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Political correctness
The society is beset by the language of politics which surrounds
it, people meet it every day in
diverse forms and sources, in radio and television broadcasts,
in newspapers,etc. So, Ronald Carter
mentions, politics is a substantial part of life, and peoples
involvements in life are interpretable as
political processes[;130].
The term ofpolitical correctness comes from the United States of
America. The earliest
mention of the term comes from the Supreme court decision in the
case of Chisholm v.Georgia in
1793. It had a different meaning from nowadays one. It suggested
that using the term The United
States instead of the People of the United States did not
correlate with the way the ideals and goals
of politics of the United States were generally seen and defined
by then. In other words , it said that
the former term was not politically correct as the state was
there for the people rather than the other
round.Also Allan Keith comments that in 1990 political
correctness was being described as
responsible for corruption of English language on a truly
Orwellian scale, and it was criticized for
trivializing important issues precisely because it focused on
insignificant language matters, and not
on importants political ones. Some years later, as Keith states
the label political correctness
had turned into a powerful rhetorical stick to beat your
political opponents with; a way of bringing
contumely on someone you didnt like;an effective strategy of
short-circuit serious debate[;93-
94].
Nowadays , political correctness refers to behavior, especially
verbal behavior, rather than to apolitical position. According to
Keith, the emphasis of political correctness has now moved to
civil
gentility. He considers political correctness as a brainwashing
programme and as simple as good
manners. Keith assumes that political correct language reflects
and also seeks to enforce social
change. He mentions a definition of political correctness from
the Macquarie Dictionary:
political correctness is a conformity to current beliefs about
correctness in language and
behavior with regard to politics on sexism, racism, ageism, etc.
In other words as V Fromkina
observes referring to political correctness : you know how to
use your language appropriately,
even if you sometimes choose not to[;438].
Political correctness is usually criticized by some polititians
and linguists because it limits the
language choice and speech freedom. It certainly cannot be
denied that political correctness bears a
certain degree of resemblance to censorship. Keith also
considers that political correctness creates a
kind of tacit censorship. He added that one reason for hostility
towards political correctness is that
a breach ofpolitical correct protocol can quickly become an
inquiry into a miscreants character.
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The well-known journalist George Orwell criticized very harsh
the political language claiming
that it is the defence of the indefensible. He maintained that
the great enemy of clear language is
insincerityrepresented by the corrupting euphemisms,
question-begging and sheer cloudy
vagueness form political language. Orwell believed that all
issues are political issues, and
politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, nad
schizophrenia. In response to Orwellsview, Robert Hughes, a critic
of political correctness, describes political correct language as
a
linguistic Laerdes, where evil and misfortune are dispelled by a
dip in the waters of euphemism.
Actually as A.Keith points out, political correctness gets the
peple to focus on the claims of
different goups, it prescribes and proscribes public language
for ethnicity, race, gender, sexual
preference, apperaence, religion, (dis)ability, etc. he adds
that it ensures a fair go for all, but mixed
in with it is a twist of fear and anxiety[;105].
In general Allan Keith studiing the taboos and forbidden words
of English language, analyzes
very carefully and profoundly the subject concerning the
language of political correctness. He
concludes that verbal taboos are imposed by social conventions,
they strengthen social cohesion and
serve human interests by censoring out bald mention of things
which threaten danger, distress and
offence. He considers the language of political correctness is
no more a threat to freedom of speech
than other types of verbal taboos. In fact the political correct
restrictions on speech are mostly self-
imposed with speakers unwilling to run the risk of being judged
to violate the accepted code for
their context of utterance. Moreover Keith pays attention to the
problem regarding the relations
between political correctness and eupmesms terms. Mentioning the
fact that modern dictionaries of
euphemisms like Neaman and Silver, Ayto include political
correct expressions among their entries,
he maintains that they put forward the view that political
correct usage call for a more precise and
accurate use of language. Apart from this, there is the emphasis
on the role of political correct
language as a form af public action.
Keith agrees that political correct language is euphemistic, but
in this emotive discourse,
words get politicized and used as ideological bludgeons. Whereas
people generally use
euphemisms for the sake of social etiquette, in the political
arena it becomes a political gesture - an
euphemism with an attitude.
