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I think that was the original intent of modern-day political correctness. It was meant to teach common sense with words, respect for yourself and others, and just foster a kinder atmosphere. Unfortunately many people took it and politicized it into being a liberal agenda, and use it to justify attacking people and shutting down careers.
Of course no one wants to feel "on stage" with their words 24/7 but I don't think it's unreasonable to just ask people to try to be somewhat respectful of other people's feelings and thoughts. Here's an example of a word where most people know when to use it and when not to use it to be respectful or reasonable, but that doesn't have the PC stigma attached to it.
"Dude." There are people you can call "dude" and people you just don't call "dude". There are situations where you'd say "dude" and situations where you wouldn't. Most people know when they can and when they can't without having to be told. When someone makes a wrong judgment then the listener, depending on their relation to the speaker, might just think it's a bit strange or might tell them it's inappropriate. When people break these "unspoken rules" they usually do it with the knowledge others might react or might look on them less favorably. But it's not the end of the world, either.
Rather than saying "you can say this word and can't say that word" we should just try to foster an environment where people can use their own judgment to know when it's appropriate to use a word and when it's not, for words that are PC or un-PC just as much as any other word in our language. And if someone uses an un-PC word, instead of making it out to be the end of the world, other people can take it for what it is and move on.
Last edited by nimchimpsky; 08-26-2010 at 10:30 AM..
Rather than saying "you can say this word and can't say that word" we should just try to foster an environment where people can use their own judgment to know when it's appropriate to use a word...
We should, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the likely course of action.
The inference of certain words changes, and the usual reaction is not to use the word when that happens. In this case, it's "retarded." Not the first time we've seen this. People these days forget that there was a time when a happy, carefree mood could have been described as "gay."
We should, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the likely course of action.
The inference of certain words changes, and the usual reaction is not to use the word when that happens. In this case, it's "retarded." Not the first time we've seen this. People these days forget that there was a time when a happy, carefree mood could have been described as "gay."
Of course. The meanings of words are constantly changing, but as words change, the standards for what is appropriate and what is not given a certain situation would change accordingly too.
Mental retardation IS a scientific term. But the pc spineless cowards want to remove it because it's accurate.
Interesting comments on Wiki:
Retarded comes from the Latin retardare, "to make slow, delay, keep back, or hinder." The term was recorded in 1426 as a "fact or action of making slower in movement or time." The first record of retarded in relation to being mentally slow was in 1895. The term retarded was used to replace terms like idiot, moron, and imbecile because it was not a derogatory term. By the 1960s, however, the term had taken on a partially derogatory meaning as well.[13] The noun "retard" is particularly seen as pejorative; as of 2010, the Special Olympics, Best Buddies and over 100 other organizations are striving to help eliminate the use of the "r-word" (analogous to the "n-word") in everyday conversation.
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