@KnightRise:
black guy, yes. But altering that to "So I saw this black and he went to all the other blacks...", can you see why that generalization in diction and syntax might offend people?
Okay, I see how it could be taken that way, but I still think you are being overly sensitive. I’m sure if I had time I could find a host of quotes from respected black people who refer to the black community as simply blacks. If someone told me, "Whites are not listening to the problems of the black man," I might object to his point, but I would not object to being called white.
Are coloured and negro part of your (and hopefully, not anyone's) vocabulary? So why use that particual terminolgy?
Nobody in this conversation has used that terminology. You are getting off topic.
Empathy is key,
I do not claim to be able to feel what a black individual feels. It would be presumptuous of me to claim that.
and society has evolved past that manner of speech, I had assumed.
Political correctness has nothing to do with evolution. If anything, it devolves a society empowering “offensive” language and increasing the societal taboo of acknowledging differences by implying that blackness (or any multitude of other prohibited words/concepts) is somehow bad.
Sorry but were you implying that I, personally, was disregarding your points and name calling?
Yes, though it was perhaps unfair to say that you disregarded my points. You did give thoughtful feedback (which I appreciate), but I don’t think you directly responded to my basic point which was that political correctness takes words that gave offence to only an oversensitive few and then declares it offensive to all.
Because I wasn't, at least not on purpose.
You called my response childish. I think that is pretty clearly an insult. It is also incorrect.
I don't recall anyone mentioning anything remotely political, until you stated that liberals immediately rob our lexicons of offensive words.
Liberals rob people of words. Every time I say someone is retarded, those around me flinch as if I just dropped an F-bomb…worse actually, but it is merely a statement of fact. Those with exceptionally low IQ’s are retarded, yet the liberals keep on deciding that words which refer to people with mental difficulties are offensive, so they come up with new terms every few years. This is the clearest field in which the silliness of political correctness is visible. Retarded, special ed, special needs, handicapped, handicapable, exceptional…the terms keep on changing because liberals do not like the connotations the words take on, but you cannot give retardation a different name and suddenly make it a good thing. It will always have a negative connotation because it is a negative thing. Those who are cruel will use these terms to be mean. You cannot stop it. Those who are not cruel will just use these terms as statements of fact, yet because of political correctness, all people, the cruel and the kind, are condemned when using words which should be simply factual. As I’ve implied before, the liberals are only creating more ways for people to be offended.
It is true that nobody mentioned politics before I mentioned liberals. What is your point? Liberals are the ones behind the political correct movement, and those that jump on the political correctness prohibition wagon are almost always liberals. Am I at fault for pointing this out?
So yes, I did call such brash statement fairly childish.
It is unfortunate that you find it offensive for political machinations to be pointed out to you. Again, I do not know many children who make their views clear by attributing an argumentative point to a rotten political ideology, but perhaps you have encountered very gifted children in your lifetime. Again, in my experience, children are usually quick to break out the insults.
If you were refering to me in the third sentence, I find that snide. If not, I think its a misfortune that you've encountered such (hypothetical?) people.
It refers to you and many others. I would suggest that rather than focusing on whether or not my comment is snide, you should consider whether or not it is accurate.
Thank you for the more polite elements of your comment.
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