Is politically correct really correct? (Mexican, Canada, Barack Obama, high school)

[Pug Life]

I briefly (took her on a wonderful date to a formal dance, dinner and chickened out on calling her for a second date) dated a girl in high school who was African-American. Thing is, she was not black. She was half-American Jew, half-South African Dutch, and clearly as white as can be. Compare her to my closest friend, a black guy who grew up in Cleveland. He's never been to Africa, neither had his parents before they died. But if you were a PC advocate, you'd call him "African-American". How is that being "correct" when it's clearly incorrect? The only person who can be "African-American" is someone who has one parent from Africa and one from America. Otherwise, black people from Canada are African-Canadian, from France they are African-French and Mexico they are African-Mexican. After all, some native Africans are pretty white, like Ernie Ells.

Example:
Lebron James is Black, not African-American
Barack Obama is African-American, not black

It also goes for new terminology for old professions: Custodian for Janitor, Transport engineer for bus driver, flight attendant for stewardess, sex worker for prostitute...

And for birth issues: mentally challenged for retarded, bi-polar for Manic depressive, vertically challenged for short...

What do you all think?

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by leftydan6

What do you all think?

That it's no big deal.

[jtur88]

Of course not. That is why it is called "politically correct". Remember the dolls that were "anatomically correct"? Some of them had two heads. Those expressions are applied by people who ignore the big picture, and zero in on one tiny aspect of the world.

[linicx]

You have to remember labels are applied by people who are paid to label.

[GloryB]

I think political correctness is a bunch of crap. There was a time when you could say what was on your mind without having to tippy-toe around to keep someone from getting hurty feelings.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by GloryB

There was a time when you could say what was on your mind without having to tippy-toe around to keep someone from getting hurty feelings.

You still can if you're willing to tolerate the possible consequences. Be a good conservative and take personal responsibility for your actions.

[trustmeiknow]

I don't think anyone who fits into any category described with a politically correct term actually likes the label given to him or her. Labels don't accurately describe most people in a group. Unless you talk to each and every person in a group and ask them all what they would like to be called, you're doing the group a great disservice. Let people decide what they would like to be called, if anything. Why you need to call people this or that, besides taking a poll/filling out forms, is beyond me. It sounds hokey maybe, but why can't we all just be people? That is an accurate word, though some people don't deserve the honor.

I'll use an example to better describe what I mean. Handicapped is a terrible word. Disabled isn't much better. Differently abled is a joke because it's clearly trying to be respectful but coming off as condescending. Every person with a disability is different. Every disability is different. Why can't you call each person by his or her name? The person already knows there is something different about him or her. Again, if there is a form being filled out where people want to know how many disabled people are in a certain town or whatever, fine. It has a purpose if they are deciding whether or not to put ramps in the center of town. If there is no purpose, drop the labels.

Stick with Sue and Louie and Tom. This way everyone is equally valued.

[subsound]

I think it's been taken a bit too far, anyone can take anything as un PC and take offense. No one can know what the proper thing is to say for everyone without an in depth background check and verifying questions. I am all for being polite and respectful, but some people go for the jugular over small personal slights.

I was setting up tech for a handicapped person (we helped work tech for disability services at a university) and when she came in...we were derogatory scum for saying we set up what was needed for the handicapped student and not the disabled student to the professor. No one had any idea what issue she had except her case worker, nor did we care, it was our job to set things up to help her...but she fired off complaints and threats to sue over something so silly. A person came in later and did the same for the exact opposite...and said we should change the name to handicapped services.

[jtur88]

It degrades the language. "Special" people are now the retarded kultzes, so a word that suitably described people who had superior attributes gets wasted. I grew up in a town that had a school, a jail, a hospital and firemen. Now it has an attendance center, a detention and rehabilitation complex, a family wellness campus, and incendiary rescue personnel.

[ESFP]

I remember reading about a white student from Africa who was refused an African-American scholarship because he wasn't black. So... African-American doesn't mean that the person is really from Africa. Actually, I'd rather not be called by my ancestry. I'm an American, that's all.