RE: Geoff Lane's "arrogant PC bunch"

["Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org>]

> IMO it's high time that the arrogant PC bunch got their facts straight
> and stopped polluting our language. Personally, I'll continue using
> terms like "master" and "slave", "male" and "female" for as long as
> they continue to be industry standard - and as a rule of thumb I won't
> give a stuff for the PC bunch unless the style guide backs them up.

There are words we no longer use in polite conversation or writing because
we have learned that they give significant offense to a group of people.
That is a good thing.

There is always a degree of tension involved in the process of collectively
accepting that a word or phrase is offensive or oppressive. Standards do
change - as you implicitly accepted when you said "for as long as they
continue to be industry standard".

I agree entirely that there are people who take offense inappropriately. The
problem is that it is not necessarily easy to distinguish between such
people and those who are bringing to light a genuine through previously
unrecognised abuse.

Disparaging references to "PC gone mad" or "the PC bunch" are often found in
newspapers and other publications pushing an agenda which seeks to maintain
established privileges (and their associated abuses). It is worth trying to
be aware of such agendas when assessing the likely truth of the stories they
print.

Regards
Jonathan West

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