PC Insanity

There isn't a politician in the world that doesn't respect the term "politically correct". Although it may seem like an annoyance, it governs (no pun intended) political campaigns and forces politicians to use a warped version of the English language to avoid stepping on anyone's toes.

Over time this ideology of "correctness" has reverberated to society in general. However, this has been met with sharp criticisms. Apparently people find it a chore to use non-offensive terms when referring to minorities, holidays, disabilities, etc. The examples of this are endless, and appear in the news on a daily basis. Some California suburbs have changed their annual "Easter egg hunt" to a "Spring egg hunt". The University of Illinois has removed Chief Illiniwek as their symbol. LAPD are being forced into politically correct police tactics.
It's very easy to look at these stories and write them off as political BS. If you're a Christian family living in Walnut Creek, California, it's not hard to blame "stupid liberal hippies" for killing your holidy tradition. However, more often than not "political correctness" is a nasty word for "respect".

It is 100% acceptable for a church in California to host an Easter egg hunt. Nobody can tell you otherwise if you are an established place of worship. However, the government of California has nothing to do with Easter, and is completely within reason to change the name to "Spring". Also, hiding colored eggs has as much to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ as cheerleaders have to do with the sport of football. They are two things that happen at the same time that have come to be seen as connected purely out of tradition.
I don't want to delve into the chief controversy any more than needed to get my point across, so I'll be brief. No matter the opinion of any student on campus, it is a certain fact that Native Americans saw Chief Illiniwek as racially offensive. Removing a racially offensive figure at the discretion of the NCAA has nothing to do with being PC, it is an act of respect to those people indigenous to the region.

Yes, of course there are instances in which being PC has been taken too far. Yes, the media will extract every bit of controversy possible from a speech by any politician. This is the reason George W Bush will never write one of his own speeches. I'm not saying that you should replace every instance of the word "black" with "African American" from now on when you speak, I'm simply saying that every instance of political correctness stems from respect for someone.




Something to listen to: The Cinematics - Break
Something to do: Make it through an entire say without using the word "retard" or "retarded"