[WikiEN-l] Primer on PC (for Ed)

[Poor, Edmund W]

Viajero,

You are right about the sensitive labels. I was wrong to ignore that
aspect of "political correctness". 

I was thinking of the other side of the swamp, the "you can't express
this idea because it hurts this favored group's feelings" side.

I don't want to go back to the days when rednecks made fun of cripples
and niggers with impunity. Because:

"Yo soy un hombre sincero" even if I /do/ suffer from melanin
deficiency! :-)

Your redneck friend,
Uncle Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Viajero [mailto:viajero at quilombo.nl] 
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:15 PM
To: English Wikipedia
Subject: [WikiEN-l] Primer on PC (for Ed) (was: Re: Relativism and PC)


On 02/12/04  at 12:33 PM, "Poor, Edmund W" <Edmund.W.Poor at abc.com> said:

>  Liberals mostly deny that PC even exists, so it might be tricky

Whoa, let's get a few things straight. "Political correctness" evolved
in the 1960s among progressive-minded people who sought culturally more
sensitive labels for people, ie "Afro-Americans" instead of "negroes",
"Native Americans" instead of "Indians", "disabled" instead of
"crippled" or "handicapped", and a bunch more. 

No sensible person can argue that this a bad idea. In civilized circles,
this thought of as PROGRESS.

Now in the 1980s and 90s, when the Left splintered into identity
politics, US conservatives complained "political correctness" went too
far; they claimed that leftists had become obsessed with creating
euphemisms for avoiding uncomfortable realities. Maybe conservatives
have/had a point, maybe not. Whether or not you agree with "political
correctness" is up to you. However, if you don't, it implies you would
prefer to refer to Blacks as "negroes" or "colored people" again.


V.
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