Sam’s Weekly Water Cooler Musings: On Being PC

Ah, political correctness, the buzz phrase of the late 20th century. It seemed like everyone was dying to be PC, and at the same time no one approved of being PC. How could that be? Simply put, because no one wanted to admit what everyone already knew: that being PC for PC’s sake was just stupid. So, we all pretended to love it, to embrace the concept, when inside we were all seething that the powers that be could presume to decide for us what we should and shouldn’t say or do. That was the topic around the water cooler this week, when we came up with a list of things that became subject of the PC debate.

Being PC means being African American, not Black, or Negro, or Colored. I think the most offensive term was “Colored” because it assumed that Caucasian was the norm, so anyone who had pigment was “Colored.” And, of course, when we discussed these terms, most people around the water cooler looked at me. My response: “Just call me Sam, and we’re cool.” It reminded me of when I went to my daughter’s school, where the majority of the students are White, and one of her classmates asked me why I’m “brown.” I was taken aback, but I don’t think I should have been, because he had probably never talked to anyone of color before, and my comment was, “I’m brown because my mom is brown.” While that may not be PC, it’s the truth, and I’m proud of it.

Being PC means being a Firefighter, a Server, a Flight Attendant, or a Police Officer. None of that even mattered until women joined the workforce and started taking offense to terms that were specific to gender. Most of the people around the water cooler were women, so they had a lot to say about this one. The prevailing argument was that this was one PC issue that made sense. To them it didn’t make sense to call a woman who works in a firehouse a fireMAN, and I agreed with that. One thing that came up, though, was the possibility of splitting terms to make them gender specific, like with waiter and waitress, and no one found a problem with doing that instead of saying waitstaff (which is kind of chunky).

Being PC means saying Winter, Holiday, and Festive Time of Year, instead of saying Christmas because it hints at religious difference (even though Christmas has become more commercial and less religious as the years have gone by). Unlike the previous discussion topic, this one was an overwhelmingly hostile reaction. All of us around the water cooler believe this one to be the worst PC issue ever. Obviously people know that Christmas is celebrated by more than just Christians, and even the Christians who celebrate it are more into Santa Claus and giving gifts than they are in celebrating the birth of Christ (which happened in June anyway, if the star alignments are to be believed). If we could have just one PC issue changed, it would be this one.

Being PC means curbing your natural inclinations and going with something that doesn’t offend anyone, but that too is incorrect. Everything will offend someone, which is the reason that being PC ultimately fails, we all agreed. For example, if you use the term Native American instead of Indian, it’s supposed to avoid issues, but nobody is native to this country. Vikings were here first, so why aren’t they called natives? It’s hard for everyone to curb their natural tendencies, and while some things need to be curbed (like using the term Intellectually Challenged), we don’t think it really matters if people tell you to have a “Merry Christmas.”

Sam

Sam’s Weekly Water Cooler Musings Archive