Gone Mad? It has the exact opposite effect intended 13
Tollerance There s a lot of irony in this subject 14