PCism. Is it all a load of pointless crap? Or does it really do more good than harm?
The first one? I mean, ummm.... is this mulitple choice? Cheese? Damnit!
Honestly, I would say that PCism often causes more offence than common terms we are used to using, which may not be considered very PC....
My thoughts:
I think it's ridiculous that a whole bunch of completely separate causes have fallen under this catch-all umbrella term: PC.
You can't assume that the interests of a certain chunk of the population (say, women) are somehow tangibly connected to those of another group of people (school janitors who want to be called custodians, or people who aren't janitors who think that janitors should be called custodians, or people who view the reclaiming of the word "janitor" as a postive step towards re-empowering the working class by giving them control over the means of social production which supposedly keep them in the chains of economic fealty to the bourgeoisie). People see political correctness as a ravaging, all-consuming beast, when actually it's a hodge-podge of disparate ideas, some worthwhile, some absolute bullshit, that have been lumped together for God knows what reason.
The homogenization of an amazingly vast array of people, causes, interests and concerns into one abstract, mysterious and confusing force (political correctness) is far scarier to me than either the censorship that some people feel political correctness inspires or the damage that some people feel is caused by people who disregard political correctness entirely.
Citizen Fish have a great song called "PC" that sums it all up perfectly, but I'll be damned if I can find the lyrics right now.
PCism is just another form of racism and stomping on people.
Like the thing about comedians: If a white guy makes a joke of black people, it's racist, but if a black guy makes a joke on white people, it's humor, since "the black have been stomped on for so long". Bah.
When you go to the toilet do you have an 'armitage shanks interface defecation scenario', or do you just have a shit?
to recycle something goofy that i formulated a month or so ago:
dog walkers are "canine waste disposal supervisors and activity facilitators"...
...And while I was riding on the back of a truck picking up rancid and stinky stuff to be recycled, I was a "member of the collections team".