LANGUAGE WARNING
It comes up in every forum everywhere, especially here, where the free expression of ideas is our bread and butter: the dreaded specter of political correctness. Threads pop up like prairie dogs, where someone wonders if his or her (almost always relatively innocuous) idea is TOO OFFENSIVE TO BE WRITTEN, and a flood of posters will encourage them to write whatever they want. That's awesome. Then come the people decrying the state of our politically correct society, the one that causes people to take offense to every little thing, the one that drives authors mad every time they want to write about matters of race or sexuality or... or even duck migration, so out of control is our international P.C. virus.
I would like to state that I dislike the term "political correctness" and its derivatives. Mostly because I consider myself a fairly progressive person, and it's almost always used as an attack on progressives, as if conservatives can't ever be offended about anything. When Obama said in 2008 that people "cling to their guns and their religion," that sure as hell offended people, and was quite politically incorrect (literally, it almost derailed his nomination).
(Sidenote: Okay, I do have to note that Bill Maher is a liberal who uses the p-correct/incorrect terminology, but the guy's role in Rush Limbaugh's "slutgate," which lead to his own "cuntgate," definitely puts his way of speaking into the usual way the terms are used.)
Even moreso, I hate the way the term is used. It's used to deny people's right to an opinion. It is so, so, so much easier to write your opponent off as being crazy kookoo hysterical, or to say that people are just riled up because they want to preserve appearances when secretly they agree with you, than it is to accept arguments against you on their own terms. It's an easy out. A tempting out. Soooo sweet.
And besides, we've all heard anecdotes about a group of Jews who are perfectly fine with the phrase "Merry Christmas" so why do you have to say "Happy Holidays," or a white person getting offended on behalf of your black friend when your black friend thought your joke was really, really funny. As if those stories made up for the concerns minorities have over the way they're talked and written about.
So now that I've whined about the terminology, I'll keep using it because it's what we know.
Political correctness, and the culture around it, can make us better writers. It forces us to think harder, to work harder, to exercise our written word-loving brains harder. It gives us so much more material to work with.
I'm writing about this because of a few news stories I've read this week:
1) Stripper leads double-life as society reporter
2) Transsexual disqualified from Miss Universe Pageant
3) The abortion debate is about more than politicians and protests, it can have hijinx!
50 years ago, the first two stories would have been unthinkable. No one would have argued for the rights of sex workers or the transgendered to cross over into the mainstream, and the women (yeah, I'm going with women) in those two stories would not have had the audacity to go assert themselves the way they did. Having a society where tolerance is at least paid lip-service gave them the ability to dream outside of the boxes they would have been placed into.
And aren't those stories such better fertilizer for the already fertile mind of the writer? Yeah, strippers are bimbos and do drugs and maybe a Russian mobster will pimp them out blah blah. This is a woman who was smart enough to get her Masters, but didn't think her double life would cause any problems? Why not? After seeing all the debauchery at the club, she had enough faith in humanity to believe no one would "out" her. What kind of a worldview does she have? What does her case tell us about our world, sex, money and employment, and the like?
Why did Jenna lie (or stretch the truth) on her Miss Universe application, only to reveal her past when questioned? Did someone snitch on her? Who? Why? Does she see the transgender pageants she entered as equal to Miss Universe, or did she long to escape what might have seemed to be a "pageant ghetto?" What was school like for her, on hormonal treatments at such a young age? Aren't these questions more compelling than seeing another dead, or perhaps killer, "transvestite" on a cop show?
For that matter, why is it politically incorrect to question Jenna's right to call herself a woman, but not politically incorrect for her to sue an orthodox, established organization on behalf of a small minority? Whose politics are we talking about, here? God, I hate the terminology surrounding P.C.
As for the third story, no matter which side you take on the abortion debate, isn't that something? We all know that we can address our differences through words, politics, or violence. But what about when opinions are so heated that the traditional methods don't work? Is it P.C. or not P.C. to sidestep the debate altogether, using unconventional tactics to advance your side? What story opportunities there are, real and fictional, in breaking the rules and smashing the debate!
