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Politically Correct?

Am I being politically correct in the example given?

  • Total voters
    36
liblady said:
i never said nobody should be offended, ever, for any reason. i just believe a little consideration never hurt anyone. if you or others feel it's more important to use a word that could offend someone rather than to consider their feelings, so be it. i think most of the time, another word would suffice, and the only reason people use offensive words is too denigrate the other person AND to attract attention to themselves.
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Cool, do what you want to do and follow your own choices and allow others to do the same.
 
Cephus said:
Cool, do what you want to do and follow your own choices and allow others to do the same.
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cool, and let's not pretend that using words you know are offensive to others is anything but childish. which is perfectly ok on an internet forum.
 
liblady said:
cool, and let's not pretend that using words you know are offensive to others is anything but childish. which is perfectly ok on an internet forum.
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Let's not pretend that you're the sole arbiter of what may or may not be offensive to everyone.
 
Cephus said:
Let's not pretend that you're the sole arbiter of what may or may not be offensive to everyone.
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She didn't say "words that are offensive". She said "words that you know" are offensive meaning that if you know they are offensive to the person and you still use them, you are being a child.
 
theplaydrive said:
She didn't say "words that are offensive". She said "words that you know" are offensive meaning that if you know they are offensive to the person and you still use them, you are being a child.
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thank you.
 
I learned a long time ago that oriental is used to describe objects, just like occidental is. Do we call people from North America and Europe "occidental"?

In the grand scheme though I don't really care too much, unless someone informs me that they wish to be referred to as something else.
 
theplaydrive said:
She didn't say "words that are offensive". She said "words that you know" are offensive meaning that if you know they are offensive to the person and you still use them, you are being a child.
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You can't worry that someone, somewhere just might get offended by something you say. People are offended by all kinds of absurd things all the time. I don't say things specifically to offend, but I can't take into account every person on the planet who might see or hear what I say. Like it or not, there is no right whatsoever not to be offended. People who spend their time being offended might want to take a look in the mirror to discover the reason why.
 
I believe a level of intent needs to be considered. If Other Person says oriental instead of Asian and you correct him, the question is: why did you correct him? Is it to inform him of simple definitions? Or is it because he was being (potentially) offensive? If correcting him because of definition and preventing the (potential) offense was a byproduct, which you also pointed out, then I'd say you were just being literal. It would be no different than correcting grammar and the world should thank you for reducing ignorance.
 
apdst said:
Because it's idiotic to tippy-toe around people's silly sensibilities. People should have more important things to get excited about and if they don't, there's something wrong with them.

Besides that political correctness is nothing but thought engineering, that sometimes results in trampling on our liberties.
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Exactly. There's such a wide variety of things to be offended about these days, it's difficult to keep up with.

liblady said:
polite people respect others and their sensibilities.
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Depends how you define "polite." Does one have to be politically correct in order to be polite. I don't believe that.

liblady said:
cool, and let's not pretend that using words you know are offensive to others is anything but childish. which is perfectly ok on an internet forum.
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It's childish to be overly sensitive, and then to expect others to conform to your expectations. Not only is it childish, but it is also egotistical.
 
Cephus said:
You can't worry that someone, somewhere just might get offended by something you say. People are offended by all kinds of absurd things all the time. I don't say things specifically to offend, but I can't take into account every person on the planet who might see or hear what I say. Like it or not, there is no right whatsoever not to be offended. People who spend their time being offended might want to take a look in the mirror to discover the reason why.
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I never said that you should "take into account every person on the planet". I never said that "there is a right to be offended". I never said anything about "people who spend their time being offended". People who spend their time responding to arguments that have never been made might want to take a look in the mirror and discover the reason why.
 
evanescence said:
It's childish to be overly sensitive, and then to expect others to conform to your expectations. Not only is it childish, but it is also egotistical.
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It's pretty childish and egotistical to treat other people however you feel like treating them without considering how they prefer to be treated which seems to be the MO of most people who complain about political correctness.
 
Redress said:
We have had a few discussions on the topic of politically correct topics lately, and it reminded me of a conversation on these boards from quite some time ago. I cannot remember what the discussion was about so the other person will remain nameless and hopefully unidentifiable. Who it is is not important. What I am going to ask is if I was being politically correct in this discussion.

Conversation: something about Asians, some one calls Asians "oriental", another person points out that properly, the correct term is Asian.

Me: I learned some time ago that Asian refers to people, Oriental to objects, so I always use Asian

Other person: You are just being Politically Correct.

Me: I don't think I am, it is effortless on my part to say Asian and I then don't have to worry about offending any one accidentally.

Other Person: Exactly, you are trying not to offend, so you are being PC.

Now, obviously this is somewhat paraphrased and condensed from a longer conversation. What I want to know though, is in the example I gave as I gave it, am I being Politically Correct to use the term Asian instead of Oriental?
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I have a Korean co-worker that uses the term "oriental". I believe I remember that thread and believe I said this then. So to me, using either term is acceptable; however making a change to 'asian', for the sake of not offending someone, is being PC.

Me: I learned some time ago that Asian refers to people, Oriental to objects, so I always use Asian
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In this context you are not being PC.
 
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I think it depends on the word and what context it is being used in, and why it is being corrected as to whether it is PC or not to correct it.

I can see correcting the usage of the words "Oriental" vice "Asian" without it being a PC thing.

