Politically Correct

In her comment to the post on 750-pound man John Keitz' death, Megan -- a Twist-blog regular and by far the best comment-poster -- wondered if striking the term "morbidly obese" from our current lexicon is another example America's blind and hyper attempts to be and stay "politically correct."

She commented, "when i read this, though, i had to raise an eyebrow:"The old term for those in Keitz's weight category is no longer politically correct but it may be accurate: "'morbidly obese.'"did the phrase fall out of favor because it's not accurate for most people, or because people in that category and lobby were offended? to me, this smells of oprah. you know, "i love my body even though i can't walk up the stairs while holding my two-year old." i get the sentiment, and i believe that everyone -- especially someone in this predicament who deals with a disproportionate amount of prejudice on a daily basis -- needs and deserves a healthy self-image, but if your "self" is not actually "healthy," are you empowering or deluding yourself."

She brings up good points about what might seem to be a general public that coddles fat people's fragile egos. But here's my thing with the whole PC thing: Why do we even use that term anymore? It has nothing to do with politics half the time...it's all about decency and fellow-feeling. Refraining from refering to someone as morbidly-obese is not being PC, it's being a decent person. Is the term acurate? In its truest and most fundamental sense -- yes. But its the connotation that we derive from "morbidly". When is the word "morbid" not used in a pejorative manner? You can't put lipstick on that pig. People are pronounced terminally ill, not morbidly ill. Sure, in essence they mean the same thing, but since when is it bad or since when should we suck-our-teeth at phrasing things in a way so as not to make people feel like a pile of ish? That's why the english language has so many words used to articulate, essentially, the same things...only certain words might more accurately get to a certain point.

M-W.com sites "grisly" and "gruesome" as synonyms for "morbid". "Morbid" has simply come to connote more than just disease or lent to death...it's meaning has become more accute in the way Americans use it. So, no...not using "morbidly obese" has nothing to do with politics or politicians.

I understand that the whole PC thing was popularize by politicians curbing their language so as not to offend constituents they were trying to attract. But now, just like with the adjective ":morbid", PC has become, largely, a phrased used in a perjorative sense. "Oh, he's just trying to be PC." or "Well if we weren't always trying to be so PC, maybe our true feelng could come out and we could solve some of these problems."

Huh? I never understood this rhetoric. The odd thing is, I rarely come across cases were being PC is wrong or taken too far.

When you look at the differences in definitions between handicapped-physically diabled or retarded-mentally disabled...they really don't differ much.

But over time, these words morph into terms we used for putdowns, "quit actin like a retard" and generally diminish the people it describes.

So, I'm sorry...but if handicap people thought about the meaning of the word and what that was doing for their image and someone thought disabled was less negative. SO FRIKKIN BE IT! who eff cares if we, able-bodied people, have to condition ourselves to use a different word. deal with it.

Last week's Curb had a hilarious scene about using the bathroom stall for "disabled" people. Larry, of course, called the dude "handicap" and the dude in the wheelchair split his whig. classic-type Curb scene.

Then there are things like Colored versus black versus African American...or Indian versus Native American...or server versus waiter....flight attendant versus stuartist.

I don't give a crap...I'll call you whatever you want me to call you.

I remember talking to one of my old college classmates and I called a lady a "female" and she looked at me and said, "Vince she's a woman. She's a person, not a gender. Is she a dog? or a pig? no...she's a woman."

No granted, that bish was probably on her period...but I don't recall thinking, "Hey ease off Ursula"...I recall thinking, "You know what, actually she's right."

I watched this 90s college-flick a while back, PCU, it starred Jeremy Piven (who by the way was behaving JUST like Ari off Entourage, 10-years before he played Ari). The movie was about this psuedo-frat that was fed up with all PC-groups on campus. The queer-dyke groups, the wetback-groups, the porch-monkey-groups, etc. Piv and crew just wanted to be left alone and for America and college campuses to return to the good ol' days when everyone could be priks and not worry about some moral arbiter telling them they were offensive. In the movie, the women's group got mad when Piv and his crew promoted a party with flyers featuring scantily clad bikini-models. And that pissed the un-PC people off. "It's just some chicks posibng in bikinis with their legs open so we can basically see theyre muff!! Get over yourselves." I guess I can feel that a little, but what's wrong with women taking opffense to being objectified? Is that being too-PC or just expecting some decency?

Maybe I'm a nerd...but if there's a way to be nicer and spare making someone feel dehumanized or less than themselves..then why not? Yes, I call people every racial epthet in the book and generally behave as onoxious, offensive and without regard for fellow-feeling as possible. But I never use someone else's extra-sensitive rules for politically correctness as a way out. I'm just a morbidly-obese colored-boy and misery loves company.