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Today at work, I was sifting through some old files, and found a blog post I wrote in 2005. The strange part is, I didn't have a blog in 2005. I have no idea what the heck I was doing. . .blowing off steam at lunch time I guess. Anyway, since it never had a home before (except lost in an old computer file) I thought I'd present it here, in its original form.
Some of this I've touched on in subsequent posts here, but what the heck. Picture it, it was 2005, and I was irritated. . .
Monkey Speak
In this over-consolidated, info-tainment-saturated, 24-hour news drenched society, some words and phrases begin to become overused to the point of becoming meaningless. In this column, I will address these terms, and explain why we should remove them from the lexicon.
1. Politically Correct (or "PC") - This term was thrown around and abused from the time of its inception (somewhere during the first Clinton administration, I suspect). People used it as a catch-all for words and phrases that were more polite towards diverse groups of people. At first, it made sense; if a group we used to call "blacks" preferred to be called "African-American," where's the harm in that?
Of course, the term became sort of bastardized by both the right and the left. More and more ludicrous terminology began to spew forth, i.e. "vertically challenged" for short people, or "differently-abled" for people with handicaps. Some were clever, some were funny, and some just ridiculous. After a while, anything considered PC was pretty much demonized or ridiculed by the right.
Now, it seems, the term has lost all meaning. Talking heads on Fox News assign the term to mean anything at all that represents ideology left of center (or, shoot, left of Sean Hannity). But, to call something "politically correct" implies that one must talk this way in order to remain politically viable. Under this monolithic one-party rule, does that even make sense? To be politically correct these days would require being anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-gun control, pro-religion in government, pro-corporation, pro-torture. . .oh. . .you get the picture. We either need to re-label PC as pro-conservative buzzwords and euphemisms, or dump the phrase altogether.
2. At the End of the Day - This phrase is uttered with alarming regularity on cable news and elsewhere (and both sides are guilty of it). There's nothing wrong with the phrase, per se, but it has been over-used to the point of becoming cliché. What's wrong with "in the end," or even the much shorter "ultimately?" This one is just my own personal pet peeve.
3. Homosexual Lifestyle - From my point of view, if you cannot define something, then you have no business using the term. I used to think people who used this phrase were referring to the stereotypically promiscuous, drinking, drugging party-boy gay guys. Of course this is unfair, because it assumes that ALL gay people live a debauched life, which is completely untrue.
Now, decades into the term's use, it is clear that it is a catch-all euphemism for being gay--period. It's particularly used for "active" homosexuals, but can be heard in reference to anything and everything to do with homosexuality. The term is hugely inaccurate. At its best, (like "at the end of the day") it is just lazy English. At its worst, it is double-speak for "I don't like gay people."
4. Pro-life - OK, I'll start out by saying that I don't have strong feelings on the abortion issue either way. As a gay man, I'm very unlikely to ever be involved personally in the decision to have one. Also, being agnostic, I do not have any religious directives that I have to follow. As such, I don't get too heated up about it. But the term "pro-life" is really a misnomer. Created to avoid being "anti-" something, the phrase implies that the person isn't merely against abortion, but in support of life in general. But, many pro-lifers are also rabidly pro-death penalty, and pro-war. They also tend to be against so-called entitlement programs that help poor people and their children to, well, have a life! Maybe a new term is in order? Pro-fetus?
5. Real Journalism, Fair and Balanced - Repeating a phrase over and over doesn't magically make it come true. Especially when it is superimposed over pictures of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. FOX's ludicrous attempt to sell themselves as an unbiased entity is so transparent, a monkey could see it. I don't see anything inherently wrong with having a conservative bias, if it is made clear that it's what you're doing. But, lying about it-you would think-would go against what they allegedly stand for. The argument that Fox is just offering an alternative to "left-wing media bias" is equally specious. Which brings us to. . .
6. Left-wing Media Bias - This is a moldy oldie that is still trotted out on a regular basis. Even if there was some credence to the allegation that mainstream news tends to skew left, there is simply no comparison to what the conservative-biased outlets do. Mainstream television, radio and print news (nearly all owned by huge conservative corporations) may stray a little left from time to time, but it's a fairly subtle and quite subjective cant. There simply is no mirror to right-skewing news/info sources. Even loudly and proudly liberal Air America Radio can't match the ferocity and spittle-flying partisanism evidenced on FOX or conservative talk radio.
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