PC - Politically Correct or Persistently Constipated (Part 1)

There is only so much insanity one man can take. The strangle hold of political correctness is tightened with ever increasing regularity. But what is it about this obsession of everyone from the academic to the Human Resources manager of some company or other.
Political correctness seems to be focused on not causing offence to people who may be different from one's self. It almost seems, to a certain extent, to be born out of a generation of mildly affluent people, who for some reason or another, have a chip on their shoulders about being, yes, mildly affluent. They seem to take it upon themselves to address all the issues of the world, and make the world nice and lovely, and inoffensive. Unfortunately this develops into the do-gooder mentality which often misses the mark, and results in people campaigning for things which aren't wanted by those on whose behalf they are performing their little or tricks, or even worse, the minority which they are trying to champion are actually offended.
Fear not, I shall return to that theme in a later plot, but for now, "bak to ze plot". Let us take exhibit one in the PC world of madness. Disabilities can be a sensitive issue for some people. Whether it is embarrassment, fear or some other complex emotion, there can be serious mental, as well as physical, hurdles for people with a disability to overcome. Now, let us consider one particular subset that the PC group has sought to rescue from the cruel attacks of an unthinking "normal" people.
In my opinion, deaf people have it pretty tough. I have no idea what it is like, and to be honest, I don't want to. The reason is that I am sure that despite all manner of artificial ways of preventing me from hearing, I would still have the experience of sound, which would probably make the attempt pretty useless. Anyway, deaf people experience the world in a manner quite different from people with hearing. Despite the restriction, there is a somewhat unique perspective seen from being hearing impaired. Now, the PC brigade think in their own special self-righteousness that deaf must be a pejorative term, despite the fact that the brigade is filled with well hearing individuals. So an action plan must be formulated. These people must no longer feel marginalised and inferior; that just will not do. Hence we shall fabricate some "sensitive" way of referring to deaf people so they do not fell marginalised, etc..
Enter the PC tour de force. From hence forth, deaf people shall be referred to as hearing-impaired. And, because it is not a concrete term, can include people who do not have perfect hearing. So after more angst than you can squeeze out of an emo, we have constructed a safe term. Now, you would think that deaf people everywhere would celebrate, in their own silent kind of way. They should be eternally grateful that this group of "normal" concerned citizens actually cares about them.
But what is the end result? Deaf people become incensed. They sign from the top of roof buildings, "We are deaf, not hearing-impaired, you aurally-enabled bastards." Now, what the PC fanatics had failed to grasp is that deaf people had actually become something unique. Deaf is a way of identifying oneself with others who are deaf. By being "hearing-impaired" this is marginalised, and it appears that an attempt is being made to make people normal; well listen well PC-ers of the world (or at least be receptive to our signing): we don't like normal, we want to be different. And of course this is where the sorry mess falls in a heap. By trying to be "sensitive" in some bizarre, thought-police way, the PC-ers of the world actually appear as if they are trying to normalise everything. We are equal, NOT the same.

Sanity 1           PC-ers 0

Of course, there is more to come, and we shall consider it in following posts. Remember, keep sane and politically incorrect.

Walsingham Nut