DONNEZ Augustin PSI

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS The language is a way to show our attitudes towards others. in this context, Political Correctness (PC) was born thanks to linguists and psychologists. Here’s a definition : « the avoidance of terms or behavior considered to be discriminatory or offensive to certain groups of people ». After the linguistic phenomenon started in American campuses after the 1960s, PC became to be used as a symbol of political ideology. The first group to see its name change was the Blacks : they became African-Americans. In this way, PC lays stress on the origins of a person. Therefore, as each community has different origins, the American society is being more like a salad bowl than a melting pot. In consequence, a lot of words have changed. Like the feminists, who wanted to make some words more «gender-neutral» : words with the letters «man» were altered, fireman became firefighter for example. Moreover some people put this further : a proposition to replace the letters «men» by «myn» in order to avoid the hint of sexism. To ridicule it, her story was created, which means history through the eyes of womyn. It also touched the health care system, war, even with religions : «merry christmas» can offend the non-believers in J.Christ so it has become «seasons greetings». The legal vocabulary also changed : «houses of correction» for «prisons» and especially «undocumented aliens» for «illegal immigrants», which no longer deal with their clandestine status but more with their economic contributions. PC has largely helped the adoption of affirmative action policies : improving access to college for disadvantaged pupils, even if it has increased racial tensions. PC led to abuses : David Howard, head of the Washington DC office of public advocate use the word «niggardly» in order to talk about budgetary issues. He wanted to say «ungenerous» but some people not very smart compare this word to the taboo racist one «nigger». That’s why he was forced to publicly apologize and resign. In nineteen eighty-four, George Orwell denounced PC : allowing only a few words, it’s look like a mind control. Is PC a boon or a bane ? The upholders of PC are saying that changing words is a good way to change people’s mind. To denounce it, some writers argued that it was an attempt to freedom of speech and politically correct speech was used to avoid showing the real issues. Nowadays, this trend is going to come back to normal, even a still widespread phenomenon.