Political correctness is absurd

Janitors are now "maintenance engineers." Tramps or bums are "homeless persons." Someone told me recently that a shelf stocker at Wal-Mart is now referred to as an "inventory management specialist." Some people are no longer considered retarded, they are "mentally challenged." People of short stature are "vertically challenged" and bald people are "follicle challenged." I think it is a challenge to keep up with these silly politically correct terms.

It is another example of the further weakening of this country that our biggest fear is that somewhere, somehow, someone may be offended. Hence, we change decades long definitions to accommodate the minority of those who may be affected. Kids get trophies even though they are terrible athletes and their teams are losers. Why? Because it may hurt their self esteem to have it otherwise. Let’s don’t encourage them to improve, let’s pat them on the heads and hand them their ultimate goals without expecting them to accomplish anything.

Philip Atkinson, author of A Study of Our Decline, says it best: "Political Correctness is merely the resentment of spoiled children directed against their parent’s values." For example, one student has complained that he did a paper where he mentioned that in a certain city the majority of crimes were performed by "black against black." When his paper was returned his professor gave him "that look" and said "black against black" was offensive and couldn’t be used even though it was fact.

We all love Charles Barkley for his sense of humor, if not for his driving skills while drunk. A few years ago, Charles was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jokingly, he said that since all his relatives from Alabama were in Massachusetts to see him get inducted, he asked his family’s neighbors to please not break into their homes and "steal our stuff." From Charles, that is considered funny but what would be the reaction if Larry Bird said the same thing? That’s another thing irritating about PC: it is selective. Can you imagine the great black singing group from the 1940s still being called "The Ink Spots."

Consequently, we no longer have "illegal immigrants," they are now "undocumented workers" as though that justifies their breaking the law by being in the US illegally. That is the same as saying a thief is an "unsolicited remover of retail products." And, in December, be careful when you say "Merry Christmas" to someone. You may be offending them.

In the 1950s, the city of Cincinnati sold their old streetcars to Hong Kong. A local guy in Cincy wrote a popular song called "Cincinnati Ding Dong." Some of the lyrics were "Chew Chow, Ching Chong, Cincinnati Ding Dong. It’s just a trolley streetcar, way down in Hong Kong China, way, way, away." It was corny stuff and was innocent enough but it wouldn’t be played now. However, rap songs with destructive tactics against women and police are common. Figure that one out.