Being Politically Correct Is Not Always Good

First, I would like to start off and say how much Nancy Mairs essay touched me. It really amazes me how people can take an illness such as Multiple Sclerosis and have the attitude that she has about it.

My favorite part about Mairs essay is when she talks about how she does not really like the other words that are associated with being crippled. She states that the word “cripple seems to [be] a clean word, straightforward and precise” (par. 3). I have always wondered how people who have a physical disability feel about the certain words that are used to describe them and after reading Maris essay it really made me think. Why has society coined these “politically correct” words? Is it to make the people, who those specific words affect, feel less bad about themselves? I have never met a “handicapped” person who actually liked being called handicapped. One of my friends who has a disability actually hates the word. She told me once that “just because I can not walk doesn’t make me any different than you.”

I can understand where the whole politically correct idea comes from. I think that it really stems from the idea that no one wants to offend anyone because everyone wants to avoid arguments, but why? I sometimes feel that using the so called “politically correct” term causes more damage than the word it is supposed to cover up. Maris actually gives a good example of this in her essay. In paragraph three where she talks about how the idea of political correctness “transformed countries from “undeveloped” to “under-developed,” then to “less developed,” and finally to “developing” nations.” This really makes sense to me, because even though people are trying to change the name of the situation it really has no effect. Like Maris said, “[The] people have continued to starve during the shift” (Par. 3). So why do people think that using the word “handicapped” or “differently abled” makes the person they are talking about free of their affliction.

So like I said before, why “beat around the bush” with how we use our words? I know this idea of being politically correct is not the main idea of Maris essay, but that is what really stuck out to me. Why should people like Maris be treated like children about their disability? Why do we have to sugar-coat everything we say to each other just to avoid “hurting” each others feelings? Thinking about this reminds me a little of William F. Buckley’s essay Why Don’t We Complain? Why do we have to avoid situations such as not to complaining to even the words we use?

Beware. There is reading ahead!

In Lindsay Water’s essay he talks about how there is a reading crisis that is leading to “declining literacy in America.” While I was reading his essay one of his points that struck me as interesting is where he was talking about how there are graduate school professors that are putting more emphasis on methods of teaching reading that do not involve the actual reading part.

This really made me think that there is something wrong with the whole idea of graduate school (and any type of learning environment in general) if an English literature professor teaches literature without his students actually reading anything. I mean, isn’t that the point of a literature class, to read and analyze the material?

This point that Water’s brings up really made me think, why would a graduate school professor of English literature try to take an easy route of teaching literature to his students that are there to learn this?

My personal opinion on this subject is that people are trying to change with the times. We want everything faster such as our internet, our cars and even our food, so why not make reading and learning how to read a faster process? The answer to this is simple we are just impatient.

Learning how to read is a long process that should not be sped up in order to “save time” so why do teachers in the grade schools think that every child entering into the first grade already knows how to read? Is it because teachers and professors alike do not want to read anymore because it takes away from their “teaching” time? Reading should be important to everyone, from children to even those English literature professors. It helps children’s imaginations grow and adults to keep theirs.

So what do you guys think about the points Lindsay Waters makes in his essay? Do you agree with him or do you think he is just overreacting to the whole “reading-crisis” situation?

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Well, keep em' to your self cause we don't care!

In William Buckley’s essay, “Why Don’t we Complain?” he talks about how Americans have become obedient to authority. He also goes in to explain how people would rather keep their mouths shut instead of complaining about something that bothered them, just to make everyone’s lives easier.

I feel that Buckley made a very good point in his essay. Humans are like that. We are willing to just keep our mouths shut in order to make the “authority” figures content. In his essay he talks about the time when he and his wife were at the movie theater and the whole time the picture was out of focus, and how he was amazed that no one did or said anything to get it fixed.

I found this article very interesting because, in my opinion, most people in today’s society are willing to speak up if something is bothering them. I know I would have said something if I was at a movie theater and the screen was out of focus.

This essay is a great example of how people and things change over the years. I know many people who are willing to complain about anything that bothers them, unlike the people on the train that Buckley was describing.

What do you all think about how people’s attitudes toward handling problems in this day in age differ from people in Buckley’s time period?