POLITICal correctness

[centrehice]

Wick:

I agree wholeheartedly. I was raised with the word "Retarded" as a daily staple, because in my hometown the Mental Institution had over 2,000 residents and was the cities largest employer.

Now, these were not people with Mental Problems that were once fine, then the wiring short-circuited, they were born with improper brain function that inhibited them in various ways from being able to think, and adapt to large, medium and small tasks.

Basically they need assistance to function in their day to day lives. Some bed-ridden, others prone to bouts of everything from seizures, to mental stress when placed in certain societal conditions.

It was not until later in life that I learned that the only proper use for the word "Retarded" was when it applied to slow the process of an inanimate object, such as an "Engine Retarder."

Society gives us common words, without Semantics. Hell, 50% of people that use the English Language don't know what the word Semantics means.

We are creatures of indoctrination, and of spite. Man is a rotten beast when it comes to people being either physically, or mentally lesser than oneself, or the appearance of such, and it's juvenile and unacceptable.

We call ourselves the top of the Animal World, yet we treat each other with more disdain than any other species in the Animal World, and for that, it really puts us at the bottom, not the top.

As a species, Man is an abject failure.

[imronron]

How about this one "Roman Catholic Church", this term originates as an insult created in the 1500's by Anglicans who wished to refer to themselves as Catholic, same as "Romanist" or "Romanism" or "Papist" or "Popish", just to name a few, or maybe my new favorite, which I had never heard of before until I saw it on this forum-"Cat-lickers". Even today many people cannot say "Catholic" without replacing it or qualifying it with an insult.

[Wickabee]

How about this one "Roman Catholic Church", this term originates as an insult created in the 1500's by Anglicans who wished to refer to themselves as Catholic, same as "Romanist" or "Romanism" or "Papist" or "Popish", just to name a few, or maybe my new favorite, which I had never heard of before until I saw it on this forum-"Cat-lickers". Even today many people cannot say "Catholic" without replacing it or qualifying it with an insult.

Excellent example of how a term like Roman Catholic or even Cajun and Canuck can go from derogatory to benign over time. It goes both ways for certain. That's why I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for some to grasp. It's not complex or rare by any means.

At the same time you have a point about the connotation remaining with the group. Thing is, that tends to happen only when a word morphs from sinister to benign and not the other way around. For example, Indian used to be a perfectly fine word for natives. Then it was used too often in a derogatory manner (not to mention being incorrect to the point of confusion) so everyone had to change to native. Then that became a negative word for many, so officially, native was now no good and it had to be changed to aboriginal and/or first nations. Notice how the connotation followed the group, not the word. Funny that...

[Wickabee]

And Hice: Thank you for putting thought into understanding things. You get it.

[centrehice]

My pleasure ......

This coming from the Son of a Mother, that when alive, referred to cute Black Children as Pickaninnys.

I told her that her God was black, and that she was in big trouble.

[Wickabee]

My pleasure ......

This coming from the Son of a Mother, that referred to cute Black Children as Pickaninnys.

Yeah, I never quite got that one.

[imronron]

Excellent example of how a term like Roman Catholic or even Cajun and Canuck can go from derogatory to benign over time. It goes both ways for certain. That's why I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for some to grasp. It's not complex or rare by any means.

At the same time you have a point about the connotation remaining with the group. Thing is, that tends to happen only when a word morphs from sinister to benign and not the other way around. For example, Indian used to be a perfectly fine word for natives. Then it was used too often in a derogatory manner (not to mention being incorrect to the point of confusion) so everyone had to change to native. Then that became a negative word for many, so officially, native was now no good and it had to be changed to aboriginal and/or first nations. Notice how the connotation followed the group, not the word. Funny that...

!!!