Now that we have a multi-, perhaps omni-, cultural society, everyone can make themselves heard. It doesn't always do much good, but almost anyone can share their experience. I was beta-ing the work of a friend, and he made a joke about a Muslim superhero. But I couldn't help but wonder how a Muslim superhero would work. Would his powers make him question his faith? I assume a "hero" would be against Al Qaeda, but what about the PLO? How would the public react to a Muslim superhero? I'm so glad I can about these things without dismissing them as a liberal fever-dream.
By now, anyone still reading probably thinks my own stories are the most bring pieces of pablum ever. I don't think that's the case. There's blood, drugs, sex, romance, revenge, love, hatred, naughty words, and yeah, stuff I pulled from my ass without consulting a representative multicultural focus group. I poke fun at conservative politicians, but I also put my "internet communist" character through an ideological wringer. I consider myself a GLBT ally, but my GLBT characters have the same glaring flaws my WASPs do.
It comes from my belief that giving someone equal representation is not the same as deifying them. That my intended audience can tell the difference between a joke and a threat. That subverting, rather than ignoring, stereotypes is a good thing to do in satire. This leaves me open to criticism. I may offend. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that because I've thought very carefully about what I put onto the page and why. If I'm going to do that with my comma placement, why wouldn't I do that with my ideas?
If I still offend, I figure I have four responses.
1) No, that's not what I meant, let me explain it to you.
2) I kind of meant to offend you. My opinion is that you suck, and I stand by it.
3) We'll have to agree to disagree, I just don't see things that way.
4) I'm sorry, I'll do better. NOT "I'm sorry you were offended." I think I'm of the last generation to be raised thinking that an apology is a good way to mend bridges and show I've learned, rather than an admission of weakness that will surely allow the rest of the tribe to devour me.
None of these responses are, "You are censoring me," unless the government or publisher literally steps in and takes a black marker to my manuscripts. Refusal to publish, refusal to purchase, or refusal to take my shit lying down constitutes a difference of belief. And that happens in this zany world of ours. And just as I expect them to take me seriously, I will try, though I might fail, to believe that criticism comes from an honest difference of opinion, and not a show of "political correctness." Whatever that means that particular day.
Thanks to anyone who actually read all of this. I had a lot on my mind. Here's a funny but poignant stand-up routine on the topic as your reward. I'm so generous.
It comes up in every forum everywhere, especially here, where the free expression of ideas is our bread and butter: the dreaded specter of political correctness. Threads pop up like prairie dogs, where someone wonders if his or her (almost always relatively innocuous) idea is TOO OFFENSIVE TO BE WRITTEN, and a flood of posters will encourage them to write whatever they want. That's awesome. Then come the people decrying the state of our politically correct society, the one that causes people to take offense to every little thing, the one that drives authors mad every time they want to write about matters of race or sexuality or... or even duck migration, so out of control is our international P.C. virus.
I would like to state that I dislike the term "political correctness" and its derivatives. Mostly because I consider myself a fairly progressive person, and it's almost always used as an attack on progressives, as if conservatives can't ever be offended about anything. When Obama said in 2008 that people "cling to their guns and their religion," that sure as hell offended people, and was quite politically incorrect (literally, it almost derailed his nomination).
(Sidenote: Okay, I do have to note that Bill Maher is a liberal who uses the p-correct/incorrect terminology, but the guy's role in Rush Limbaugh's "slutgate," which lead to his own "cuntgate," definitely puts his way of speaking into the usual way the terms are used.)
Even moreso, I hate the way the term is used. It's used to deny people's right to an opinion. It is so, so, so much easier to write your opponent off as being crazy kookoo hysterical, or to say that people are just riled up because they want to preserve appearances when secretly they agree with you, than it is to accept arguments against you on their own terms. It's an easy out. A tempting out. Soooo sweet.
And besides, we've all heard anecdotes about a group of Jews who are perfectly fine with the phrase "Merry Christmas" so why do you have to say "Happy Holidays," or a white person getting offended on behalf of your black friend when your black friend thought your joke was really, really funny. As if those stories made up for the concerns minorities have over the way they're talked and written about.
So now that I've whined about the terminology, I'll keep using it because it's what we know.
Political correctness, and the culture around it, can make us better writers. It forces us to think harder, to work harder, to exercise our written word-loving brains harder. It gives us so much more material to work with.
I'm writing about this because of a few news stories I've read this week:
1) Stripper leads double-life as society reporter
2) Transsexual disqualified from Miss Universe Pageant
3) The abortion debate is about more than politicians and protests, it can have hijinx!
