Political correctness

[Goofyluver]

You really think the term "mentally ********" is ok....really.

so i guess deaf and dumb is ok with you

Negro must be perfectly fine, as it was completely accepted for years.

why dont we just shorten it to "retard"

How about midget, does that work for you.

We are evolving as a society, and becoming more aware of our diversity. It is the reason why the terms ******, wop, mick, ****, kraut, jap etc. are no longer acceptable after being universally acceptable in this country at one time.....Why does that growth bother you so much

Very well said.

The term is used every day in doctors' offices and at school IEP meetings

It is used at IEP meetings. As an eligibility for services.

I do this for a living and it certainly is not, nor should it be

I agree with you.

My son has an eligibility of MR as it pertains to receiving academic services. I choose not to refer to him in this manner. He is cognitively impaired...in addition to other disabilities. Personally, I hate the word "********" and refuse to use it in my home. That's my choice.

I don't however, think that it's something to poke fun at. Saying "what's the big deal?" is insensitive.

I do think that the intent behind a word can affect it's meaning. Like I said...my son's eligibility for services may be MR, but I don't want you calling him ********. That's just a personal choice, because people often use it in a degrading way.

Where much of the problem lies, is when people use terms such as "********" in a derogatory manner.

And, labels are just that...labels. Doesn't tell you anything about the person.

My son is: Cognitively Impaired (but he's brilliant)
He's short statured and growth hormone deficient (not vertically challenged...and I assure you...when children at school make fun of him for his size, he does feel it is a challenge, and it's not something to poke fun at)
He is multi-disabled (meaning he has multiple disabilities which contribute to his cognitive, physical, and social delays)

FWIW...none of these labels can tell you what I already know about him. That he's wonderful, bright, kind, loving, and amazing.

 

[Scornelius]

Is my son black, African American or something else?

I heard on Scrubs today that it's back to Black now.

What the heck is wrong with deaf? Is blind taboo too? Dumb, I see as being very old fashioned. Mute is probably better, I suppose.



I had a dear friend who was dying of ALS, and he was once introduced as being 'differently-abled'. He was really offended by it. At that point he had no control over his body, was in a wheelchair that had to be pushed by his wife and could barely talk. In his opinion, there was nothing that he could do that others couldn't, and it was indeed a handicap. There was no positive spin to his disease, and he resented the attempt to 'sugar-coat' his illness.

I also worked with a black lady (a very Claire Huxtable type) who HATED the term African-American. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't African, she wasn't American, she was black.

People need to get their knickers out of a knot. I'm not one for tossing around slurs and insults, but it's just stupid to change the acceptable term every decade. Political correctness has gone WAAAAAAY to far!

 

[hentob]

It is used at IEP meetings. As an eligibility for services......




My son has an eligibility of MR as it pertains to receiving academic services....

So, yes. Thank you for agreeing. MR is not an obsolete term. It is still used in schools and doctors' offices. It is not a bad or horrible word when used in an appropriate manner

 

[Goofyluver]

So, yes. Thank you for agreeing. MR is not an obsolete term. It is still used in schools and doctors' offices. It is not a bad or horrible word when used in an appropriate manner

I'm in special education. And yes, it is still used in schools and doctor's offices. I still don't like it. But, when used correctly and not in a derogatory manner, I understand it's use.

 

[Michelle67]

For me, it's not so much the word as the intent behind it that matters. There is nothing wrong with the word "negro" when it's used without malice, except that it's out of fashion.

I agree with you. I think intent matters, and I don't care what new word you can come up with, someone can still use it hatefully. And darn it, I'm not white, I'm kinda pink with blue streaks (my veins show). Although I guess white sounds a little less freakish...

Why does any of this occupy even one second of any of your days....my god, who cares if people want to not be labled

? You're here...

We are having a calm and educational discussion on political correctness.

Why does half of the things we talk about on The DIS occupy even one second of our time

Amen to that.

 

[Corryn]

...

 

[Goofyluver]

My husband's step brother is mentally retarted. That's the way the family has referred to him, mentally retarted or just retarted. BTW, my husband laughed his butt off in that scene from "Something about Mary" where Matt Dillion is going on and on and on about Mongo.

