I'm just sayin'...

[eumelia]

I don't understand the concept of political correctness.

I understand the concept of non-prejudicial language.

I understand the concept of respecting other people.

I don't understand why people don't get either of those two concepts and accuse me of being "Politically Correct" as though I'm trying to censor what they say and what they think.

Is it seriously so difficult for people not to say something that is offensive to another person?

And in any event, why is it called Political Correctness when in reality it is basic politeness?

There seems to be this notion that people, as a general rule, do in fact spout whatever they like and are completely filter-less when it comes to language.

My mother, who is a teacher, threw a kid out of her class the other day because he said that there was an "Arab Smell" in the classroom.
I mean, for fuck's sake.
Would you say that my mother was wrong for punishing a child for saying something like that?
And if he had said there was a "Fucking Smell"? (which could happen, Mummy teaches English the language to 14-15 year old kids).
She's probably throw the kid out all the same.
Disrespectful language in a public forum.

Is what she did censorship?

Well you could say that in the hierarchical set-up of a school, the kids really do have no say when it comes to freedom of speech and all that.
So yeah, that's my mother's prerogative to discipline the class room.

But when you're talking with people in the aforementioned public forum.
How does that work then?
I don't really have the prerogative of discipline the masses.
I do think it is everyone's duty, as social people, to be aware of the effect and affect of language on other people's lives.

Is that difficult?

I know that in Israel it is, there is a culture of "telling it straight", "what you see is what you get" and very frank discussion on race (and in some circles sex of various kinds).
The other day I was at my regular falafel place which is run by a family of Mizrahi Jews (specifically of Yemeni heritage) and I was saying that I love the spices they've added to the falafel and [Proprietor] smiled at me and said "Thanks, most people from Africa like the hot stuff".
I laughed because he knows my family is South African and I said "Yeah, well you wouldn't know with the way my family eats... they don't all go for the hot stuff... You know us Europeans"
"Yeah, well you don't count you were born here"
"I guess so" I replied.
"Where's your family originally from?" he asked.
I said we were Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, generic Eastern-European.
And he said "Yeah, I though you guys were Russian when I first met you".

Only in Israel.

Oy my point drifted away.
Ah yes.
Language.
And how Political Correctness is a myth.
You're either respectful (which isn't synonymous with polite) or you're not.
As a general rule we don't say everything we think right at that moment, it goes through a filter and is arranged to make sense in our mouths, or on a page, or on a website.

As a result, if someone accuses you of "Political Correctness" ask them if they find it difficult to not say "You mouther-fucking bitch cunt!"?.
When you could have easily said "You fucking moron!".
If you're going to insult my intellect, don't make it about my "female brain".
Seems harsh, don't it?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

See this post (http://community.livejournal.com/debunkingwhite/781388.html) in debunkingwhite?

Whenever someone talks about political correctness, now I hear "waaaaaaaaah, why must you call me on my privilege?"

[imfallingup.livejournal.com]

I love Zuky's post on PC (I just looked and I guess it was linked in that DBW post but here it is just in case, <ahref="http://www.kaichang.net/2006/11/the_sloppy_prop.html">here)

Thing is it's not just about respect--some of it is learning that what you'd grown up thinking was respectful is in fact not (such as the history of disability and its use as a delegitimizer of other people, whereby we learn that someone is considered less of a person, not able to vote or give consent for sex or ever grow up for being mentally disabled, ie a moron, and therefore it's more okay to insult someone by calling them a "moron" than a "mother fucking bitch cunt" because the latter is insulting to women and we wouldn't want to compare the two ;) )

While for many people it's specifically about not being respectful--people think they're getting straight to the point of what they're trying to say without hiding it in sensitive language, which I think is a way for many of proving "toughness"--being able to talk "frankly". I think there's often other oppression issues built in, where oppressed folks have different sensitivities to pollitical correctness concepts initiated from their own communities than those from outside, as language of many oppressed groups becomes one of the greatest focuses of difference and disruption.

But of course you can talk frankly without using oppressive language, or more accurately using oppression-conscious language--I think that's really relevant in acknowledging that different people experience different language differently. I use "queer" frequently as a preferred term to LGBTQIQ or other terms to suggest that whole community, but there is no term that many in these communities do not find insulting. When talking about someone who is fat, many people argue that the word is offensive and you should use a "nicer" word, and as many say that "fat" is offensive and that's why you *should* use that word, and as many again say it's not offensive and/or should be reclaimed.

Respectful nothing--it's conscious language, which allows it to be dynamic and constantly developing, rather than based on a static and culturally-biased concept of respect.

[wanky-punjabi.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to see this laid out, and I love finding people with this opinion.

I get so angry when people use 'free speech' as defense for being awful to other human beings, and, under the banner of 'telling it like it is' or 'just having my opinion' spout racist or homophobic or sexist and all other forms of ignorant rubbish.
What's worse is how now, more than anything, these attitudes seem to be celebrated.
The notion of 'free speech' has, like so many others, been twisted into something that is used as a vehicle for hatred.

'Arab smell'? That makes me very sad.

(I know I added you without a word, but I find your journal very interesting, hello!)

[corvus.livejournal.com]

Fuck yeah Lithuania. Two of my great grandmothers were from right outside Vilnius. When I went there a year and a half ago we visited the last surviving synagogue. It was an interesting experience.

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

But that's just the thing: there is a whole lot of difference between "impolite" and "not PC"- "impolite" is inherently a matter of perception, while "not PC" is inherently a matter of absolute value, usually driven by identity: i.e. I can say the same things and just by the tone of my voice make one utterance "impolite", I can't do that with political correctness.More then that, a white man saying "nigger" is automatically assumed to be prejudiced, while a black man saying the same is not(this in and of itself is prejudice).

As to the dream of non-prejudiced language:If it will ever happen, and human nature being what it is I'm very much doubtful of that, it will happen as organic part of the growth of non-prejudiced society.It simply doesn't work in the other direction.So trying to deal with the offending words without dealing with the attitude is at best problematic- see my post at http://antongarou.livejournal.com/23549.html and most of the debate from about a year ago at http://blogdebate.org/threads.php?thread=327 (warning:Hebrew links).

At day's end the problem is very simple- something you think of as offensive/prejudiced isn't necessarily thought of in that way by the people who say it- a good example is a friend of mine who calls her fiance "creature", very very lovingly:).Language is meant to describe people, and as long as people will be imperfect we will have words for imperfection in our language, and as long as people may choose to be offensive(and everybody does it, even if only to "let off steam") there will be offensive language, and as long as people will be prejudiced, language will be prejudiced as well.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

People whining about political correctness always seem to be saying "I don't care about anyone's viewpoint except mine."

You asked a very good question above - has your friend ever thought about *why* he doesn't like dark skin - and his defensive answer shows that no, he hasn't. He's just going along with cultural prejudice. This is a question asked a lot in body acceptance circles - are you really not attracted to a particular fat person, or are you just having kneejerk prejudice? It's quite possible that "thin" or "muscular" are really important to someone, but when your prejudices neatly line up with those of the dominant culture, it's worth thinking harder.

let me reply to this with a song.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lux_aeterna_1/]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA