On political correctness (Sports Miscellaneous)

Name: enchantingchap

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Product:	Sports Miscellaneous
Date:	08/06/07 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes people (mistakenly however) think that they're being sensitive

Disadvantages: Shirks reality for bland misrepresentations; suffocates diversity by using blanket terminology

The aim of this piece is to talk quite generally about the phenomenon of political correctness. Now, we all know what political correctness is about: avoiding expressions that can be perceived to exclude or insult people who are thought to be socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. On the face of it, this seems like a reasonable guideline of behaviour. But there are problems and it is my intention to expose them.

There is one politically correct convention that makes me particularly annoyed, and that is the use of 'him or her' when just 'him' will do. This modern convention makes sentences jittery and unnecessarily lengthy. 'He' is gender neutral; the context will make plain when such is otherwise. There is no sexist bias to the English language.


But the most fundamental problem with political correctness is its tendency to mask differences. It covers up plain reality only to replace it with the untrue. One of the most wretched examples of this was when the character names, amongst other things, in some of Enid Blyton's books for children were changed. The names Fanny and Dick were substituted for Frannie and Rick. Someone might say to this "What's the big deal? They're only names". However the reasons for changing them are wrong. It is not right to change innocent names just because, construed in an unnatural way, they could be offensive. To do so destroys history and culture: it is clear that the names are a result of the period they were written in, and should not be changed by posterity to try and protect the 'victims' of such benign language.

It is my view instead of trying to hide the differences (e.g. between men and women, whites and blacks) that exist between people we should aim to celebrate them. Isn't it in fact wonderful that we are all different? And isn't it obvious, to take an example, that men and women are not the same? I am not saying that we should discriminate against different groups, I mean we should of course treat people equally, but this should only be so when they are actually alike.

I could go on. I would like to say though that I detest those who pander to political correctness under the impression that it makes them better people. It does not. It only makes you a liar (you know you're not doing anything worthwhile really) and a scoundrel; if you are politically correct, you are the worst sort of correct: you are wrong.

Summary: A misconceived idea which dulls the differences between us when we should, instead, celebrate them