We don't go around calling him Retard-O or anything horrible like that, but if someone asks, yes, he is retarted. He attended regular school and my DH was always sticking up for him and even got into a couple of fist fights. He is a great guy and we love him very much.

When you live with it, you have to deal with it day to day and you deal the best way you can. Most people deal with sorrow by laughing.
My husband did/does.
I did - still do.
My grandmother was schizophrenic. My sister is bipolar.
I grew up in the same house with both of them and I can tell you they were both Frigin' Crazy

I am sick of the political correctness that abounds in today's liberal society. I'm not saying to go around and make fun of people and their conditions, but an apple is an apple, not an orange. I call it like it is.
When you pussyfoot around something it just makes the situation more tense and less believeable.

I'm glad your husband laughs at people who have intellectual disabilities. Because as you said...we shouldn't "go around and make fun of people and their 'conditions'."

I personally, don't find it funny at all. I teach my son (because of and despite of his cognitive impairment) that we don't poke fun at others because of their differences. We have a slogan in our household:

"What's different about us is what makes us special."

I assure you...I don't "pussyfoot" around anything. My son is what he is. And I love him because of and despite of all of his disabilities.

Even he, with all that he deals with, can understand that we shouldn't laugh at others or poke fun at others.

 

[loco4dis]

Political correctness has nothing to do with evolving as a society. It is about limiting speech in order to promote a leftist ideology. The political left simply cannot win at the ballot box — who in the world would vote for less freedom, less money, less opportunity, more risk, and less reward? So they've taken the battle to the culture and political correctness is an important front in that battle. By "outlawing" — according to the "laws" of political correctness — certain speech, they believe they can fill the void with their leftist orthodoxy.

All discussion of religion is outlawed in schools, but "cultural studies," such as the study of Islam, is encouraged.

Abstinence education is considered moral teaching — that's bad — but Planned Parenthood "educators" will come into the schools to discuss "women's health issues," i.e., abortion.

Conservative students on college campuses are coerced into "diversity training," where they are told that their conservative values are racist, sexist, etc.

"Multiculturalism" means cultural relativism, in which we are supposed to accept and never criticize such "cultural differences" as stoning to death women who want divorces, or marrying off 12-year-old girls to 50-year-old men, but mentioning you vote Republican in an American workplace can land you in the aforementioned sensitivity training.

One of my favorite books is written by one of my favorite political commentators, Tammy Bruce. She is a openly gay democrat and former president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Organization of Women. After years as an active and ardent democrat activist, she became disillusioned by the left's vicious strong-arm tactics in demanding total adherence to its politically correct ideology, and she became a conservative. Like Reagan, though, she insists that she didn't leave the democrat party, it left her.

Anyway, her book is called: "The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds" and it's a great primer on political correctness from someone who had a real insider's view.

 

[Corryn]

Double Post

 

[Corryn]

I'm not making fun of your son.

We don't go around laughing at people with disabilities.
On the contrary, having family members with a wide spectrum of disabilities makes us sympathize with those who are in the same situation.

To laugh at a movie and to go up to a person and laugh in their face are two different things.

I understand that the view of a brother rather than that of a mother are two totally different views. As a mother, you are the protector My husband, as a brother, was also a protector but he felt the way to cope with the situation was with humor.
I feel the same way. When life is just crazy, really crazy, the only thing I can do to make it more normal for me is to find the humor in it.
That is not everyone, obviously. But that's the way I deal with it and you have no right to tell me that my way of dealing with something is the wrong way.
That's the way I deal with what goes on in my life with my family.
You deal with it differently, and that is your right.

 

[Goofyluver]

I'm not making fun of your son.

We don't go around laughing at people with disabilities.
On the contrary, having family members with a wide spectrum of disabilities makes us sympathize with those who are in the same situation.

To laugh at a movie and to go up to a person and laugh in their face are two different things.

I understand that the view of a brother rather than that of a mother are two totally different views. As a mother, you are the protector My husband, as a brother, was also a protector but he felt the way to cope with the situation was with humor.
I feel the same way. When life is just crazy, really crazy, the only thing I can do to make it more normal for me is to find the humor in it.
That is not everyone, obviously. But that's the way I deal with it and you have no right to tell me that my way of dealing with something is the wrong way.
That's the way I deal with what goes on in my life with my family.
You deal with it differently, and that is your right.

