Something that's always made my blood boil is when people think they can speak for others. When people believe that they know exactly how the other person feels, or should feel, and their word is final. No matter how the person who may have actually been hurt feels.
The Word Police by Michiko Kakutani is a prime example. She believes that just because people go overboard with some aspects of political correctness, all of it should end. That we shouldn't worry about offending people, because at the end of the day, they're just being petty.
One has to understand that the root of " shirts, bumper stickers, and buttons" ( Kakutani, 2) that don the "politically correct" way to refer to things is not hyperbole. These things exist because of ignorance. Someone's feelings were hurt to start everything, and people decided it should be avoided in the future at all costs. I agree that some things are so extra it makes me wonder if the people creating them actually care about inclusivity. When people start trying to coin phrases for the most nitpicky things that no one has complained about it's going too far. But the tricky thing is, it might seem like it's going too far, but anyone can say that anything is "going too far". And sometimes people don't complain about things because they know they might be seen as oversensitive. But I still think there is a difference between being outright intentionally offensive by referring to an American born person as not really American, and using the word women because it's literally a part of the English language. The main point of being "politically correct" is that people's feelings were hurt, and we should not allow ourselves to live in a society where microaggressions aren't a big deal. If you've never been a victim of a microaggression, I believe you have no right to tell others that they are just being sensitive or petty.
However, I do agree with Kakutani about how the racially diverse superman dolls are a little strange. It just acknowledges the fact that the superheroes in the actual movies will always be white, as if the only place for racial diversity is after the fact, in the dolls. Making superheroes more inclusive doesn't mean "clones" (Kakutani, 3), it means the next movie doesn't have a white male superhero but a superhero that represents a different race of people.
I'm glad to see that I can in a way dive into the future and see how this wave of political correctness has turned out, and I think even though some things are exaggerated, they've done good things for society. Because at the end of the day, the things people are pushing for are just plain old correct, things that we need for society to be right. Last year we had the first superhero movie with an African superhero with Black Panther. Society changes slowly, so maybe exaggeration, hyperbole, and politically correct stores are what it takes to start ripples of change. And if they are, I think it's time we all follow in its wake.
I loved how you reflected on “The Word Police” and challenged Kakutaini’s claim. Even though you disagreed at some points, you also acknowledged her stance which made your post stronger. I also really liked how you tied in the example of Black Panther. Great post!
ReplyDeleteVery Interesting Post!!! I really loved the way you used Blank Panther as an example. I also liked the way you brought in the idea of microaggression and how we shouldn't just ignore it. I also completely agree with your point that we shouldn't hurt someone's feelings.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you made about making "Superman clones" to make things more "racially diverse." If we clone, we are really just refusing to take the effort to thoughtfully create a new superhero matching to the next race, and instead taking the "easier" route of simply making the other race fit into a cookie cutter.
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