Political correctness is so convoluted and subjective it's not even funny. For example, the PC for a person with "black" skin is African American. Well, what do I do if it's a black person living in England whose ancestry is Jamaican? I could easily offend someone who is NOT an American or of African descent.
I can see your frustration. I think we have to accept that we are going to offend people sometimes, but we should also do our best not to and apologize when we do. I usually do not refer to people by their race, skin color, ethnicity, region or gender; instead I try to call them and introduce them by their name.
As for words, words do have power because we give them power, they have meaning because we give them meaning. The word gay no longer means what it did 40 years ago; it really doesn't even mean what it meant 10 years ago. When my mom grew up, gay meant happy, when I grew up it meant homosexual, and now my little brother uses it to mean something is stupid.
Your point about the word gay is interesting – the first thing I wanted to say was “well, language is dynamic”; then I realized that I have the same frustration about the word ‘religion’ – ha!
I guess if I was really fond of the word gay, I would use it to mean happiness. I doubt any homosexual person would be offended if the word was used to mean happy. Now, I would not approach someone and tell them they look gay – but I usually avoid approaching people and labeling them with any emotional state.
Curse words are extremely subjective. For example, in my house, saying "crap" got you a slap in the mouth. In one of my classrooms, saying something "sucked" or saying "freaking" or "jeesh" were all punishable by detention, and in the job my husband has, the f* word is considered a necessary foundation for every single sentence. Who is right? Who is wrong?
Usually, the culture defines language norms – I am speaking to myself as much as to you. I am really starting to think that the word religion should be defined by the culture. Catholics do the same thing when they Christianize terms. Hmmm……this is the second time I have reversed my opinion in the same day because of posting on this board – that is kind of exciting!
Should I be offended that my husband says the f* word because he was brought up that it's just a word that adds significant impact to a sentence especially since I grew up in a household where it was considered an extremely foul thing to say? It depends on the audience whether its offensive or not, and how am I supposed to know what's going to offend every single person in the room?
Well, understanding the culture you are immersing yourself into really helps. It sounds like the “F” word does bother you. Have you talked to your husband about it?
We can't make everyone happy. And people shouldn't expect you to know what offends them and what doesn't. We aren't telepaths.
True. However, as our communities become more diverse, I think it is important to learn as much as we can about each other. Once again, we are going to offend each other from time to time, but the offended response from people is usually connected to the oblivious nature of the person using the offensive language and their defensive attitude when corrected.
There are some things that we KNOW are going to be offensive. I don't think anybody should use derogatory or curse words when speaking in anger towards someone else. Intentionally using "harsh" language with the purpose to offend or hurt someone is not treating them with love. But if someone types "lmao" I don't see why we'd need to get up in arms about it.
People can be overly sensitive – I agree. Like all sinful behavior we notice in other people, I think the best way handle it is to be is thick-skinned when subjected to it, and use it to root out sin in your own self.
[FONT="]This was a cool post – you really help me to realize that I was not allowing specific groups of Christians to define the word ‘religion’ according to their own values – I really enjoy it when I can see where I have gone wrong – it is only then that I can make adjustments[/FONT]