I guess we shall have to agree to disagree on this one.

Because I feel laughing at someone for their disabilities in a movie, is just as bad as doing it to their face.

If you saw someone on the street point and laugh at someone in their face because of their disability, would that also be acceptable? Or because it wasn't "in a movie" that would be bad?

I sympathize with your brother and brother-in-law in a way that many others would not be able to. I know what it's like to have someone that you love have a disability.

An acceptance of movies and skits such as the one in "Something About Mary" is ludicrous. Making fun of someone for their disability, whether in person or not, should not be acceptable. In any circumstance.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Bugs me too. I had variations of this conversation over and over with a lady (a very nice lady, I liked her a lot) that I worked with:

Me; "My dad is a really big Indian." (or some variation of talking about my dad, where his race was relevant in a literal or joking way)
Her: "You mean 'Native American.'"
Me; "No, I don't. My dad is as Indian."
Her; "The proper term is 'Native American.'"
Me; "My dad doesn't like that term. Ask him. He's an Indian."
Her; "No, dear, he's a Native American."



So apparently, neither my dad nor your son (nor you, nor your daughter, nor my sister whose kids are disabled AND Indian...) get to decide who or "what" they are. That's up to the PC police.

I thought you were going to say he was from India.

 

[EveDallas]

I do this for a living and it certainly is not, nor should it be

I've sat in on plenty of IEP meetings - it is used, frequently.

 

[Corryn]

I guess we shall have to agree to disagree on this one.

Because I feel laughing at someone for their disabilities in a movie, is just as bad as doing it to their face.

If you saw someone on the street point and laugh at someone in their face because of their disability, would that also be acceptable? Or because it wasn't "in a movie" that would be bad?

I sympathize with your brother and brother-in-law in a way that many others would not be able to. I know what it's like to have someone that you love have a disability.

An acceptance of movies and skits such as the one in "Something About Mary" is ludicrous. Making fun of someone for their disability, whether in person or not, should not be acceptable. In any circumstance.

Under your circumstances - not mine.

 

[Goofyluver]

Under your circumstances - not mine.

Like I said...I teach my son it's horrible to make fun of anyone...in any circumstance. Because someone tries to sink it in "comedy" doesn't make it right.

 

[Mr Man]

This issue drives me nuts. The proper terminology changes on whim. If I were up to date:

Is my son black, African American or something else?
Is he mentally ******** or developmentally delayed?
Is he handicapped or disabled or otherly abled?
Is my daughter partially deaf or hearing impaired?
Am I short or vertically challanged?
Am I fat, obese or fluffy?

I personally find none of these terms offensive but know that some will. I just don't get the whole thing. While there are some terms that are universally considered in poor taste what makes one description okay and one not?

I don't do Political Correctness. I prefer referring to people by their name whenever possible. I also try to smile a lot.

If pressed for a description, I usually just compare them to Hollywood celebrities.....

i.e.

He looks like Sean Penn but doesn't smoke and also doesn't say as many dumb things or fight much......

She looks like Whoopie Goldberg but has a tan and her hair is straight.

Endless loads of fun......try it sometime....

 

[allison443]

My daughter learned last year in school that they should no longer use the term "eskimo". I think they were supposed to use "inuit" instead. Has anyone else heard this?

I agree though, that things and society do change. One example is Down's syndrome. People with that syndrome used to be referred to as mongoloid. I don't think that term is acceptable anymore. Would anyone still use that term just to show they are fed up with liberal political correctness? I don't have a problem with terms changing as knowledge and acceptance expands. Things like vertically challenged are just silly, though, and I don't think anyone means them seriously, do they?

Also, for those who still use the term, the correct spelling is "********".

 

[allison443]

Why does half of the things we talk about on The DIS occupy even one second of our time

If you find an answer, please let me know!

 

[Corryn]

Also, for those who still use the term, the correct spelling is "********".

Oops...Thank you; my mistake.

 

[allison443]

Oops...Thank you; my mistake.

I am spelling-obsessed (I think that is the pc way to say it)