Politically Correct..??

I worked with a very mobile blind guy who really objected to the term visually handicapped, which was in PC vogue at the time and much preferred to be refereed to as blind.

I can see how PC ness started. If a term has become a pejorative or insult, spastic, cretin etc etc. then people want to change it to something that will not make a condition an insult, so we get learning disabled or special needs, but they too and the phrase 'care in the community' have become equally insulting phrases.

It is not the words that matter, it is the attitude behind them and until we develop a culture that nurtures and protects rather than insults and exploits those who are 'other' in any way, because of disability, ethnic group or uses jargon phrases to hide deficiencies, 'community' rather than 'place' in the belief that if you use that word you can convince yourself that a place, whether village, town or suburb, immediately becomes a caring community with lots of people looking after each other, without the attitude changewe are condemned to a life of political correctness.

I think PC, (or 'PC gone mad'), H & S and 'data protection' are increasingly being used by people who simply cannot be bothered to look something up or otherwise respond to a query. They are also used by people with a totalitarian take on life who only feel happy when they are in control. And by people who want to demonstrate their superiority by being more on-the-ball than everyone else. So we get Christmas banned and children prevented from undertaking any activity with the slightest degree of risk and digging up perfectly nice plants.

I think miceElf's stories illustrate very well the fact that what defines a great deal of "political correctness" is stupidity and rules for rules' sake.

I've just been watching a programme about guerrilla gardening. In a number of places, communally owned, beautiful plants have been removed by Councils as they weren't part of the 'corporate plan'.

In other seemingly communal urban spaces both professional and amateur photographers have been stopped by burly guards from taking perfectly innocent photographs as the spaces turn out to be owned by huge conglomerates who impose their own rules on very dubious grounds.

nanaej it isn't solely in 'media quarters' that political correctness is sneered at-it's endemic in the general public. My take is that terms which we, in the past would have found perfectly acceptable are now deemed not to be. There is a wide spectrum, obviously from the obvious n word which would have historically demeaning connotations to 'height challenged' to describe someone who is short. I speak as a tall, Reubenesque person

Fair enough, nanaej, but perhaps you could answer J08's question and give an example of what you meant in your OP.

Ana Why do you think avoiding the term fat is politically correct?

If the word is used to be unkind or rude to or about someone then that is inappropriate and wrong.

But some people are fat and that is a fact. I think it is about context. However sometimes the media like to manipulate something innocuous because they hope it will cause debate and sell papers and that is when they create the myth that something is 'politically correct'.

J08 was being coy about writing the word spastic. The word in itself is fine to use in the correct medical context. However it became a word used commonly by people as an insult. For those who suffered from spasticity I imagine that would be distressing and so it was decided by various support groups and the former Spastic Society to use cerebral palsy. That seems
logical to me and helpful. However in some similar cases where language has been changed it has been sneered at by some media quarters as 'political correctness' when often language/ systems are changed or developed to improve things for a group of people.

tegan, there is masses of stuff going on in schools about healthy eating and getting plenty of exercise. Some of it is misguided but at least the schools are trying!

I'm fat and admit to it!

Yes, it is. But I thought it was politically incorrect as well...

I don't think calling someone 'fat' is politically incorrect, just rude!

Too many 'thems' in that post, but I'm sure you know what I mean...

Tegan, I think you're right. It's no use banning people from using derogatory terms about those with weight problems unless something practical is being done to help them. Making them feel like victims isn't helpful.

I'm all for anti-bullying policies in schools.

I meant that you're not even supposed to refer to someone as being 'fat' these days - not using the term as a form of bullying. 'Obese' sounds even worse, to my mind...

I'm not sure I can quite see how more sport at school wuld solve bullying problems. Couldn't it actually make it worse for kids who are no good at sport? Although I agree selling off sports fields is diabolical!

Just occurred to me that political correctness seems to be a way of Political Parties covering up their actual policies [or lack of them]. Rather than have anti bullying policies maybe there should be more access in schools to sport [I'm thinking here of ports fields being sold off at one time] and more education about health and nutrition. Locking stable door etc etc. What I'm trying to say is they try to do something about the results of their policy making but don't put enough thought into the policies themselves [I think I know what I mean ].

Hmm. I wonder....

Brain too tired to get head round it. Been reading Game of Thrones all day. #'yourheadwouldbetiredtoo

Isn't fat a politcal issue because of the epidemic of obesity, and name calling (fat, queer etc) a form of bullying which has resulted in politcal intervention to ensure schools and workplaces have anti-bullying policies? Just sayin'

Could you give an example, of what you mean *Nanaej?

So, if you call someone that frowned upon term beginning with spas---, that is political?

What has saying someone's fat got to do with politics...?

Of course it has J08..it is a 'cuss' or a 'diss' about someone's political viewpoint!

Everything is political...

Has 'PC' got anything to do with politics? I'm not sure it has.