Political Incorrectness

[poliphilo]

They were talking about "political incorrectness" on Sky last night. It was really just an excuse to show otherwise unshowable clips of people telling racist, sexist and homophobic jokes. I didn't stick with it.

I hate the phrase. It's one of those Orwellian things like Ministry of Peace. It gives victim status to the oppressor. Hey, the political establishment disapproves of me so I must be some sort of rebel. No. Political incorrectness is always about kicking down. It's the strong having a go at the weak. It's white guys with fat faces defending their castle.

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

It is difficult! I made reference on Friday, in my post about Constitution Day, to the fact that I had been told calling the place where the Native Americans reside a little bit south of the city here a 'reservation' was politically incorrect. I linked to Oren Lyons' website.

Spoke with suzilem on Saturday and she told me that he calls it the reservation throughout the site. And he referred to his people as 'Indians' throughout his talk on Friday.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I think one of the problems is that when underlying bias (real or perceived) against a population group exists, there's a sort of pejorative drift. The "neutral" term becomes a pejorative and a new neutral term is sought.

Hence folks of African origin or descent were called "Africans" in the eighteenth century in America. Then Negros, then colored, then Negros again, then blacks, then Afro-Americans, and currently African Americans.

There's a similar pejorative drift in labeling folks with disabilities: crippled, handicapped, disabled, differently abled.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes- and it's silly.

Ailz is registered disabled and makes a point of referring to herself as a "cripple" or "crip". Reclaiming the perjorative is empowering.