One thing worth looking forward to is the day when we lose the knee-jerk reaction to shout, 'It's political correctness gone mad,' everytime someone suggests we might get a bit of inclusivity into our langauge.
The late Miles Kington correctly, and narrowly, defined political correctness as, '...the demand that we should treat every disadvantage as if it conferred dignity upon the sufferer.'
(The Independent 18/10/04)
'There is no doubt ... that claims that political correctness is rendering life intolerable are sometimes exaggerated, again for political purposes. Most of the time, most of us are completely unaffected by it.'
(Theodore Dalrymple reviewing Edward Stourton's new book on political correctness, The Observer 30/11/08)
2 comments:
Good point, Steve
hmm, do you know, I've never heard anyone speak in favour of Political Correctness.
I've worked in universities where, you would have thought, that - in an attempt to further the goals of inclusivity and equality - we would have championed Political Correctness.
My own thinking and work has been shaped by some feminist thinking (surely a very pinnacle of PC).
I seek in all my talk, especially my written and spoken public 'talk' to ensure that my language is inclusive. Fortunately I have a skilled editor to help with that... political correctness in practice?
But never, not once... have I ever heard a lecture, read an article or sat in on a committee that expressly championed Political Correctness.
which makes me think
that PC doesn't actually exist
except as a straw man
or a windmill
for quixotic men to rant about, blame for all that's wrong and then charge - generally claiming nobility for an action of folly.
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