Monday, April 19, 2004

Exaggerated Moralism

PC this and PC that.  Roger Kimball has a piece in The National Interest on all the PCing going on around us.  It’s titled “Political Correctness, Or The Perils of Benevolence." An excerpt.

"Just so, the politically correct of our own day seek to bring about a moral revolution by changing the way we speak and write about the world: a change of heart instigated and embodied by a change of language. Examples are legion. We are told to scrap the phrase “learning disabilities” and replace it with “learning differences.” The announced hope is that little Johnny, who is a bit backward, poor thing, will not feel stigmatized; the secret hope is that by refusing to speak the truth, we can change the truth. The bbc tells its employees that they must use the word “partner” when referring to their wife or husband, since using “wife” and “husband” might seem to imply that the married state was somehow preferable to other possible modes of sexual cohabitation. Major newspapers in the United States refuse to accept advertisements for houses to let that mention that their property has “good views” (unfair to the blind), is “walking distance” to the train (unfair to the lame), is on a “quiet street” (unfair to the deaf). I know it sounds mad. It is mad. Nevertheless, it is true."

Via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/19 at 02:55 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages