[Vision2020] Three easy pieces

[Joan Opyr]

LuJane Nisse opines:

"All this political correct stuff makes my head spin. You need a degree in
PCness."


So-called political correctness, AKA respect for diversity within the public discourse, is actually quite easy to master.  The rules are simple:

1. Don't call people by names they have told you they don't like.  If these seem to change from week to week, perhaps that's because it doesn't take long for the majority culture to turn a newly positive term into a pejorative.  We're good at that; witness what we did with "Black is beautiful."  We giggled and snorted (or pissed and moaned) about no longer being "allowed" to use negro; then, the next thing we knew, the approved term was African-American.  Polish- and German- and Swedish-Americans were up in arms!  What was wrong with black after all?  It was so much shorter!  Get a grip on yourselves and call people what they wish to be called.

2. When caught using an iffy or offensive terms, say, "I'm sorry.  I didn't know.  I won't do it again."  This lesson, as any parent can tell you, is directly-related to the "Please" and "Thank you" lessons we give our children to get them ready for kindergarten.

3. Don't tell jokes that involve ethnic groups other than your own in which the representative of that ethnic group A) speaks pidgen English and B) is called Chief, Tonto, Squaw, Polack, Kike, Spic, Wop, or the N-word.  Unless you've been living under a rock in Riggins, you know these terms are offensive.  You also know that the buffalo joke isn't really about middle management.  It's an excuse to tell a joke along the lines of "There were three nuns humping a dead alligator" in a public forum.   

It's bad, bad manners.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment       
www.auntie-establishment.com

PS: I don't mean to single out residents of Riggins.  It just alliterated so nicely with "rock."Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20050220/dc864e40/attachment.htm