I think the biggest issue I have is when a word can be used multiple ways or has changed meaning or been used differently, and people are trying to recreate racism or an old term into racism that really isn't used in such a way today. An example would be the word "gypped". Today, people say "I got gypped" all the time without any thought to where that particular word got its meaning or what group it used to be used to put down. I think it is stupid to say that it is racist because it used to refer to gypsies conning or tricking people during transactions. Now, people just take it to mean being "tricked" in general, no matter who is doing it, and without any belief that a gypsy today would trick them.
 
roguenuke said:
I think it depends on the word and what context it is being used in, and why it is being corrected as to whether it is PC or not to correct it.

I can see correcting the usage of the words "Oriental" vice "Asian" without it being a PC thing.

I think the biggest issue I have is when a word can be used multiple ways or has changed meaning or been used differently, and people are trying to recreate racism or an old term into racism that really isn't used in such a way today. An example would be the word "gypped". Today, people say "I got gypped" all the time without any thought to where that particular word got its meaning or what group it used to be used to put down. I think it is stupid to say that it is racist because it used to refer to gypsies conning or tricking people during transactions. Now, people just take it to mean being "tricked" in general, no matter who is doing it, and without any belief that a gypsy today would trick them.
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let's try another, similar expression

if you got 'jewed' in a negotiation with someone (in this example, let's say a moslem)
this is a common/wide-spread expression (tho possibly antiquated)
would you find that an acceptable term today?
 
It's not PC to use words accurately, so in this case it's not being PC to accurately take note of the fact that Oriental does not refer to people.

Calling someone "oriental" is just grammatically incorrect.

If this was the difference between Chinaman and Asian-American, however, it would be a PC issue because, "Dude, Chinaman's not the preferred nomenclature, Asian-American please."
 
justabubba said:
let's try another, similar expression

if you got 'jewed' in a negotiation with someone (in this example, let's say a moslem)
this is a common/wide-spread expression (tho possibly antiquated)
would you find that an acceptable term today?
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I'd probably wonder what they were talking about, since I don't even know what that would mean. I am 31 years old, and although I have seen that used here (never heard it in person), I still don't really know what it means. I have heard people use "gypped" quite often though in real life.
 
Redress said:
We have had a few discussions on the topic of politically correct topics lately, and it reminded me of a conversation on these boards from quite some time ago. I cannot remember what the discussion was about so the other person will remain nameless and hopefully unidentifiable. Who it is is not important. What I am going to ask is if I was being politically correct in this discussion.

Conversation: something about Asians, some one calls Asians "oriental", another person points out that properly, the correct term is Asian.

Me: I learned some time ago that Asian refers to people, Oriental to objects, so I always use Asian

Other person: You are just being Politically Correct.

Me: I don't think I am, it is effortless on my part to say Asian and I then don't have to worry about offending any one accidentally.

Other Person: Exactly, you are trying not to offend, so you are being PC.

Now, obviously this is somewhat paraphrased and condensed from a longer conversation. What I want to know though, is in the example I gave as I gave it, am I being Politically Correct to use the term Asian instead of Oriental?
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I detest political correctness, but I've always used the term "Asian". It always seemed accurate without being awkward. The only time I ever use the word "oriental" is when talking about rugs or geography.

An example of a politically correct phrase that I pretty much refuse to use is "African-American". THAT's politically correct. Not all blacks are African, and not all Africans are black. It's an inaccurate statement. Same goes for "undocumented worker". First, they're not all working, for one thing. Second, "Illegal immigrant" is accurate without being insulting. (I know that "alien" is also technically correct, but to me an "alien" is some small green being from outer space.)
 
I believe Chinaman is the preferred nomenclature, Dude. Or is it Asian American?

(I agree that expecting correct use of the word is not PC)
 
theplaydrive said:
No, it's not being politically correct because Asians aren't objects. It's just "correct".

Another point, I find it a bit annoying and even more damaging to society than actual political correctness that people are now referring to manners as political correctness seemingly as means to excuse themselves from the common courtesy of respecting people and being polite. I consider it much more damaging to go around saying things to purposely offend people than to use language that facilitates conversation.

It seems to me that most of the people who complain relentlessly about political correctness are just social retards who never learned the importance of language and don't want to take responsibility for the reactions they get from people.
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Of course 'retard' is also not politically correct. Actually, the term "politically correct" is no longer PC itself, the correct term is "culturally sensitive". Please conform your language accordingly. ;)
 
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theplaydrive said:
Or just...an accurate descriptor of someone who is American.
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A simple 'No.' would suffice, but I have to have at least ten characters in my response.

"Not necessarily" would probably be more accurate, which is exactly what qualifies it as being PC... the grouping together in an attempt to be fair all the while ignoring the intended purpose and being overly broad.
 
X Factor said:
Of course 'retard' is also not politically correct. Actually, the term "politically correct" is no longer PC itself, the correct term is "culturally sensitive". Please conform your language accordingly. ;)
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I know it's not politically correct and I've mentioned in other threads about political correctness that I say it without complaining about other people's reactions to it and PC in general. Social retards, as I said in my post, are the people "who relentlessly complain about political correctness". If you say a word, you should be willing to accept the consequences of it and not run around whining and bitching about how unfair it is to you that people don't like it when you say "black" instead of "African-American".
 
Thank you all for your replies. I will make some specific replies here in a minute, but some general observations first:

1) The question is not with the specific term asian vs oriental, but the concept of using language to not offend

2) The question is not on correcting other people(that to me is clearly PC), but in doing it personally. I will be giving further depth to this in specific replies
 
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