[WikiEN-l] Primer on PC (for Ed) (was: Re: Relativism and PC)

[John C. Penta]

----- Original Message -----
From: Viajero <viajero at quilombo.nl>
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:15 pm
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.

As a minor side note, that situation has created (near as I can tell from my involvement) something of a small backlash among the disabled...Myself among them.

To put it simply, the next time I see the words "physically challenged", "visually challenged", (especially) "differently abled" (or "exceptional" in some circumstances), I'm going to kill someone. Slowly, painfully, and methodically.

There's something to be said for being direct. Call it as you see it; Disabled, crippled, blind, retarded, handicapped...whatever. Anyone old enough to be using the net with disabilities has, in our time, probably gotten used to their situation, and WP shouldn't try to dance around the issue.

John