I was thinking a long time about how exactly I wanted to respond to this, and what I wanted to say. But I think I'm ready... :)
At some point he was quoting someone else saying something about how none of his other friends would swim with "niggers" and one of my aunts scolded him for using that word saying, "we don't say that any more."
When my grandpa spoke you should listen because he was a very quiet and observant man. The expression that crossed his face at that moment said more than words can express as to the idiocy that is political correctness.
I can understand his annoyance at being asked not to use a particular word anymore, however, I still think its reasonable to ask him not to use it. If you've been following the news recently there was a supreme court case about the free speech protections of cross burning. The court decided it to be not covered under the first ammendment. Essentially the argument was that cross burning is not really a form of speech. It is a message used specifically to convey a message of hatred and intolerance. This is my problem with trying to justify using words such as nigger because of one's anti-political correctness views. The word nigger is a detestable ethnic slur, and as such its use is always detestable. I would use the same argument (in fact, have in the past with black friends of mine) that those who use the word to mean comrade eg "He's my nigga" etc should not use it as such... Of course, on the other hand, this can be taken to far. For instance (http://www.adversity.net/special/niggardly.htm), I remember one Mr. David Howard, who was the director of some washington DC municiple agency, who was forced to resign because of his use of the word "niggardly" in a speech. Now, the philology of the word "niggardly" deviates totally from the background of the word "nigger" and this poor man was forced to resign simply because he used a word which happens to SOUND like a detestable racial slur. This is just silly.
He is using a language that has been banished in error because that language contains history.
Hrm. I dont know that simple existance of "history" surrounding a word justifies its continued use. The status quo is not worth maintaining simply by virtue of its antiquity. You must judge things based on merit, and the word "nigger" is simply a word with no merit whatsoever. If you want to argue that this is simply the word that the man chooses to use when refering to black people, then I see absolutely nothing wrong with asking him to use a word which is not a detestable racial slur... I feel the same way about when people try and justify flying the stars and bars, "Because of the history behind it." Its not like people are going to forget about the american revolution simply because they are not being confronted with the image of the confederate flag! The confederate flag stands for a failed, and arguably immoral, system. Simply because it is a part of our history does not give us the right to fly it proudly... Especially since the south lost! :-D
We make simple descriptions impossible and make divisions deeper and more concrete with these restrictions on our use of words.
I think this is a bit misleading. We aren't talking about a 1984-type situation here in which words are being categorically stripped out of the language in order to prevent people from having deviant thoughts. There are myriad ways to specify that someone has black skin without resorting to EITHER hackneyed "PC" terms such as african american or ethnic slurs such as "nigger." For instance, you could simply say that the man had black skin. Or that he was black, etc. They
actually call cripples "otherly enabled" these days. "Disabled" isn't too bad of a PC-ism but "otherly enabled" is insanity.
Agreed. This is taking it a bit far.
And what is wrong with "cripple?" It has negative connotations.
Again, this is a question of intent. What matters is not really the word itself. Taken abstractly, all words are just words and all of their meaning is contextual. However, "cripple" is a word which is used as a derogitory insult to people who have disabilities. Its not the word itself which is opposed by the people who espouse political correctness, its the meaning. I think most disabled people would be perfectly willing to have you call them whatever you wanted, so long as the word you chose was not meant to be an insult. Cripple is a word which has a specific meaning. Its putting someone down. Of course people in wheelchairs have problems which the rest of us don't, but does that mean we should socially ostricize them? Its a truism that being disabled or in a wheelchair sucks, but why go out of your way to drive that point home over and over to someone who suffers from such a condition?
These days you get grief for pointing out differences in skin color. How long til it's non-PC to notice people have different colored hair? Or nipples? "She's got big, pink nipples." "You pig! We call them 'oversized non-brown nipples.'"
Again, you're taking things a bit to the extreme. :) I would argue that its not pointing out of skin color which people find offensive. Its the implication that somehow to be cursed with one PARTICULAR skin color someone means one is less of a person. For instance I dont think anyone would mind being called "White" if they are caucasian. But when you call them a "cracker," even tho both words are simply descriptions of skin color, the latter word would cause a completely different response... Really what the solution would be, is to get rid of the negative intent. IE: To get rid of racism. That way you could use whatever word you wanted, as long as the meaning is understood by your audience, because they would KNOW that there is no veiled insult inherent in the word. But since we cannot just get rid of all racism, we do what we can. Sometimes this means things get overblown, like with "niggardly" but it also means that we curtail the use of detestable ethnic slurs, which is inarguably a good thing... As with most problems of society, the truth always lies somewhere between the two extremes. -Ben "Amateur Philologist" May _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail