The initial concept of Political Correctness was to preclude the use of gratuitous generalisations regarding races, religions, sexes and politics that contained a negative connotation. The use of these words is generally demeaning of that race or grouping and often unfairly categorises all members of such a group with the same degrading or humiliating appellation. With the principles now being extended into all facets of life, has the concept thwarted free speech or, as shown in the examples below, prevented the enjoyment of one’s own culture and way of life.

In tracking down feel-good stories for a blog, adjacent to one of these stories in the British Telegraph was an article on Town Councils in the UK which had banned the word Christmas as being too indicative of one religion and hence offensive to Muslims in their Communities. Their staffs were instructed to replace it with the words Happy Festive Season.

Not being religious, the replacement of the offending word Christmas with the more anodyne Festive Season did not trouble me per se. What struck me was the mean spiritness and political correctness gone awry. What I wondered as I read this proclamation is whether these Councils also applied this logic to other religions as well. How about Ramadan? What could it be called so that it did not reflect any religious connotation? Perhaps the Month of Slimming and Fasting or how about the Festival to a Slimmer and Better You?

Wouldn’t those words be deeply offensive to Muslims as it trivialises their religion? Equally wouldn’t the words Festive Season diminish the importance and significance of Christmas to billions of Christians throughout the world?

Hence there has been some sharp critique of this practice in the UK?

Moreover I was struck by the fact that even in the supposedly most uncontentious of topics, politics and religions intrude.

Why the whole saga over the word Christmas? Well, if you have noticed, a previous Blog was entitled “Christmas: Restoring One’s Faith in Humankind.” Having read the article, I pondered whether I should substitute the word Christmas with Festive Season or would that be akin to pandering to the political correctness lobby myself? Maybe I would be hauled before the Religious Equality Police and interrogated about my arrogant assumption of Christianity’s primacy instead of according equal treatment to all religions over this Christmas Festive Period.

Notwithstanding that fact, I did elect to amend the word Mankind to read Humankind in case half my readers being female took umbrage. I could face one Inquisition but two: never. So I acceded to the Gender Equality Police’s dictum that the word Man must never be used in polite company. Instead something more androgynous must be used. So accordingly I replaced it with the word Humankind.

The one that I am battling with is to find a non-sexist word to substitute for manhole cover. Even Google does not have a suitable replacement but merely notes that I should approach the Female Equality League which is in the process of compiling a non-sexist, non-racial, interdenominational dictionary of Politically Correct terms. In accordance with their policy of never displaying unacceptable terminology, it does not show the “demeaning” term but merely a list of acceptable words.

Not surprisingly I found this dictionary to be utterly useless. As an example, when I entered the term Manhole instead of providing a translation as any useful dictionary would, it merely states “unrecognised sexist term.”

More frustratingly was the explanation of the word “female”. As the Institute compiling this dictionary does not recognise any distinction between sexes and they contend that the sexism is differentiation and categorisation, its response was “sexist categorisation of humans and animals.”

That put me in a quandary? What was I to call a female in my Blog? Perhaps a Person without a Penis? But would that not be a form of categorisation? Alternatively would I not be accused of the sin of Generalisation by assuming that all females would not possess a penis. If that is indeed the case, then presumably x% of females who do indeed have a penis. Having never heard of that possibility, in a state of trepidation, I emailed the publisher to this ground breaking dictionary about my quandary.
This was their reply. “Thank you for being so sensitive to issues as sexuality as most males perceive females as sex objects. The replacement of the words male and female with a suitable all inclusive non-sexist word has occupied this committee for the past twenty years. But on an issue of such extreme importance to the survival of a non-genderised future, we will continue debating the issue.”

Like most concepts, when taken to extremes, it creates intractable problems of its own. As such, no right can be an absolute right as it must be circumscribed with limits.

For instance Free Speech is a fundamental precept in democracies yet even that right has limits and prohibitions. One cannot wilfully denigrate other people, religions, races et cetera in the name of free speech. In this case Free Speech is permitted even when one’s opinions are demonstrably incorrect. It is rather the fact that the use of such speech has an intention to harm that group.

Similarly I contend that the substitution of the word Christmas with Festival Season is a step too far.

Well

Maybe?