Friday, September 2, 2011
Page 11
AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)
Adrift on a Sea of Political Correctness
By J’AMY PACHECO
Political correctness is simply a speed bump in the traffic of truth, free thought and speech.
-Unknown
The first time I remember hearing the term “politically correct” was when Disneyland decided to re-do its Pirates of the Caribbean ride. As I recall, critics complained that the scene of pirates chasing wenches—er, women—around with apparent lust on their minds was inappropriate.
The women were given platters of food which, everybody knows, is what pirates really want.
Political correctness has been defined as “supporting broad social, political and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.”
I get that. Still, a lot of us make fun of the concept of political correctness. I, for example, re-wrote the words to the aforementioned ride’s famous “A Pirates Life for Me” song to reflect the new pirates of political correctness, in part by using the line, “Yo ho, yo ho, we’re still pirates, just P.C.”
Sometimes, political correctness seems to go overboard. I read, for example, that it’s now politically correct to refer to heavy people as “gravitationally challenged.”
That might have been a joke, because really, when I think of the gravitationally-challenged, I think of people in jeopardy of slipping those surly bonds of Earth and floating off into another galaxy. What could cause a person to be gravitationally challenged is beyond my imagination, but I suspect it’s the opposite of the extra pounds a lot of us are hauling around.
Examples of political correctness run amuck abound; I just don’t want to poke fun at any of them here for fear of offending or alienating anybody. Or worse, everybody.
Harder than figuring out how to be politically correct is determining just where the fine line that keeps us in and out of trouble on the topic.
My daughter just started her sophomore year, and complained to me about a teacher she felt was behaving inappropriately by poking fun at the ethnicity of some students’ last names, and by performing imitations of stereotypical gay and African American individuals. She begged me to get her out of that teacher’s class.
I’m sorry to say that my first thought was that she might be overreacting, or being too sensitive. After the third day, which ended with tears in the car after school, I contacted a counselor to see what it would take to get her moved to another class.
I was told that it couldn’t be done without disrupting the rest of her schedule, which included removing her from the class of her favorite teacher. That’s not an option, so I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out what to do.
The fact that apparently nobody else is complaining drove me to wonder if I, too, was overreacting by pursuing the issue.
I belong to an ethnically diverse family. With my blonde hair, bluish eyes and pale skin, I’m about as Caucasian as you can get. My husband is from Cuba, and epitomizes the term, “tall, dark and handsome.”
I have Cuban and Dominican nieces and nephews who call me “Tia,” and half-Filipino nieces and nephews who call me “Tita.” The partially French ones refer to me as “Ma Tante,” which I believe translates to, “My dad’s gravitationally-challenged sister.” My sister’s kids just call me “Aunt J’Amy.”
The point is, in our colorful family, we don’t make fun of one another’s differences or last names, and we don’t perpetuate stereotypes by disguising them as humor. At least, I hope we don’t.
My daughter, therefore, is finding it painful to be trapped in the audience of a person who seems to be unfamiliar with the concept of political correctness. She doesn’t want to make a stink; she just wants out.
Unfortunately, we’re at the mercy of an overcrowded, budget-strapped school system that apparently doesn’t have an escape route readily available to her.
So we’re left wondering where and when free thought and speech cross a line into inappropriate and worth making a stink over—and what to do about it.
Honestly, I think it would be easier to deal with pirates. Especially if they’re the politically correct kind.
Copyright 2011, Metropolitan News Company