50 years ago, the first two stories would have been unthinkable. No one would have argued for the rights of sex workers or the transgendered to cross over into the mainstream, and the women (yeah, I'm going with women) in those two stories would not have had the audacity to go assert themselves the way they did. Having a society where tolerance is at least paid lip-service gave them the ability to dream outside of the boxes they would have been placed into.
And aren't those stories such better fertilizer for the already fertile mind of the writer? Yeah, strippers are bimbos and do drugs and maybe a Russian mobster will pimp them out blah blah. This is a woman who was smart enough to get her Masters, but didn't think her double life would cause any problems? Why not? After seeing all the debauchery at the club, she had enough faith in humanity to believe no one would "out" her. What kind of a worldview does she have? What does her case tell us about our world, sex, money and employment, and the like?
Why did Jenna lie (or stretch the truth) on her Miss Universe application, only to reveal her past when questioned? Did someone snitch on her? Who? Why? Does she see the transgender pageants she entered as equal to Miss Universe, or did she long to escape what might have seemed to be a "pageant ghetto?" What was school like for her, on hormonal treatments at such a young age? Aren't these questions more compelling than seeing another dead, or perhaps killer, "transvestite" on a cop show?
For that matter, why is it politically incorrect to question Jenna's right to call herself a woman, but not politically incorrect for her to sue an orthodox, established organization on behalf of a small minority? Whose politics are we talking about, here? God, I hate the terminology surrounding P.C.
As for the third story, no matter which side you take on the abortion debate, isn't that something? We all know that we can address our differences through words, politics, or violence. But what about when opinions are so heated that the traditional methods don't work? Is it P.C. or not P.C. to sidestep the debate altogether, using unconventional tactics to advance your side? What story opportunities there are, real and fictional, in breaking the rules and smashing the debate!
Now that we have a multi-, perhaps omni-, cultural society, everyone can make themselves heard. It doesn't always do much good, but almost anyone can share their experience. I was beta-ing the work of a friend, and he made a joke about a Muslim superhero. But I couldn't help but wonder how a Muslim superhero would work. Would his powers make him question his faith? I assume a "hero" would be against Al Qaeda, but what about the PLO? How would the public react to a Muslim superhero? I'm so glad I can about these things without dismissing them as a liberal fever-dream.
By now, anyone still reading probably thinks my own stories are the most bring pieces of pablum ever. I don't think that's the case. There's blood, drugs, sex, romance, revenge, love, hatred, naughty words, and yeah, stuff I pulled from my ass without consulting a representative multicultural focus group. I poke fun at conservative politicians, but I also put my "internet communist" character through an ideological wringer. I consider myself a GLBT ally, but my GLBT characters have the same glaring flaws my WASPs do.
It comes from my belief that giving someone equal representation is not the same as deifying them. That my intended audience can tell the difference between a joke and a threat. That subverting, rather than ignoring, stereotypes is a good thing to do in satire. This leaves me open to criticism. I may offend. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that because I've thought very carefully about what I put onto the page and why. If I'm going to do that with my comma placement, why wouldn't I do that with my ideas?
If I still offend, I figure I have four responses.
1) No, that's not what I meant, let me explain it to you.
2) I kind of meant to offend you. My opinion is that you suck, and I stand by it.
3) We'll have to agree to disagree, I just don't see things that way.
4) I'm sorry, I'll do better. NOT "I'm sorry you were offended." I think I'm of the last generation to be raised thinking that an apology is a good way to mend bridges and show I've learned, rather than an admission of weakness that will surely allow the rest of the tribe to devour me.
None of these responses are, "You are censoring me," unless the government or publisher literally steps in and takes a black marker to my manuscripts. Refusal to publish, refusal to purchase, or refusal to take my shit lying down constitutes a difference of belief. And that happens in this zany world of ours. And just as I expect them to take me seriously, I will try, though I might fail, to believe that criticism comes from an honest difference of opinion, and not a show of "political correctness." Whatever that means that particular day.
Thanks to anyone who actually read all of this. I had a lot on my mind. Here's a funny but poignant stand-up routine on the topic as your reward. I'm so generous.
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I'm just a smart-ass.
Most jokes tread on someones' toes.
