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I'm told that the word "faggot" is to members of the gay community what the n-word is to members of the black community.
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So, while I generally feel that words only have the power that we choose to give them, I'm backing away from my use of "fag" and "faggot." I didn't really know what the words meant when I first heard them in junior high in 1970, so they were quickly added to idiot, moron, dumbass and other words my pals and I used to indicate our real or mock displeasure with one another.
If my recreational use of those words cut to the soul of the gay community, I can find other words to use. I would never, ever, use the n-word to describe a black person. My mom used racial slurs for effect to get a laugh, like so many who grew up in the 1940s and into the 1950s. She told me that I wouldn't use the n-word to describe a black because it was wrong.
Her motto was, "Don't do as I do. Do as I say!"
As I came to develop my own racial sensitivity, I referred to folks as black or African-American. It didn't matter if I grew up talking about "colored men" or "negroes" who were my big league baseball heroes. I wanted to be sensitive to people -- all people of all colors.
I'm adopting the same attitude toward the homosexual community. It doesn't matter if I know I meant no harm, wasn't even referring to gays. I'll no longer use the f-word. There's no limit to the thought and energy I should expend to be certain I'm not hurting someone's feelings.
My decision to steer clear of what minority groups feel represent stinging epitaphs is not a matter of my being politically correct. People who confuse being sensitive to the feelings of others for being politically correct are wrong.
Way wrong.
If Native Americans decide that athletic teams shouldn't be called Indians or Redskins, the decision to change the team names is an example of being politically correct. Native Americans still cheer for the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians. So, those Native Americans who forced Stanford University to switch from Indians to Cardinal are just being overly sensitive.
If sports teams' nicknames were a big problem to Native Americans, the NFL and Major League Baseball would have responded by ridding themselves of Redskins, Braves and Indians.
A group in Mendocino County pushed to have Squaw Rock, a local landmark, officially renamed.
It's hard to imagine anyone feeling real pain over a landmark named Squaw Rock. Changing the name is an example of being politically correct.
Political correctness is pushed to the limit now. However, Americans who confuse being PC with showing the proper amount of sensitivity to other Americans need to rethink their positions.
It's not an over-abundance of political correctness that resulted in my children growing up without hearing such common schoolyard taunts as, "retard" or "M.R." It's the result of society slowly coming to realize that developmentally challenged human beings have feelings and that we are wrong to reach a point where we're mocking a peer by using a phrase that compares them to a developmentally or learning disabled American.
We don't have to give words more power than they actually carry. But, we do owe it to one another to be as sensitive as can be to each other. And, if you're incapable of being sensitive, admit that you don't give a damn. Don't blame your willingness to ignore others' feelings on the pressure to be politically correct.
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