PCism sucks!


by Ben Fischer - Features Editor

What? Why would I say such a harsh and un-PC thing, you might ask? Okay, picture a student on a Friday afternoon, typing away on a paper, when all of the sudden the pupil stumbles over a word. "Gosh darn-it," the student sarcastically utters and proceeds to grab the handy dandy thesaurus to locate a more preferred word to utilize in the paper. He opens the book, which opens to page 53 of Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, 1992 edition. Immediately the pupil's eyes fall upon the word "assassin." Interested at looking at the related words, the eager learner continues to read the following related words: butcher, clipper, dropper, eliminator, enforcer, executioner, guerilla, gun, gunman/woman, hatchet man/woman, hit man/woman, killer, liquidator, piece man/woman, plugger, slayer, soldier, torpedo, and trigger man/woman.

I don't view myself as a racist, a sexist, or anything like that. In fact, I am very conscious of other people's views, beliefs, religions, backgrounds, attitudes, and feelings. I am like this not because I am PC or anything like that, but because I'm educated, well-traveled, have friends from all over, and because I care. The big thing about being "Politically Correct" is to phrase sensitive words and phrases in a non- offense manner. I don't need it and neither do you. We are all on our merry little way toward becoming educated professionals in this world. Being PC today is nothing more than being sensitive and caring about the people that you are around. It's not hard. I've been doing it all my life. It's just that PC terms have arisen to replace other more offensive words.

I didn't mind it at first, in fact I was for all of it. After years of it PC terms have surfaced that compounded the issue. Now they have terms that replace words that weren't deemed to be offensive, that change words that have been around for a long time that don't need to be changed, and words being changed that are just plain silly. Most of the relatively new PC terms are useless, unnecessary, and just confuse the listener to what one is really trying to say. I guess what I am really just trying to say is just be your kind loving sincere self around people and if by chance something does slip out, they won't care because they will have noticed your sincerity and know that your heart is in the right place.



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