Political Correctness
Target Readers: High Schoolers
A little bit more on being politically correct.
Why is there always a need to be politically correct with everything? Of course there are things to sensor subject such as the differences of race (i.e. how racism is bad)... but how come it's starting to become applied to smaller things in life?
An example is when someone poses an interest in a certain topic or subject, and it's not something usual... what most people do is they think of them lowly and insult them. Like if someone has interest in computers... kudos to him/her. If that's what their passion is, then all respect to them. But because having interest in computers doesn't seem to be so entirely "mainstream", what most people do is shut them down and label them as "geeks". So what, having interest in clothes, or interests in spending time with friends is suddenly entirely different?
A specific example pertaining to me personally, is how everybody calls me "gay". For the record, no I am not a homosexual. But I can see where the thoughts are coming from, because I do tend to be more artistic then the regular person, I tend to care more about my hair and clothes then most guys, I have spurts of energy and am more hyper of a person... but now does this some how determine my sexual orientation? Absolutely not. I have an interest in these things: art, clothes, hair.. being hyper...... Why can't that be respected instead? I have numerous friends who are very accepting of these traits, and they take it to their benefit being that I'm an interesting guy with a fashion sense. But there are those people who're out there who still think I'm gay...
Recently I was thinking about what to wear for a performance I was doing for school. There were to be 3 people up there, and I was trying to decide what we should wear to reflect the song and just have a good appearance. But then I was shot down by one of the band members saying (paraphrased:) "Why do you care?! I'm supposed to be the 'girl' in the band, why're you fussing over this?". Well I'm sorry if I'm wishing to put more effort like that into this performance... visuals are complimentary to the performance too... it does matter, but suddenly because I'm a guy I'm now not allowed to care about clothes and how one looks.
Now, how does this relate to Politcal Correctness? Being politically correct means to say/do things without offending the largest possible audience. In the highschool setting, the largest audience would be the students. So because someone has interest in a topic/hobby that the rest of students don't, it some how makes it wrong. Unacceptable...
Other Past Articles Related:
- Desensitising Christmas
A little bit more on being politically correct.
Why is there always a need to be politically correct with everything? Of course there are things to sensor subject such as the differences of race (i.e. how racism is bad)... but how come it's starting to become applied to smaller things in life?
An example is when someone poses an interest in a certain topic or subject, and it's not something usual... what most people do is they think of them lowly and insult them. Like if someone has interest in computers... kudos to him/her. If that's what their passion is, then all respect to them. But because having interest in computers doesn't seem to be so entirely "mainstream", what most people do is shut them down and label them as "geeks". So what, having interest in clothes, or interests in spending time with friends is suddenly entirely different?
A specific example pertaining to me personally, is how everybody calls me "gay". For the record, no I am not a homosexual. But I can see where the thoughts are coming from, because I do tend to be more artistic then the regular person, I tend to care more about my hair and clothes then most guys, I have spurts of energy and am more hyper of a person... but now does this some how determine my sexual orientation? Absolutely not. I have an interest in these things: art, clothes, hair.. being hyper...... Why can't that be respected instead? I have numerous friends who are very accepting of these traits, and they take it to their benefit being that I'm an interesting guy with a fashion sense. But there are those people who're out there who still think I'm gay...
Recently I was thinking about what to wear for a performance I was doing for school. There were to be 3 people up there, and I was trying to decide what we should wear to reflect the song and just have a good appearance. But then I was shot down by one of the band members saying (paraphrased:) "Why do you care?! I'm supposed to be the 'girl' in the band, why're you fussing over this?". Well I'm sorry if I'm wishing to put more effort like that into this performance... visuals are complimentary to the performance too... it does matter, but suddenly because I'm a guy I'm now not allowed to care about clothes and how one looks.
Now, how does this relate to Politcal Correctness? Being politically correct means to say/do things without offending the largest possible audience. In the highschool setting, the largest audience would be the students. So because someone has interest in a topic/hobby that the rest of students don't, it some how makes it wrong. Unacceptable...
"Don't make fun of me for my hobbies; I don't make fun of you for being an asshole..." - Garden StateWhat we need to be able to do is embrace these interests. Accept them. Just insulting another and saying they're wrong won't do anything besides crush them emotionally. It's really easy to tell someone they're wrong. And at the same time, it's surprisingly (although it shouldn't be surprising) useless. Do you honestly think that saying "HAhAHa, you're such a loser for liking ketchup so much" is gonna make them suddenly change themself to be a perfect person and more like you? No. No it wont. Learn to embrace other's interests. Learn to be more sensitive to others... Maybe, just MAYBE... you aren't the perfect person. People are different.
"If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." - Maya Angelou
Other Past Articles Related:
- Desensitising Christmas
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