I am unashamedly politically incorrect. Blind people are blind. Deaf people are deaf. Midgets and dwarfs are midgets and dwarfs. Retarded people are retarded. You get the drift. I don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with the various and sundry euphemisms people use to describe others when words like blind and deaf work perfectly well and are perfectly understood.
This does not mean that I’m insensitive and if so, then so be it. It is never my intent to harm or insult anyone. I just don’t buy into the idea that everyone takes offense to words that are not offensive to begin with. Calling a Mexican a wetback is offensive. Calling a blind person blind is not. And if you can’t tell the difference, then the offense is yours.
When did we become a society of people who are so sensitive that one has to monitor every word that comes out of our mouths? What happened to freedom of speech? What happed to expressing an opposing opinion? What happened to opposing ideas? What happened to freedom of speech?
I’ll tell you what happened. Politically correctness. We have become so sensitive as a society that everyone is afraid to express a thought, an idea or an opinion for fear of offending someone. A discussion of ice cream is fraught with thought because we are afraid to state our belief that one flavor might be better than another or that we might like one favor better than another.
What exacerbates the situation is the quickness in which we receive information or misinformation. Before a person has the opportunity to address something said, that individual has been identified and crucified in the press. As a journalist myself, I understand getting the scoop. But I was trained to get the truth with the scoop. I was made to verify sources and get the whole story before reporting a story. It would seem in this plugged in world, we get the story and eventually we get the truth. By that time, the damage has been done and statements are run in part instead of their entirety. People are vilified without explaining what was really said and what the context was when the supposed offensive statement was made. And who decides the statement was offensive? If the person in the conversation isn’t offended, who are we to decide otherwise?
We are really hypocritical when it comes to public figures. Under no circumstances do I believe that everyone in the public eye loves everyone else. They are people too with prejudices like the rest of us. Do we honestly believe none of them has an opinion we might find contrary to our own? Don’t they have the right to express their thoughts or opinions like the rest of us? Could any of us stand up to the scrutiny of the media if we were in conversation with those we know? I certainly wouldn’t. At some time or another, I’ve offended every group that can be identified by race, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or gender. I offer no apologies for any of it and I expect no one to apologize to me for doing the same. I prefer my supposed offenses straight up with no chaser.
People might wonder whether or not I believe anyone has the right to be offended. Of course I do. What I question is the why. I’m not offended when someone calls me short. I simply answer that I’m fun size. However I’m aware that I am short. I’m not offended when someone speaks of my short, natural hair. My hair is very short and I wear my natural hair. I’m not offended when someone refers to me as fat. I am a size 16 and at my height, this is fat. I haven’t been a size 2 since I was 17. When I see size 2 again, I’ll be worm food. I’ve been called arrogant by some and a smart ass by others. I will not begin to tell all the names I been called because I’m a Black woman. Not one phrase or word offends me because I know exactly who and what I am. In order to hurt me or my feelings, you have to know me. Since so few people really do, I glide through supposed offensives like an Olympic skater on ice.
What offends me? Stupidity and the various isms that come along with it offends me. Being rude offends me. Hatred of any kind offends me. Living in a country filled with riches and seeing people starving and living homeless offends me. Politicians waging war in my name offends me. Unfair laws offend me. The horrible way children and the elderly are treated in this country. The current state of our school system and our justice system offends me. The prison industrial complex offends me. The fact that health, education, shelter, food and fair wages are not considered basic human rights offends me. Are you getting the point?
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