The constant shifting of acceptable terms - the one mentioned below, black v. African-American mentioned below is a good case - is one example, because it connects to a pandering ideology that I do not hold.
One that may be a hot-button issue, the social, and at times beaurocratic, pressure that is beginning to be applied to refer to same-sex couples as husband and husband or wife and wife is another. People have the right to define social institutions how they want, but not to force the language of those redefinitions on others.
Another example is using appeals to discrimination to prevent holding to qualifications. (This one is less language-focused.) When i still had a real job, we actually come up against the situation where "equal opportunity emplyment" guidelines required us to hire people who were not qualified for the work.
Another is the whole "Merry Christmas" claptrap. I don't care if people want to say "Happy Holidays" or whatever, but there are many institutions that, in the name of political correctness and "sensitivity" actually prohibit saying "Merry Christmas" or foster a culture that is highly hostile to it.
These things do not line up with the true intent of political correctness, but they march under the same banner. And that is the thing we need to be wary of.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-12-16 09:36 pm (UTC)One that may be a hot-button issue, the social, and at times beaurocratic, pressure that is beginning to be applied to refer to same-sex couples as husband and husband or wife and wife is another. People have the right to define social institutions how they want, but not to force the language of those redefinitions on others.
Another example is using appeals to discrimination to prevent holding to qualifications. (This one is less language-focused.) When i still had a real job, we actually come up against the situation where "equal opportunity emplyment" guidelines required us to hire people who were not qualified for the work.
Another is the whole "Merry Christmas" claptrap. I don't care if people want to say "Happy Holidays" or whatever, but there are many institutions that, in the name of political correctness and "sensitivity" actually prohibit saying "Merry Christmas" or foster a culture that is highly hostile to it.
These things do not line up with the true intent of political correctness, but they march under the same banner. And that is the thing we need to be wary of.