has political correctness gone totally overboard?!?!

by GordonWilson

Posted to Utterances on 2002-08-29 20:38:00

sumthin i was thinking about today, and wanted your guys’ opinions on it… see, i think that in so many circles, western society has gone a little mad with this issue…

example: the proper way to refer to a human being whose skin is black. used to be, in america (and canada, i guess) it was okay to say “negros”. then that was no good, so everybody preferred “blacks”. then that was no good either, so we’ve settled on what i consider to be ridiculous and preposterous: “african americans”.

i have several problems with this label. for one, should people in america with white skin then be referred to as “european americans”? and in england, does it transfer to “african englishmen”? i mean what the hell?

can somebody shed some light for me? your thoughts, please. i guess my main motivation is that i am a little overboard on issues about equality and respect, yet i truly am lost for the best way to handle this one anymore. is it the result of too many ranting and screaming politicians, or is it an actual reflection of the concerns of a minority? is there any clarity in there anymore?

thanks,
g