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December 14, 2004
Letter to the Editor: Being PC often makes sense
Mr. Binfet, where to begin, where to begin? Your letter to the editor printed in the Nov. 23 Oracle is clearly intentionally offensive č mostly, I assume, because you need more attention than you are currently getting. However, aside from dull and crass writing, there is no actual substance to the article. You confuse the concepts of using appropriate labels for groups of people with pseudo-PC terms that are mostly used for humor. Terms like “differently abled” are used in place of “crippled” because it is the preferred self-identification of people who fall into that group, whereas a phase like “vertically challenged” is mostly used to be overly PC in order to cause a humorous effect. Using “short” to describe somebody who isn’t tall is a perfectly acceptable adjective. There is no real reason to be PC in that situation.
When talking about people who fall into different groups, sometimes a label is needed. However, it is just
as easy to say “differently abled” as it is to say “handicapped. It is just as easy to say “cognitive disability” as it is to say “retarded.” The issue here is not forcing people to use politically correct language all the time. What is important is using words that will not hurt the feelings of another person. That’s a very basic part of being a decent human being.
Finally, at the end of your article, you discuss labeling people as wrong, but this just shows your ignorance on the topic. “Differently abled” and “person of color” are not labels, they are adjectives. Just because somebody has a trait that is described with a PC term doesn’t mean that term encompasses the person as a whole.
I’m sure you have many qualities other than those that describe you in PC terms.
Andrew Cole
CLA Student
Posted by msveum at December 14, 2004 10:45 AM