On The Third Hand

Thursday, 17 Jan 2002

Kudos

My previous rant was inspired by The Kolkatura LIbertarian's excellent post regarding cultural integration (which gave me the term I wanted) and Fred Pruitt's comments on PC culture having 'no senzayuma' (page down a bit). I've been looking for a word (or phrase) to describe what I see as multicultural, and couldn't quite come up with one. Suman Palit did that, and gave a perfect explanation of what I see as truly multicultural activity. Fred Pruitt's post just got my bellicosity index up; I agree completely with his comments about the PC war on humo(U)r. (Sorry, couldn't resist making a bit of fun of the Brit attachment to that unneeded 'U'... nasty e-mails expected...). Many thanks to both of them, for making me think.

[Digression] I think that humor is one of society's social lubricants. It can be insulting to individuals and cultures, and it does tend to stereotypes, but that is exactly why it is useful. Say that I'm upset at a man who is British. I can bloody his nose, or I can tell people a bad joke about Brits that reinforces a stereotype that has something to do with why I'm angry. Say, for instance, that he's been whinging constantly and it's driving me bats. I can punch him or tell the old one about 'How do you know a plane full of Brits has just landed? The whining doesn't stop when the engines shut off.' Yep... that is stereotypical... and insulting... and it saves him getting his nose bloody, because I've just redirected my anger to a chuckle. You may say it perpetuates stereotypes, but I don't really believe that all Brits whinge constantly, and that joke still diverts my anger from one who does. It's a way of letting off steam, and I honestly think that restricting humor, even not-so-nice humor, makes people more likely to blow up.

I adore English, and I'm terribly tired of seeing it misused.

I'm not talking about other English-speaking countries. The differences in usage are funny enough that I have almost fallen on my fanny laughing a few times -- it's just lucky I wear my fanny-pack closer to the Brit/Aus fanny than the American one, or I'd have crushed the darn thing. I've been known to blandly announce that it's too hot for me to wear pants when there are Brits in the area, and I'm wearing a dress (and chuckle to myself at the raised eyebrows and attempts to look). I'd direct an American who wanted to 'blow a fag' to the nearest gay bar, and hand a Brit a cigarette and lighter. I enjoy differences in language.

I am not fond of grocers apostrophe (words pluralized with apostrophe: apple's, pear's, etc.). I'm not fond of confusion of 'it is' with 'its' (it's = it is). But I'll wince and carry on when I see that sort of thing. What really gets me upset is the hijacking of words for political purposes. Here are some of my pet peeves:

• Racism/racist: A racist judges people primarily on the basis of race. A black who judges others on the basis of race is a racist as much as a white who does the same. That includes those who judge their own race on the basis of race. Anyone who says only whites can be racist is a racist. Got that?
• Sexism/sexist: Same idea. Women can be just as sexist as men.
• Multicultural: This should mean a multitude of cultures; I'd very much like to know how it came to mean 'I respect your culture, you ignore mine'. A multicultural culture should be inclusive, not exclusive. It should integrate, not segregate or assimilate. The US (and the Anglosphere) is multicultural in that sense. We have been incredibly enriched by integrating other cultures into our own, just as my beloved language has been enriched by all the words adopted from other languages.
• Almost any politically correct term. I'm short, not height-challenged -- and I'll bite the kneecap off anyone who uses nonsense terms like that in my presence.

I'm taking back my language. From now on, I am going to call a spade a spade, not a gardening tool. Furthermore, I'm going to tell as many politically incorrect jokes as possible, and laugh at the ones directed at me (because I have always found them funny). In short, I'm starting a revolution. Would anyone like to join me?