Michiko Kakutani defines “Political correctness” as “a vision of a more just, inclusive society where racism, sexism, as well as prejudice of all forms have been done away with.” The term “political correctness” has its roots in the 1980s where it was first used in America. It used across varied areas of social interaction (Kakutani, 1993).. The general practice of “political correctness” is to avoid or substitute certain words and their uses which may sound offensive or perceived as discriminatory towards given sections of the society. In addition, it is the effort of the political correctness movement to promote alternative terminology striving to build a more positive non-waged for unemployed, together with a number of compounds having –challenged such as intellectually challenged among others.
In Michiko Kakutani’s thesis in the article “The Word Police,” she argues that our language faces absurdity owing to our practice to conceal our true identities along with inequalities through euphenisms (Kakutani, 1993). The author further argues that euphenisms serve to distract our focus from the real problems of prejudice along with injustice that greatly bedevil our society. Kakutani is also of the belief that political correctness is abound in our modern society. I am in agreement with the opinion Michiko the increasing using politically correct words and phrases across the world goes a long way in assuming our real perceptions on a number of issues facing our global community. While its use is well meant, it is increasingly becoming evident that the methods employed by politically correct activists in the effort to meet their aspirations go way overboard (Humphreys, 2009). This, as Kakutani expresses, only results in the scorning of conservative opponents as well the mockery of cartoonists along with many a late night television hosts.
There is no doubt that political correctness is fast changing both the way we speak and write as evidenced in the recent trendy surge of politically correct dictionaries that are come up at an unprecedented rate. To this effect, a good example is “The Bias-Free Word Finder, a Dictionary of Nondiscriminatory Language” by Rosalie Maggio. This book which offers more than 5,000 prejudice words and phrases which ought to be snubbed is a solid example of just how political correctness is becoming more and more ridiculous in the effort to become less offensive (Kakutani, 1993).. The million dollar question as pertains to all these, is who is prepared to abide by the extreme rules by these extreme activists of political correctness? All indications are to the effect that the extreme rules will not be adopted in classrooms any time soon.
In addition, use of “politically correct” language is yet to achieve its goal of making the society become more sensitive to the issues of diversity. It is indeed a great joke that we can strive to sanitize our language so as to foster diversity. Directing all our energies in devising politically correct language in the hope to create more diversity is to give a blind eye to the more pressing issues that eat our societies at present. There are such ills as racism, xenophobia, and sexism to mention but a few that require our attention and would help bring about the much sought after diversity (Humphreys, 2009). We cannot remove negative thoughts that we bear simply by changing the wording in our languages. Finally, it is my belief that political correctness has only served to undermine the freedom of expression and not enhance diversity among the people of the world.
References:
Humphreys, Debra. (2009). Political Correctness: The Truth About Diversity and Tolerance in Higher Education. Retrieved on April 27, 2012 from: http://www.diversityweb.org/research_and_trends/political_legal_issues/politics_campus_diversity/pc_briefing.cfm
Kakutani, Michiko. (1993). The Word Police. Retrieved on April 27, 2012 from: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/31/style/the-word-police.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
