I've been thinking about political correctness these days --
I was raised in a conservative home in the 1960s and 70s where political correctness was the order of the day -- of course, in those days we called it "being polite."
Being polite meant that you didn't intentionally do or say something that you knew would offend someone. It wasn't lying to them, it grew out of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." It meant that there was a broad, generous space between friendship and enmity and there were people who were neither for you nor against you and you didn't have to go out of your way to engage them in intimacy nor in conflict. They were just other people.
You didn't have to like them. I probably know more offensive terms for more different kinds of people than Archie Bunker, all learned in the bosom of my family. But my family would have been horrified had I ever used ANY of them outside the family hearth and most likely I would have had my mouth washed out with Ivory soap had I ever used them in conversation with one of the people they represented. I knew that instinctively. (For the record, I have never used that kind of language. I was always uncomfortable with what I could sense was demeaning language about people). My grandfather, whose attitudes we secretly suspected was the model for Archie Bunker, was unfailingly polite and co-operative with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations outside the family.
Language shapes our world. It affects the way we see it, the mood of the environment, our basic assumptions about what is possible and whether or not we are welcome, even if we're not in charge. I cannot believe that after 30+ years of feminist awareness and conversation we still have people who are surprised that I don't consider myself included in "Men" and "Mankind". Are "People" and "Humankind" THAT much harder to say? And, by the way, if I can still get a ticket for using the "Men's Room" in a theater, I'm not included. When we insist on using "Man/Men" to mean "males" sometimes and "humans" other times, we require females to do the calculation each time. Am I included here? Am I not to consider myself part of this gathering? this reference? Is it a little thing? Yes. Are grains of sand little things? Yes. But put them into a three-foot by three-foot sack, and see whether you want to carry it the rest of your life and have people add to it grain by grain.
There is an attitudinal difference between being handicapped (less able) and challenged (the task might be harder, but you're able to do it!). "Differently abled' is awkward English and it requires those of us who do not face obvious challenges to think about the strengths of a person, not their weaknesses. If we're honest, it also requires us to think about where we might be less strong, less able than other folks. Never a pleasant task. And when we use "dumb" to mean unthinking, how could anyone possibly think it's acceptable to use it for someone who thinks wonderfully but can't vocalize? Would anyone call Steven Hawking "dumb"?
I don't care if your team has always been the "Redskins"/"Indians"/"Chiefs" -- if it's offensive to people who are of indigenous descent, it's offensive. Get over it! Change it! Move on! They will play just as well (or just as badly) if they're the Metropolitans, the Bricklayers or the Politicos. (As an aside, I once heard a Native American argue that most of us miss the spiritual element that is part of what it means to be a "Warrior" or a "Chief" and that that was what made it most offensive. He argued, "You don't name teams 'the Priests'" - which is true, except my college team has been the "Battling Bishops" for more than 100 years and at least one Roman Catholic high school I knew of called its teams "the Popes" and, better yet, "the Lady Popes". Like I said, beside the point).
In the name of Miss Manners, why in heaven's name would you insist on continuing a practice that you know offends or even hurts someone else, just because it's convenient for you or because you like it? When has that ever been justification for hurting someone else? And why would you ever NOT CARE about hurting someone else, particularly someone who has never hurt you? I have never heard anyone say that the Golden Rule was a bad idea. So why would you not follow it in the way you speak to and about others, at least in public?
When all the language is created to support who YOU are, where YOU come from, what YOU do, it is hard to understand what the fuss is about. But being polite doesn't mean you have to understand why something is offensive, just that it is offensive, and you adjust your behavior accordingly. To dismiss such concerns witheringly as "political correctness" is worse than being ignorant. It's just bad manners.
