Your Political Correctness Offends Me!
Is it just me or has the whole world gone too far with political correctness? Seriously come on!
I am taking a stand right now. I will no longer allow society to dictate to me which words can be used at which time; which jokes can be told when; and what T-shirt I can wear to what function. I will however, continue to use common-sense and go out of my way to not be rude or hurtful.
This is a list of the top 5 words I am taking back! Who decided we can't use these words? I will probably add more as I think of them. I would love to hear suggestions. Remember, I don't want to be rude or hurtful, just realistic. I think if we take back these words they can no longer be hurtful to anyone.
1. Gay - homosexuals can't have it all to themselves! In a time when being homosexual is becoming much more accepted and common, the word gay should go back to it's original meaning and use. When I was growing up, gay simply meant different, strange, and generally not the norm. ie. "man that Warrant song is so gay!" On this note I also declare that we are taking back the colour purple. It is a good colour that everyone can look good in. Sorry to everyone who is homosexual, you can have pink and the rainbow but purple is for everyone again.
2. Retard (or retarded) - come on..this word simply means to slow something down...look it up. It should not be offensive and I can't imagine anyone is still using it as a put down to someone who is of lower IQ or suffers from a mental illness. I will no longer feel bad if I say to someone, "geez, stop being so retarded...". It is not offensive.
3. Handicap - this word has been used for decades to refer to someone at a disadvantage, ie. in golf or bowling. I can't see how this term could offend someone with a disability. Is someone in a wheel chair not at a disadvantage? Have you ever tried being in a wheel chair? Trust me, it's not easy and you ARE at a disadvantage. Don't like it? Sorry it's just the truth.
4. Midget - ok this one certainly is targeted at certain individuals but can you seriously tell me that it is less offensive to be called "little people" than midgets? Please! I would hate to be called a little person, it sounds like "less of a person" which we all know isn't true.
5. Bum - how the hell did this word come to mean homeless person? My bum is my ass, it's what I sit on. I will not feel bad for using the word bum. When I mean homeless I will say homeless, when I mean bum I will say bum, ass, butt or arse.
While on the topic here are a few other things I think we need to stop.
No scent policy - ok I understand allergies, and I respect that perfumes are a real problem to certain people but we can't have the whole world go unscented. You must admit that you would rather have a sneeze attack or a headache from that nice smelling deodorant than have to sit next to that smelly, sweaty guy on the bus.
Peanut butter - it's good. When we were kids every single person in the school took peanut butter sandwiches at least once a week. Now it is banned from the school entirely? If being in the vicinity of peanuts may kill you, you have some serious worries my friend because they are everywhere in the real world. You may as well learn to deal with them while you're young, perhaps carry an epi-pen if you are deathly allergic. This ban makes as much sense as banning wasps or bumble-bees from the playground. It's just not practical and out in the real world it's impossible to enforce.
OK, well I have ranted enough for this post. I am sure others have suggestions and I am sure I will blog about this again.
Bottom line: I think we have gone too far! It's high time we stop being so damn sensitive! If I say something that can be taken one of two ways, assume that I don't mean to offend or hurt! It's common-sense really. In the words of my childhood friend's father, "stop being such a pansy!".
7 comments:
yeesh
I find your comment offensive ;-)
Just joking!
I agree! I am scared to even talk in public half the time because I never know what I am supposed to say!
The whole scent free thing makes me crazy too. If everyone could just use a little common sense we shouldn't have to ban everything.
However, the peanut butter ban I can agree with. Although my kids are not allergic I can only imagine how horrible it must be to be sending your little boy/girl to school knowing they have an allergy that could kill them, just because the kids beside them are eating a sandwich.
I hear what you are saying about in the real world they need to adjust and use epi pens, but you can't have them using an epi pen everyday to go to school. There are lots of other things kids can take in their lunch, and they can eat all the peanut butter they want at home.
There is a much lower chance of a child being stung by a bee than have a kid smearing peanut butter all over a lunch room table.
Now that I have ranted this much.... maybe I should get my own blog and leave yours alone!! ha ha
Well, you make some good points about the peanut butter and I would certainly hate to see anything bad happen to any child. However, I do really feel that there is a whole generation out there that is being brought up to expect the world to change to accommodate them.
As someone without children I am sure I come at this from a different perspective, but I think that children do need a healthy sense of "the world can be dangerous and it doesn't look out for you" mentality.
It is good to teach children they can change world, but they can't expect the world to change for them. It takes hard work, determination, accountability, self sacrifice and very little coddling.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there are dangerous things everywhere. We used to teach children to be aware of them, to use common sense and to look out for them. Now we teach them not worry because someone will ban or remove those dangerous things for them...what happens when someone doesn't?
Oh and I would love to read your blog if you start one!
Personally I believe in the no stink policy. If I am within your 3 feet of personal space, you can smell like whatever the heck you want: roses, vanilla, onions, curry, burberry etc. However, under no circumstances do I want to smell you if I am greater than 3 feet away.
As far as peanut butter, the whole no peanut policy is obscene. I'm allergic to wheat and gluten so I think the school boards should ban everyone from taking sanddwhiches to school should I be tempted/conned into having a bite of little Johnny's peanut free sandwich.
Third and most importantly. How is changing the ending of a title from "signalman" to "signalperson" (for example) any better? I am offended. I would like to be a signalperdaughter.
Some very interesting points of view here - some I agree with, and some that I don't. As far as the peanut butter issue is concerned, I have been asking for years what the heck we have done to cause this "epidemic" allery, as it did not exist when I went to school.
The scent issue is a real one for me as I have friends who have real problems, as I do myself. I personally do not use perfume and am glad that none of my close friends use perfume or aftershave that makes me feel miserable. However, I draw the line at banning scented deodorants and hair products. I worked with people who slathered on perfume every day to go to an office, and had absolutely no qualms at telling people that it's their body and they'll use it if they want to, regardless of who else it severely affected.
I'll leave the other points alone for now :-)
BAN DRIVER CELL PHONE USE!
Great discussion! I sort of have to agree with "My Secret Identity". The 3 foot personal space rule is a good one.
Perhaps instead of working to ban things we should work to teach little Johnny, "The Prince of Peanut Smearing", to respect the space of others and to keep his peanut butter and smells confined within his own personal space. I realize that is next to impossible with young children but it is about a much larger issue than peanut butter sandwiches. There needs to be personal accountability and it needs to start at an early age.
Oh and how about Secretary? How and when did that become a dirty word?
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