Political Correctness

The topic of Political Correctness versus Politcal Incorrectness, formerly known as the language I grew up speaking, is a topic that has been done to death. From comedians to politicians everyone has had their say on this issue. So, that being said, I'm going to give you my opinion on the subject. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or stopped reading at the end of this sentence.

No one can say that the transisition to PC from PI (yes, for those who can find me you can slap me upside the head for using short forms, but in this case I'm just being lazy) has not been a good idea in principle. My feelings are that people should respect one another and one way of doing this is to not call each other derogatory names. It has been a long time coming that we can now say it is socially irresponsible for anyone to call anybody the "N" word no matter what race you are. I have, in the past, been called whitey, honky, pinky (by one of those guys in the Blue Man Group, which by the way, should look at changing their name to Blue Person Group or Blue Group to get in line with the rest of the politically correct world) and I know it doesn't feel very good.

We have all heard and seen many examples of people who have slipped up and used Politically Incorrect language. From politicians, to talk show hosts and even the occasional actor it seems there's usually three possible explanations for inappropriate behaviour: alcohol, old age, and the inability to know when the microphone is on. Unfortunately, it's these sensationalized events of momentary stupidity that grab the headlines, while most of us live in a completely different world where we are simply trying to get through the day without saying something that'll get us brought up on some human rights or sexual harassment charges.

But in our effort to be so Politically Correct have we gone too far? Have we moved in a direction where we are turning all the names of our professions into enigmatic eunuchs? I'm sorry but I fail to see the connection between Political Correctness and gender neutral occupational names. Has this reach such heights that we are now worried about offending an entire sex? Someone will likely tell me this is the logical outcome of the feminist movement at the end of the last century. Call me old fashion (or something worse), but this looks more like the castration of men and the complete loss of feminity in women for the sake of trying to erase the historical inequities of the workplace. So, has it helped? Last time I checked women were still getting paid a good deal less than their male co-workers for doing the same work, even if they have the same job title.

The title of the job should be simply a description of what the person does. Take for example, the police. When I was growing up they were policemen unless it was a woman then she was a policewoman. That made sense to me and I thought a perfectly acceptable description of their profession. What I didn't like were people who called them cops, pigs, smokies, and I'm sure there are countless more that I am not familiar with, but all of which are not flattering. So can someone explain to me why we then had to further change the name to the gender neutral police officer?

Let's look at another example, the Chair. In the beginning there was the Chairman, as most were men, but as women climbed the corporate ladder there emerged the Chairwoman. These ladies of the feminist revolution soon demanded that the name be changed to Chairperson, but the men demanded it be prefixed with Madam or Mister. Both found this to be a cumbersome title and it was eventually shorten to simply the Chair. To me it seems strickingly ironic that a position of extreme power has been relegated to the lowliest type of furniture one can have. I mean really, a chair. People running billion dollar corporations being referred to as a simple piece of furniture that one places one's ass on. Talk about not being very flattering. Even judges get a bench.

So, if not a chair what would be a more appropriate piece of furniture to reflect a position of such grand stature? Perhaps a sofa or chesterfield? At least these are larger places to plant one's ass. Or maybe we should move away from that concept into other types of furniture. Maybe a Chest of Drawers, or Dresser, although that does sound a little too masculine. Maybe an Armoire would be a better choice, foriegn words always carry a mystique about them. Now there's a piece of furniture with some stature to it!

Okay, I guess that isn't going to work. I supposed if we have to be stuck with a Chair then might I suggest a Chair with some style and class. I can see it now at the introduction to the Board the latest successful candidate who will lead their billion dollar, multi-national company through the first half of this new century.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Board please allow me to introduce to you, your new Wingback ...."