I was talking to This Guy the other day (shocking I know, TALKING TO A GUY! This is in blatant defiance of my lesbian code, please don’t tell Ellen) and he was complaining about how the world has become too PC.
I found myself nodding along, very emphatically as he sputtered about “PC gone mad” because I thought to myself, “yes, you know what? The world really has become far too personal computer”. I solemnly recognised this affliction in myself, lamenting my frequent use of more social networking sites than I can count on one hand as I said things like “uh huh” and “mmmmmm” while This Guy was talking. I joined in with an impassioned tirade about how the iPhone is killing the art of conversation, because you can’t enquire as to what a group of monkeys is called without everybody pulling out their clicky-clacky devices and informing you, with smugness and efficiency, that of course a pack of monkeys is referred to as a troop.
This Guy looked at me like I was a mad woman. Slowly, I realised that This Guy wasn’t actually talking about personal computers. He was talking about how it’s sweet as for John Key to sit there with a man who broke his girlfriend’s spine in four places and rank women on their appearance. This Guy said that all of the feminists and the do-gooders just need to calm down/lighten up/chill out because it’s cool that our Prime Minister is just one of the dude bros. My conversation with This Guy was over before it began. I should have listened to Ellen in the first place.
As far as I’m concerned, complaining about the world becoming too PC is actually a code. It’s a big, glaring Rosetta Stone statement that just means “I am unsettled that my bigotry is being challenged”. There’s a reason that people who complain about “PC Gone Mad” tend to be white and rich and able bodied and sometimes male and usually heterosexual. It’s because telling people not to take everything so seriously comes from a place of extreme privilege, as well as an extreme lack of empathy. People who are concerned about PC are actually just concerned about having to give up things they do and say that harm other people. I fail to see how anything can ever be too politically correct, as political correctness is just respect and equality. I mean really, This Guy? What you’re trying to tell me is SLOW DOWN COWBOY, WE’RE JUST TREATING THOSE OPPRESSED GROUPS TOO RESPECTFULLY? Pretty sure that if it was your oppressed group as the butt of a joke then PC wouldn’t actually be PC, it would be your legitimate concern.
This code, though, can be used to your advantage. If somebody is complaining about the world becoming too PC, do a quick check that they aren’t complaining about Facebook, and then cut your losses and run. Respect is like cheese. There can never be too much respect on the salad of life.