Political Correctness/Stupid Americans
So I fell into ranting to Amy about how this was such a weird system. How can you teach if the words you need to use are taboo?
I was sitting through a cross-cultural psychology lecture and (well you know me, absentmindedly doodling on the side of my page) I don't even remeber what was said exactly, but it came down to the point that one of the students found it derogatory and had the mind to say so. He even went to the lecturer after class to talk to her about it. It was not that big a deal, but then, I'm not American.
For Americans this obviously was a major issue: I regularly sit through my Sexual Psychology class wondering why she keeps turning around and excusing herself for her use of language. Why she says things as she does and that she hopes no one takes offense. Why religion is so carefully avoided or if it has to be mentioned, so lightly covered. Why it, basicallymight be better for them not talk to us, period! as their words might foul our ears.
How do you lecture on cross-cultural psychology if you cannot use the term black, white even..? And how do you discuss a book if the title of the book contains a possibly offensive word? Right, you don't use the book. How do you, in sexual psychology, discuss sex, the past, family roles if you are not to have it sound degrading towards women even if it was, or maybe even men? So no matter how much we could/should learn from it, it's use is prohibited.
Wouldn't it be better to use "those words" and then discuss why they are used? wouldn't that teach us more than making their use taboo? Why can't a teacher give his or her opinion? No one says we have to agree? I mean as long as they say it is their opinion. It is America!! If you don't like it, you can always sue them!
And just to tell me off: We discussed culture shock and I dozed off again thinking if there was something I knew stuff about it was that. Guess again. A symptom of culture shock is: Believing your own culture superior to the one you newly encountered.. and I was like: "well.. it is! isn't it?!"
And on a side note: I bought a ticket for the annual athlete ball... meaning: I decided to give in to dressing up and acting ladylike for an evening. I'm sure there will be stories...
Music: Katie Melua, The Closest thing to Crazy
Quote: Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking. -John Maynard Keynes
I was sitting through a cross-cultural psychology lecture and (well you know me, absentmindedly doodling on the side of my page) I don't even remeber what was said exactly, but it came down to the point that one of the students found it derogatory and had the mind to say so. He even went to the lecturer after class to talk to her about it. It was not that big a deal, but then, I'm not American.
For Americans this obviously was a major issue: I regularly sit through my Sexual Psychology class wondering why she keeps turning around and excusing herself for her use of language. Why she says things as she does and that she hopes no one takes offense. Why religion is so carefully avoided or if it has to be mentioned, so lightly covered. Why it, basicallymight be better for them not talk to us, period! as their words might foul our ears.
How do you lecture on cross-cultural psychology if you cannot use the term black, white even..? And how do you discuss a book if the title of the book contains a possibly offensive word? Right, you don't use the book. How do you, in sexual psychology, discuss sex, the past, family roles if you are not to have it sound degrading towards women even if it was, or maybe even men? So no matter how much we could/should learn from it, it's use is prohibited.
Wouldn't it be better to use "those words" and then discuss why they are used? wouldn't that teach us more than making their use taboo? Why can't a teacher give his or her opinion? No one says we have to agree? I mean as long as they say it is their opinion. It is America!! If you don't like it, you can always sue them!
And just to tell me off: We discussed culture shock and I dozed off again thinking if there was something I knew stuff about it was that. Guess again. A symptom of culture shock is: Believing your own culture superior to the one you newly encountered.. and I was like: "well.. it is! isn't it?!"
And on a side note: I bought a ticket for the annual athlete ball... meaning: I decided to give in to dressing up and acting ladylike for an evening. I'm sure there will be stories...
Music: Katie Melua, The Closest thing to Crazy
Quote: Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking. -John Maynard Keynes
posted by Nooy at Thursday, March 23, 2006
2 Comments:
Oy, can't help but having to put in my 2 cents.
Word are under-rated and being abused on daily basis all over this tiny planet. There are so few people that are actually aware of the broad spectrum of uses for speach and/or the written word. Those that are aware of part of these uses, often abuse their native language by hurting others intentionally - directly or indirectly.
But that's not what your post here is about. It's about how language is misinterpred. We are all human beings and one of the main functions of our brain is linking feelings to anything our senses pick up. The good part of that, is that it makes us feel at home when we're at home, surrounded by comforting sounds, odours and objects. The bad part would be the exact opposite.
And that's where 'misinterpretation of words used by others' comes barging in. If the first person likes to call his (coloured) friends 'nigger' and he just made a new (coloured) friend, he might call that person 'nigger' too. To him, it'd be a sign of affection and respect. If that second person was raised using 'nigger' only in offensive ways though, there'd be a very realistic chance this person would feel offended and hurt.
We are human beings and this here thing is quite possibly our brain's most massive failure. We can't seem to unlink words from what we associated them with in the past, we can't see past the cloud of letters, words and lines. We can not seperate words from meaning.
We are flawed.
Lets remember that, next time we're about to fling into a rage about someone calling us 'kaaskop' ;D
As for the side note thingy: Do tell! ;D
I should join Misspellers Anonymous...
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